— Therefore being in prison is a great, extremely positive, great advantage and joy. You can see that you have an incredible opportunity: to have happiness now, a happy death, happy future lives, happy liberation from samsara and happy great liberation, full enlightenment. —

Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Our Teachers

Mastering the Art of Zen Vegan Cuisine

From our Mar-Apr 2007 Liberation Newsletter

As a result of attending the 2003 Kalachakra initiation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Bodhygaya, India, Singaporean Liberation Prison Project teacher Danny Chu became both a Buddhist and a vegetarian. Now Danny runs and is the chef of his own catering company, Enso Kitchen, which prepares and serves Shojin ryori, a type of Japanese Zen vegan cuisine, for clients in Singapore.

Shojin refers to the hard work and devotion required to reach enlightenment and ryori means “cooking.”

“I knew nothing about Kalachakra or Tibetan Buddhism. The trip was through Amitabha Buddhist Centre, so I became a member because members got priority on the trip. The center suggested that they could arrange taking Refuge with Khen Rinpoche Lama Lhundrup, Kopan Monastery’s abbot. I said, Why not?”

Being in Bodhygaya, receiving teachings and taking Refuge had a profound effect on Danny. “That trip changed my life,” he says. “And when our plane touched down in Singapore, I just knew I could never touch meat again.”

Back in Singapore, a friend showed Danny some photographs of Shojin cuisine, which is based on the Buddhist principle of not killing and was developed by Japanese Zen monks in the thirteenth century. Captivated by the beautifully prepared vegetarian dishes, Danny traveled to Japan and studied the precise art of Shojin ryori.

Preparing Shojin cuisine requires more than culinary skill, Danny says. “The cook must completely immerse himself in the process, practice mindfulness, and make sure not to waste any of the ingredients. Even the water that I use to wash the rice, I don’t throw away – I make soup. You have to be quite calm throughout the procedure in order to minimize the wasting.”

Danny opened Enso Kitchen last February. A typical meal might include miso tomato soup, eggplant salad, tofu with lotus root, braised shitake mushroom with green beans, ginger rice and lotus root with fried pumpkin.

Before each meal, Danny and his clients meditate on the Five Reflections: they reflect on the effort that brought them their food; on their imperfections as they receive the meal; on the mindfulness to be free from attachment, anger and ignorance; on taking food as a medicine to sustain good health; and on the fulfilment of their practice as they accept the offerings.

A Liberation Prison Project teacher since 2005, Danny supports the practice and studies of Joseph Crowe, Okaloosa Correctional Institute, Florida; Donnie Clodfelter, Buckingham Correctional Center, Virginia; Daniel Appleby, Douglass County Jail, Georgia; Billy Huff, Montford Unit, Texas;and a Buddhist study group at El Dorado Correctional Facility, Kansas: Jason Mashaney, Keith Sanders, Le-Voi Easterwood, Robert Buehler-May, William DeKnight.

He says his correspondence with his long distance friends inspires his practice. People go through so much in samsara, and the guys I write to are an inspiration. I take my hat off to them.”

AUSTRALIA

NEW ZEALAND

  • Andrew Jeffery

 

USA

EUROPE AND THE UNITED KINGDOM

MEXICO

  • Oscar Acosta
  • Susie Anstey

  • Fer Barroso

  • Marisol Benejam
  • Martha Cabral
  • Cristhian Cambresy
  • Lourdes Castro
  • Ana Paula Cerda
  • Rebeca Cuan
  • Lilia Serrano Dorantes
  • Sebastián Benitez Escobar
  • Esther Garibay
  • Nestor Manuel Grimaldo
  • Sergio Isidro Grimaldo
  • Margarita Aguilera Ibarra
  • Ángeles López
  • Fernando López
  • Mónica López
  • Victor Medina López
  • Paula Guerrero Mackense
  • Gandhi Maga
  • Nayeli Maillefert
  • Moya Mendez
  • Rosa Lydia Mendoza
  • Francisco Navarro
  • Jose Olvera
  • Soledad de Olvera
  • Katia Ornelas
  • Juan Pablo Pacheco
  • Paty Peña
  • Lourdes Vela Picones
  • Mariano E. Ramirez
  • Lorena Rojas
  • Leslie Serna
  • Silvia Sevilla
  • Ruth Da Silvera
  • Ven. Lobsang Tonden
  • Abel Vera
  • Victor Villaseñor

ASIA

CANADA

CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA