Feast, Practice, and Be Merry

Justin has remarked more than once about all the good food our T’ai Chi Chih family can put on the table. The potluck at the New Mexico Teachers Meeting in December was no exception. I replied joking that perhaps one of the many benefits accruing to us from our TCC practice is that we become realized cooks. I’ve decided that, well, maybe it’s not a joke. I was just browsing a wonderful little book/calendar by Deng Ming-Dao, called 365 Tao which describes feasting as

“..the flame in mid-winter,
that kindles the fire of friendship,
and strengthens the community.”

Whether our feasts are after-Justin’s-talk, gatherings at Carrows, part of working meetings, three squares at meditation retreats, or special occasions like Justin’s birthday, we succeed in coming together to reaffirm the importance of our group. Borrowing from the essay, the cheer that we feel is a framework for involvement. Yes, a good gathering requires participation — the efforts of organization, work, and attendance. Group practice, followed by good food joyfully prepared by all of us realized cooks, gives back sustenance for body and soul, a sense of belonging, and the accomplishment of something that we couldn’t do as individuals alone.

It may be a stttrrretch, or a too-literal rendering of the meaning, but these thoughts bring me around to Justin’s frequent reference to a quote by Gopikrishna who said,

“rest not with the taster,
nor with what is tasted;
rest with the tasting.”

We who feast (counting grams of fat), and the feasts we prepare, come and go but what our feasting represents neither begins nor ends.

Source: New Mexico TCC News, Jan. ’96