Mottainai もったいない
When I’m cooking I always think about Dogen Zenji’s “Tenzo Kyokun”. I also always think of the Japanese phrase “mottainai” which translates roughly into “What a waste”, or “waste not want not”.
The regret one can feel for being lazy and throwing out something that can be used again. In my case this often happens when washing rice before cooking. Each time you scrub the rice, you have to drain it and refill the pot to scrub the rice again. Each time you empty the water there is a chance of losing some of the rice grains if you’re not careful.
Dogen states in the Tenzo Kyokun that we should “treat ingredients as if they were as precious as our eye site”. This comes to my mind every time a grain of rice falls out of the bowl and down the drain when I’m washing rice. If it is an accident, it is regrettable, but when I can save a grain, but leave it in the sink to wash down later I realize that I am killing Buddha. We should not waste our efforts, ingredients, or resources because then we are wasting Buddha. To treat something as precious as one grain of rice with such a cruel attitude is to disrespect the worker who grew the rice, the harvester, the packager, the importer, the sales clerk, and the concern for the one who will eat the rice.
The mealtime verse we recite in the temple states that “ We reflect on the effort that brought us this food and consider how it comes to us.” The chain of interdependence on how our food is grown, harvested, sold, and prepared is all part of the offering to the one receiving a meal. “Innumerable labors brought us this food”, is another translation. In the case of wasting even one grain of rice we are failing to see the Buddha nature in the rice, the farmer, and all others that come in contact with our food. Each grain of rice is not separate from ourselves, so we should take care of it and learn how to take care of ourselves. When each thing is dear to us we are practicing the Buddha-dharma. When you wash vegetables or rice in the kitchen, do so in a bowl so that you can pour the wash water out on the plants outside. This is an expression of “mottainai”.
