When Dogen asked the Zen cook from the Chinese temple why he didn't have his assistants do the hard work of drying mushrooms in the hot sun, the cook said, "I am not other people." In the same way, we have to realize that this life is the only life we have. It's ours, right now. If we don't do the cooking ourselves, we are throwing our life away. "Keep eyes open," Dogen instructs. "Wash rice thoroughly, put it in pot, light the fire, and cook it. There is an old saying that goes, 'See the pot as your own head, see the water as your lifeblood..."
When we cook -- and live -- with this kind of attention, the most ordinary acts and the humblest ingredients are revealed as they truly are. "Handle even a single leaf of a green in such a way that it manifests the body of the Buddha," says Dogen. "This in turn allows the Buddha to manifest through the leaf."
