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Eating a meal together is a meditative practice. With the energy of mindfulness, eating can become sacred. It is a chance to get into deep contact with the miracle of food, and the people surrounding us, whether they are family, friends, colleagues, or fellow practitioners on the path.

Mindfulness allows us to look deeply to see the wonders of earth and sky in what we are eating and drinking. We can see the hard work and all the causes and conditions that have brought it to us at this moment, and gratitude and wonder naturally arise.

Looking deeply, we can see that a simple cup of tea, a tangerine, or a morsel of bread are nothing less than an “ambassador of the cosmos.” Eating with the energy of mindfulness we can experience our interbeing with the planet that is nourishing and sustaining us, thus being able to heal our feelings of loneliness and disconnection.

We can become fully aware of the miracle of our body – the taste buds in our mouth, and our body transforming food into energy and vitality. We also have a chance to encounter our habit energies around food, which may have been transmitted to us over many generations.

While serving food to ourselves, we can already begin practicing. We realize that many elements, such as the rain, sunshine, earth, air, and love, have come together to form this wonderful meal. In fact, through this food, we see that the entire universe is supporting our existence. We should take an amount of food that is good for us.

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In Plum Village centres, we have a contemplation we recite before we begin to eat:

• This food is a gift of the earth, the sky, numerous living beings, and much hard and loving work.

• May we eat with mindfulness and gratitude so as to be worthy to receive this food.

• May we recognise and transform unwholesome mental formations, especially our greed and learn to eat with moderation

• May we keep our compassion alive by eating in such a way that reduces the suffering of living beings, stops contributing to climate change, and heals and preserves our precious planet.

• We accept this food so that we may nurture our brotherhood and sisterhood, build our Sangha, and realise our ideal of serving all living beings.

 

We train ourselves to chew each bite at least thirty times, to allow us to really slow down and encounter the food, without rushing to swallow. When we can do this, we have a chance to touch peace and freedom right in the present moment. Many of us like to put down our cutlery between mouthfuls, to allow our hands to relax and to not race forward to the next bite while we still have food in our mouths.

To express our gratitude and love for Mother Earth and for all species, since October 2007 all our practice centres follow a vegan diet.

The practice of Formal Lunch in Plum Village tradition:

In Vietnam, the practice of formal lunch is quite different from that in Plum Village.

Our teacher, Thay, has brought a new meaning to it and modified it to suit the practice of mindfulness.

A formal lunch in Plum Village happened as follows (when Thay attended and led it, up until 2014):

• The monastics gathered in the Buddha hall, monks and nuns sitting opposite each other, in ordination orders. Thay was usually the first on the monks’ side. On the nuns’ side, it was varied, depending on who was there, either Sister Chan Khong, Sister Chan Duc or a High Venerable guest nun, whose Dharma age is older. However, they always sat a little bit diagonally to Thay to show their respect.

• All monks and nuns have their alms bowls and straw hats, including Thay. The nuns wore brown headscarves.

• When the bell was invited for lunch, Thay led the monks and nuns in procession (monks in one line, nuns in another line) toward the dining hall. The head nun walked two or three steps after Thay.

• All monks and nuns carried their alms bowls in front of their chests with two hands. They either hang their straw hats on their left arms or wore them on their heads, depending on the weather. Everyone would wait for Thay’s move and followed suit.

• Members of the Order of Interbeings join the lines after the last monastic, followed by people who already received the 5 Mindfulness Trainings and others.

• Once Thay entered the dining hall, 3 sounds of the bell will be invited, Thay would start serving food into his alms bowl and everyone served themselves after him.

• Then Thay started to walk in procession toward the meditation hall, followed by the monks. Meanwhile, on the parallel line, the most senior nun would walk a few steps behind Thay.

• Upon entering the meditation hall, Thay and the monks would sit on the left side of the hall and the nuns on the right side. All men sit on the monks’ side, all women sit on the nuns’ side.

• Once everyone came in and sat down, Thay would invite 3 sounds of the bell and open the lid of his alms bowl, stand the spoon upward and face it outward. All monks and nuns did the same.

• Thay read: The Buddha invites us to eat with mindfulness, aware of the food and the sangha surrounding us and not let ourselves be carried away by …. in English, French and Vietnamese and invited one sound of the bell.

• Then either the brothers (if it happened in Upper Hamlet) or the sisters (if in Lower or New Hamlet) would read the Five Contemplations.

• Thay invited one sound of the bell and lifted the bowl up mindfully.

• Thay had his first spoonful and everyone started eating.

• The monks and nuns would wait for the elder ones to start first before lifting their own bowl.

• After 20 minutes, Thay often would ask the sangha a question about the day, invited the newly arrival monks or nuns to come up to introduce themselves in front of the sangha, or just simply asked if the Care Taking Council of the host hamlet had any announcement to make.

• Then Thay started reading requests about sending energy to the sick, the dying and the dead.

• The sangha invoked the names of the Buddha and Bodhisattvas to send energy to those.

• The formal meal ended and the whole sangha stood up, bowed to each other and bowed in gratitude to the Three Jewels.

• The sangha would walk in procession back out to wash their bowls.

Thay’s teaching on the formal meal practice:

• Thay wanted the monks and the nuns to sit in ordination order so that they are aware of their position and responsibility in the sangha. All have younger siblings and older siblings. Thay often reminded us that every Sunday in a three-month retreat (when Plum Village often had a formal meal), everyone was reminded of their position in the sangha (a younger sibling, an older sibling), then they would behave, be responsible and know how to live in the sangha accordingly.

• This practice also teaches us to be humble, knowing that before us, there are older ones, and behind us, there are younger ones. We need to practice in such a way that we could set a good example for our younger ones, and respect and follow the guidance of the older ones.

Now when our teacher is no longer be able to lead us in his usual form, a formal meal is led by an eldest brother and sister who are present in the sangha at the time.