Meditative cooking

Well first you have to know the purpose of meditation, because other than that it is just about making good food. In Zen all aspects of life are viewed as training practice on the Buddha way. Generally I look at it as my goal to incorporate meditation into every aspect of my life. This is especially of value for someone like me who has ADD. Like all forms of meditation, esp. those that involve more than just sitting, standing, or walking, there is very much to meditative cooking. First we take the saying: "the universe in a grain of sand". Anything and everything can be looked at from virtually an infinite number of ways. Of course we will never perceive all the infinite ways...unless of course possibly if we reach Buddha hood. So, there is much to discover in this meditation. The aspect that I always start with is the: "As within so without". I look it this way that if the world inside you is balanced and harmonious than the flavors you put into your food will also be balanced and thus delicious. Now in normal cooking school you are usually taught just to focus on making the food, which works for making good food but provides little psychological/spiritual benefit. In this you use meditation to center yourself. You really take in every aspect of what you are making that you can through meditating on it. On some deeper psychological level you connect to your food. You begin to truly understand in new ways why mixing this with that works so well, why you were craving this particular food, and you will start to learn things about yourself that can aid you in other aspects of life. There are various tips and tricks to help the cook develop the right mood and state of mind. I would recommend looking into the stuff Dogen Zenji talked about. There is something he wrote called Tenzo Kyokun which is of value and I believe there is another one he wrote too. Also check out my hub age at: http://hubpages.com/hub/Meditative_Cooking I don't always update it very quickly so be patient with me and feel free to post recipes and any other related idea, or comment. I will as well as stuff on the art and science of meditation and cooking be sharing recipes I like. Some recipes I came up with and others I food some were else. I'm not a vegetarian so there will be some really good carnivore food there, Just thought I would say that since I mentioned Buddhism.

Opps, sorry didn't mean to. The page is: http://hubpages.com/hub/Meditative_Cooking