ANN/KOREA HERALD – To go forth and become a monk is not a trivial matter. Its purpose is neither to seek bodily comfort nor to be warmly clothed and fully fed, nor to seek honour and wealth.
Rather, its purpose is to escape the cycle of birth and death, to sever one’s affections, and to save sentient beings by showing them the way out of the threefold world.
Baru gongyang, the monastic communal meal, is a Buddhist practice that promotes solemnity and pensiveness.
Each one of us is different in the way we have lived, as well as our appearance and surrounding environment. Therefore, even in preparing a vegetable dish, our own ideas and habits are added to it, while generous consideration for others and the community are lacking.
BLACK TRUMPET MUSHROOM SOUP
Ingredients
– Half daikon radish
– 20 grammes dried black
– Trumpet mushrooms
– Three dried shiitake mushrooms
– Three dried stalks from a tree of heaven (ailanthus altissima or Chinese sumac)
– Five dried red peppers, three large dried scallion roots
– Five pieces of ginger
– Two tablespoons soy sauce
Directions
– Place daikon radish, black trumpet mushrooms, stalks from a tree of heaven, peppers, large scallion roots and ginger in a pot.
– Add water and bring to a boil. Keep boiling over medium heat until the radish is tender.
– Remove tree of heaven stalks, peppers, large scallion roots and ginger.
– Add soy sauce to your taste.
STIR-FRIED YOUNG GREEN PEPPERS
Ingredients
– 100 grammes young green peppers
– Cooking oil
– Two tablespoons soy sauce
– Three tablespoons water
– Two tablespoons crushed roasted sesame seed
DIRECTIONS
– Stir fry young green peppers until lightly cooked.
– Combine soy sauce and water, and mix with the cooked peppers.
– Lastly, sprinkle with crushed, roasted sesame seeds.
