(This was originally written in 2012 for someone who came to the Abbey to interview the community on environmentally sustainable practices in the monastery and was published Spring 2015 Environmental issue of the Journal of the Order of Buddhist Contemplatives.. Used here with the permission of the Journal and Rev. Master Ando Mueller.)

– Rev. Master Andō Mueller

A vital aspect of Buddhism, and in particular, training in the Serene Reflection Meditation tradition, is the practice of respect and kindness towards the food we prepare and eat, to all beings—animals very much included, and to all the things and elements we use in our daily lives. Thus we begin to deeply appreciate the Buddha Nature inherent in all beings (including ourselves) and in all things. Another vital aspect of our training is the practice of gratitude—for the food offered from our donors, to all that goes into growing and preparing the food, for the nourishment received that allows us to train together and, we trust, to be of benefit to the world. When we practice thus sincerely and thoughtfully we find that we grow into greater harmony with all beings and support environmentally friendly practices. The following are some of the ways we support sustainability in our monastery kitchen—as best we can:

• Not wasting food and drink; eating and drinking everything we take at meals, tea, and snacks.
• Being careful to use all our leftover food, and when necessary composting small amounts of leftovers that have become inedible.
• We are vegetarian and do not eat any animal flesh, out of compassion for and respect for animals living on this earth, in the sky, and in the sea; and also assisting in the reduction of harmful gases to our atmosphere produced by the massive farming of animals for meat consumption.
• Maintaining an active composting system for our gardens, benefiting not only the plants but many small creatures that feed there.
• Using all the food our donors bring, and on the rare occasions when we cannot do so, we offer extra food to others in need, such as the local senior citizens nutrition center and food banks, sometimes to individuals in need.
• Leftover drinking water is saved and used (as much as is practically possible) for washing produce or making the next day’s coffee; small amounts of leftover coffee is used to clear drains; leftover tea, veggie stock, produce washing water, etc. is poured onto our kitchen garden in the drier months of the year.
• We offer, weekly, a bucket of our vegetable and fruit waste, peels, etc. to a local chicken farmer from whom we purchase free-range eggs; the chicken farmer offers us chicken manure on occasion for our compost.
• We accept manure and straw from the cleaning out of a neighbor’s horse stable for our compost and fruit trees.
• As much as is affordable we support local organic farmers by buying their produce, either directly from them or through a local produce company that promotes a good deal of organic food; we accept and process for our meals ripe, discounted organic produce offered by this company, which is not only more affordable for us, but prevents it going to waste; we also accept some conventional produce donations they offer, from time to time, that might otherwise go to waste (and it’s also part of our religious practice to make the best use of everything that is offered and to only purchase food within our means, especially since everything we have comes from donors).
• We do our best to not overuse electricity, regulating lights, heating equipment, etc. to just what is needed.
• We heat our kitchen and dining hall with a wood stove —with wood that our monks have gathered or that has been donated, using for kindling: old newspapers, unuseable waxed boxes, and sticks gathered in tidying up our grounds.
• The kitchen water supply is heated by solar energy in the summer months and by a wood boiler during the cooler months.
• We do our best to use environmentally friendly products in our cleaning: in washing dishes, sinks, shelving, walls, floors, etc.; we minimize the use of bleach to just sanitizing personal dishes enough to prevent the spread of colds and flu viruses within the community; when we find a more environmentally safe product for any cleaning purpose we invest in that—again as much as practically possible.
• We wash and recycle all plastic bags and containers, reusing ones where possible; we take recyclables to our local town, nearby cities, and some of our lay members assist in taking our recyclable tetra pack containers to more distant recycling centers.
• We recycle our old dish-drying towels and either convert them into counter wipe-up cloths or give to our extern sacristans for maintenance/painting, etc. clean-up.
• We offer kitchen items we cannot use to others, often to our local humane society or other thrift stores that benefit various charities.
• With the help of a few congregation members we are growing a small organic vegetable garden and are saving seeds from these to promote healthier, sustainable food growing in our local community; the vegetables from this garden are shared with the monastic community and those who work in it.*
• Our kitchen is a vital part of our monastic community and all who live and train here, monks and lay trainees, assist in taking care of it, in particular helping with kitchen clean- up, thus also pooling our human resources.

 

*We have had to give up our vegetable garden since 2013 due to drought conditions in California and the need to conserve water.