Cooking in Bodigaya

 One of my main goals coming to India was to cook in a Buddhist Monastery.  During my first trip to India I was fortunate enough to attend 6 days of teachings lead by His Holiness the Dali Lama.  During the lunch break, older chef’s and young monks would bring massive pots of rice and vegetable soup to feed the thousands of practitioners.  After working at Shambhala Mountain Center and getting some first-hand experience in feeding a Buddhist community I was hopeful that my second trip to India would provide me the chance to volunteer at a Monastery.  My intention was to learn from the chef’s and take a glimpse into the culture of cooking for a Monastery. 

     

It was with this hope that I landed on the front steps of Terger Monastery near the auspicious site of the Buddha’s enlightenment, Bodh-Gaya.  Terger Monastery is a Tibetan Kagyu Monastery lead by His Holiness the Karmapa.  The grounds where beautifully kept, which was a rare sight considering the rest of India often lacks an uncluttered aesthetic.   Administrative buildings and a small café bordered the large gompa (temple), which served as the centerpiece for this bustling monastery.  It was extra bustling considering the Karmapa was in residence and preparing for a large Monlam (religious festival/ teaching), that was scheduled to have over ten thousand attendants. 

I was slightly anxious looking at the administrative buildings wondering which office would be my best bet for broaching the subject of my culinary volunteering.  After knocking on a few doors and being helped by some very nice monks, I ended up at the door of the Head Lama in charge of the Monlam.  My request was extremely low on the rung of importance considering the huge logistics that were going into the Monlam, i.e. building a gigantic permanent hanger for the teachings, along with tents, kitchens, and toilets to handle the huge influx of Buddhists.  Fortunately the Head Lama had been to Shambhala Mountain Center for the inauguration of the Great Stupa and was sympathetic to my cause.  Without delay he told me he would personally bring me down to the main kitchen and see if the cooks could use a hand in the kitchen.

 After walking through the construction site we landed at a relatively small kitchen with three wood fire hearths, four gas burners, and three Nepali head chefs.  The lama speaking in Tibetan (I think) explained why he was escorting a foreigner into their kitchen and after some confused looks agreed to let me volunteer in the kitchen, cutting vegetables and stuff.  The kitchen was charged with the large task of feeding over a thousand monks, almost all aged 6-17.  Throughout the day one corner would pile up with the daily order of vegetables and large groups of local Indian helpers (plus me) would chop and dice them to specification.  Every day for lunch the kitchen would produce hundreds of pounds of rice, black lentils, and two vegetable dishes.  The food was a mix of Tibetan and Indian and had a huge helping of spicy red chilies.

I volunteered at Terger for only about a week but had a great time attempting to impress the other cooks with my chopping speed.  Despite the fact that the language barrier was pretty much unsurpassable I was still able to help out.  Some of the best parts where watching the interaction with the Chefs and the young monks.  Regularly groups of monks would come to the kitchen to do assigned chores, and it was always nice to see the Nepali cooks rough the kids up and get into a mild food fight. I was expecting to learn from all the differences between this kitchen and my previous cooking jobs, but looking back I realize I learned more from the similarities.  In my head I imagined a bunch of Zen-like cooks, all advanced practitioners who sang mantra’s while chopping carrots with Buddha-like precision.  What I saw was a collection of poor Indians and imported Nepalese.  It is the same thing that kitchens do everywhere, cheap labor.  Maybe it wasn't enlightenment with chef knives, but it was something very real and human.  It was instant coffee in the morning and drinking homemade sour coconut wine with the Indian workers.  It is being reminded that cooking everywhere is long hours, hard work and if you don't love feeding people then get out of the kitchen.