任何道場的廚房工，一向是繁忙兼瑣碎，吃力又不討好。尤其大道場，吃飯的人多，廚房工更是難為。煮得好吃，會有人嫌，障礙修行；煮差一點，更不得了，會犯眾怒；煮多了點，形成浪費，又是錯因果；煮少了點，吃得不飽，又遭批評。
姑且不管眾人如何想，廚房的人是註定從早忙到晚，無片刻休閒時。君康素食館也不例外，要有一個油鍋，一個湯鍋，一個炒鍋，且隨時都得大猛火侍候。客人多時，廚房更是又熱又亂。好逸惡勞，人之通病。以是之故，多數人不願做廚房工，總想挑軟柿子吃，找個輕鬆的工過日子。
古來高僧大德，如六祖大師，在五祖忍大師的東山寺那待了八個月，期間全在廚房裡做工。溈山老人是典座出身；仰山祖師是擔柴漢；百丈座下問一答十的香嚴禪師是砍柴漢；法海禪師是挑水漢，乃至三十年來不曾少過油鹽醬茶的馬祖大師，及寒山、拾得兩大士等等，很多都是從廚房工裡走出來的。忙眾人事，忙久了忙出功德。加以自己根性利，又精進不懈，往往在百忙中，悟得無生法，從此優游自在度眾生。
吾等好逸惡勞之人，多生多劫，依然是個吃閒飯的輕鬆人，卻不覺自己在生死海中，生了又生，死了又死，忙個不停。
那到底是誰忙？誰閒呢？而這個「誰」，又是誰呢？所以何須嫌廚房太辛苦？又何苦去鑽營個清閒工？眾善知識！若能明白個中道理，消息就在那。聽吾說句：
油鍋湯鍋炒菜鍋，
三千剎海在其中；
青菜豆腐紅蘿蔔，
十方世界食不盡。 |
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No matter what monastery it is, the kitchen work is bound to be hectically busy, toilsome and impolite. In a large monastery where many people have to eat, kitchen work is especially difficult. If the food is too delicious, people will complain that it makes it hard to cultivate. If the food isn't so good, everyone gets upset. If the kitchen makes a little too much food, it is criticized for being wasteful and making mistakes in cause and effect. If it doesn't prepare enough, people can't eat their fill and there will also be complaints.
Even if we don't consider everyone's opinions, it's a fact that the kitchen staff is busy from morning till night, without a moment's rest. Jun Kang Restaurant is no exception. There is always a wok for deep-frying, a pot for soup, and a wok for stir-frying, which are hot on the stove and ready to go. When there are many customers, the kitchen becomes hot and hectic.
Everyone likes leisure, and no one likes work. For that reason, most people don't want to work in the kitchen. They'd rather choose an easy and relaxing job.
Let's consider the great monks of old, such as the Sixth Patriarch. During the eight months he stayed at the East Mountain Monastery of the Fifth Patriarch, Great Master Ren, he worked in the kitchen the whole time. The Venerable Weishan [founder of the Weiyang Lineage of the Chan School] started out as a kitchen manager. The Venerable Yangshan's [second patriarch of the Weiyang Lineage] job was to haul firewood. Chan Master Xiangyan, the disciple of Patriarch Baizhang who had ten answers to a single question, had the job of chopping wood. Chan Master Fahai carried water from the well up the mountain. Great Master Mazu, who made vegetables seasoned with oil, salt, and soy sauce without fail for thirty years, the two Great Masters Hanshan and Shide, and many others all accomplished their cultivation by working in the kitchen. After serving the assembly for a long enough time, one accrues merit. If one has keen faculties and is constantly vigorous, then in the midst of all the chores, one may very well awaken to the nonproduction of dharmas, and then one can freely and easily teach and liberate other living beings.
As for the lazy ones, throughout lifetimes and eons they continue to be idle and eat food that they haven't worked for, not realizing that they are in the sea of birth and death, getting born and dying over and over, busy without end.
Ultimately, who is busy and who is idle? And who is that ‘who’?So why should we complain that kitchen work is too hard? Why should we try to find an easy job? All good advisors! If you can understand this principle, this is right where it's at. My verse goes like this:
The oil cauldron, the soup pot, and the frying pan
Contain the planets of the universe within them.
There are vegetables, tofu, and carrots
Enough to feed the worlds of the ten directions. |
