Come Eat Your Meal
Eating seems something very mundane that everyone does, and one may doubt the relation between eating teriyaki burger at McDonalds and Zen. These two, in fact, are in perfect harmony; or rather, they are one and not separate. But to say this would be missing something that only the following Koan could show.
The protagonist in the Koan here in this post is a Zen master called Kingyu, who would, right before having lunch with his pupils, always dance while carrying a rice-tub with him. What’s more intriguing is that, when dancing, he laughed out loud, saying "Come, eat your meal, you sons of Bodhisattva!"
A Bodhisattva literally means either a Buddhist practitioner whose aim is to get enlightened, or deified beings with names such as Maitreya or Avalokiteśvara (Sound hard to pronounce? Yes, they are!). Be it either of the two meanings, this dance and utterance of Kingyu’s has traditionally been seen as one of the Koans to be tackled by Zen practitioners.
Dancing with a rice-tub (you could imagine a guy holding a skillet in his hand) seems weird, if not utterly absurd. That’s because we intellectualize rice-tub according to the function we arbitrarily give to it, - which is to put rice to be served - and our criteria in deciding how decent or polite it is to dance in such way while in a dining room.
But now, try doing something very idiotic, whatever it may be. Or simply shout whatever single word of your choice. It doesn’t even have to have meaning at all. When you do it wholeheartedly, where are those people who think you are being crazy? Where is the thought that makes you self-conscious of being an idiot? Where is the world around you, the very moment, the right moment of shout? These questions are worth inquiring.
One more point: if Kingyu were asked by his students what the best way to attain enlightenment is, he would say, “"Come eat your meal!” Just like Joshu, another Zen master, told his trainees to wash their bowl or drink tea. What’s the point? There is no point! See whether eating a slice of Domino Pizza is different from getting enlightened. If you say they are totally different, you might be someone searching for a pair of glasses while wearing them. But don’t say they are not different; both saying they are different and they aren’t misses something, although that “missing” may be a thought construct of those who think so.