Zen is not just about what we do in the meditation hall, but what we do
in the home, the workplace, and the community. That's the premise of
this book: how to cook what Zen Buddhists call "the supreme meal"—life.
It has to be nourishing, and it has to be shared.
And we can use only the ingredients at hand. Inspired by the
thirteenth-century manual of the same name by Dogen, the founder of the
Japanese Soto Zen tradition, this book teaches us how we can "enlarge
the family we're feeding" if we just use some imagination.
<br><br>
Bernie Glassman founded Greyston Bakery in Yonkers, New York, in 1982 to
employ those whom other companies deem unemployable—the homeless,
ex-cons, recovering addicts, low-skill individuals—with the belief that
investing in people, and not just products, does pay. He was right.
Greyston has evolved into an $8 million-a-year business with clients all
over New York City. It is the sole supplier of brownies to Ben &
Jerry's Ice Cream, and has even sold cakes to the White House.
<br><br>
But
financial profit is only one of two bottom lines that Greyston is
committed to. The other one is social impact, and this goal is certainly
being met. The bakery enterprise has led to the creation of the
Greyston Foundation, an integrated network of organizations that provide
affordable housing, child care, counseling services, and health care to
families in the community. Using entrepreneurship to solve the problems
of the inner city, Greyston has become a national model for
comprehensive community development. Its giving back is more than just
sloughing off a percentage of its profits and donating it to charity;
it's about working with the community's needs right from the
beginning—bringing them from the margins to the core. As its company
motto goes, "We don't hire people to bake brownies. We bake brownies to
hire people."
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This book is as much a self-manual as a business manual, addressing such concepts as
<br><br>
• Beginner's mind <br>
• The Middle Way of Sustainability <br>
• The "hungry ghosts" of Buddhism as a picture of all humanity <br>
• Working with our faults <br>
• Indra's Net and the interconnectedness of life <br>
• Leaving no trace
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