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Lama Zopa Rinpoche and Ven. Roger Kunsang in Vienna, Austria, September 2017. Photo by Andrea Husnik.
In late September 2017, Lama Zopa Rinpoche visited Panchen Losang Chogyen Gelugzentrum in Vienna, Austria. This was Rinpoche’s first official stay in Austria and his first visit to the FPMT center.
Following the 2017 Light of the Path retreat, and a long flight from North Carolina, US, to Austria, Rinpoche rested for a number of days with the Igel family at their home in Vienna. During his stay, Rinpoche was offered an apple strudel, which the mother of the family had made. The dish was so good that Rinpoche asked if he could be shown how to make the dessert.
Rinpoche gave a motivation before cooking, speaking about making cooking part of the path to enlightenment. This was followed by a demonstration and the actual instructions on how to make Austrian apple strudel (recipe available here) with Rinpoche also joining in to make it.
From the archives we are sharing an extremely joyful video showing such a precious aspect of Lama Zopa Rinpoche’s ability to connect so genuinely with others, and also Rinpoche reminding us how to turn ordinary daily activities (like cooking or offering food) into Dharma activities.
In 2013 Rinpoche also offered some advice to the cooks of Tushita Mediation Centre on how to remember bodhichitta when when preparing and cooking food. This is timeless advice which we can all use to actualize the path to enlightenment, as cooking and preparing food for ourselves and others is a daily necessity.
When you are cutting anything, for example onions, think,
I am cutting the root of all sentient beings’ suffering which comes from ignorance and the self-cherishing thought, with the knife of the wisdom realizing emptiness (shunyata) and bodhichitta.
When you are washing pots and so on think,
I am washing away all the obscurations and negative karmas from all sentient beings’ minds.
You can think that you are washing away your own obscurations and negative karmas but most important is to think you are washing away those of all sentient beings. And you can think the water is nectar coming from Vajrasattva, the Guru, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, or Guru Shakyamuni Buddha. There is always a lot of washing up to do in the kitchen and you can use the opportunity to purify all sentient beings’ obscurations. It’s very good if you can sincerely think this way because all the washing up becomes Dharma practice purifying your negative karma and defilements and collecting merits. In India even the beggars keep their pots very clean!
When you are sweeping the floor think that the broom is the whole path to enlightenment, especially wisdom and bodhichitta, and that the dust is all sentient beings’ obscurations.
I am sweeping away the dust of all sentient beings’ obscurations with the broom of the path to enlightenment and especially wisdom and bodhichitta.
If you sincerely think this while you are cleaning it becomes real Dharma practice that benefits all sentient beings. In the lamrim it says to think that you are abandoning the dust of the three poisonous minds—anger, attachment, and ignorance—which are the gross obscurations and also the stains of the three poisonous minds, the subtle obscurations.
When you are kneading dough so that it can be made into any shape think,
I am taming all sentient beings’ minds by softening them with my two hands of the wisdom realizing emptiness and bodhichitta.
When you are making momos or shapale—rolling out pastry and filling it with cheese, potato, and vegetables—think,
I am filling all sentient beings’ minds with the realizations of the path from guru devotion up to enlightenment so that they can actualize all the qualities of a buddha.
When you are cooking soup or other food you can think that the fire is the Six Yogas’ tummo fire that causes the kundalini to melt. Do the same meditation that is used to bless the inner offering in highest yoga tantra. Or you can think that the fire is the wisdom realizing emptiness and the uncooked food is the unsubdued mind. By cooking the food all the gross and even the subtle delusions are purified and all the realizations of Buddha are achieved.
These are some ways of thinking as you are working in the kitchen. You can think in a similar way with other kitchen activities.
This advice by Lama Zopa Rinpoche was typed and edited by Ven. Sarah Thresher at Tushita Meditation Centre, Dharamsala, India, June 17, 2013.
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Lama Zopa Rinpoche (1945–2023) was the spiritual director of the Foundation for the Preservation of Mahayana Tradition (FPMT), a Tibetan Buddhist organization dedicated to the transmission of the Mahayana Buddhist tradition and values worldwide through teaching, meditation and community service.