by Zenko Jordan Montgomery
Four new residents arrived at Green Gulch Farm late in the evening of March 25. Shoko Hollingsworth, Facilities Director, spent the day preparing for their arrival—cleaning out the space and removing anything unnecessary. Zenko Montgomery, the Green Gulch tenzo (kitchen manager), spent the morning on the phone, ensuring their delivery that day.
After months spent securing funds, preparing, coordinating, and making travel plans, the kitchen was happy to welcome a new four-piece Vulcan cooksline last week. The old ovens, first put into service in 1996, were sent out with incense offerings and deep bows from the community.
After work circle the following day, a ceremony was held to welcome the new arrivals. The practice period residents crowded into the kitchen and chanted a mantra for Sanbō-Kōjin, fire spirit and guardian of the temple hearth. A traditional dedication for new oven spirits was offered:
For an abundance of delicious offerings, we rely on these ovens’ majestic light. Day after day they cook the works with a wide variety of delicious flavors, and on special occasions they treat the pure assembly to nourishment and pleasure. They help sustain our bodily existence, and their blessings are boundless. Hearing the Lion’s Roar from afar, tirelessly they provide divine protection. The kitchen overflows with heavenly food and the bliss of Zen practice.
The pilot lights of the new ranges were ceremoniously lit, and Zenko offered them honorable names:
Convection oven: Ekufū / Nourishing Wind
Six burner range: Seien / Sacred Flame
Griddle: Tetsuryū / Iron Dragon
Four burner range: Kōki / Dazzling Works
Abbot Jiryu Rutschman-Byler shared some words about the Dharma of insentient beings. He praised the ceaseless practice of the temple ovens in providing nourishment.
A new wok will arrive in the next few weeks, customized by Town Food Service in New York to accommodate the kitchen’s needs. Overall, this upgrade will prove labor- and fuel-efficient; the convection oven alone has the capacity to cook as much as the entire old line combined, in half the time.
We thank the Board of Directors of San Francisco Zen Center for supporting this upgrade, and our greater sangha for making it possible.