At the end of last year, I read a book called "Shojin Cuisine at Kamakura Kenchoji Temple" and had a whim and wanted to experience the real Shojin cuisine in Japanese temples. So, together with my girlfriend, I went straight to Mt. Koya in Japan.
Mt. Koya is known as a Buddhist resort in Japan. It is said that 1200 years ago, the founder of the Japanese Shingon Sect, Master Kukai, built a temple here, almost preserving and passing on the original taste of Tang Dynasty tantra. Today, with more than 100 temples and a Buddhist university, Koyasan is a world heritage site for studying Eastern Buddhism, and is said to have a religious status equivalent to Lhasa in china.
Koyasan has 52 "subos", i.e. accommodation facilities operated by the temple. Each temple building is a good representation of Japanese philosophy and aesthetics. Here, not only can you get a glimpse into the way the Shingon monks live, but you can also participate in it.
We chose to stay at Eiko-in Temple this time.
The main entrance of Huiguang-in Temple
Located in a thousand-year-old temple, The temple has a garden, library, Buddhist hall, and meditation room, so you can not only taste the fine cuisine of a Japanese temple, but also copy scriptures, participate in Buddhist morning meetings, fire festivals, meditations, and other activities.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" >What is Shojin cuisine? </h1>
Before I went to Japan, I did a little bit of homework on shojin cuisine.
Japanese Shojin cuisine is a Buddhist vegetarian dish made entirely with seasonal vegetables, fruits, and wild vegetables. If we look for the origins of this form of cuisine, we can trace it back to the "foreign revolution" in the food industry in the late Kamakura shogunate (13th and 14th centuries AD). In this "revolution", the Vegetarian Food of the Song Dynasty officially appeared on the Japanese table with the introduction of the Zen Caodong School, and became a well-known fine cuisine in Japan.
This dish, based on Buddhist precepts, avoids killing and does not use irritating ingredients. All animal ingredients and five meats (garlic, shallots, buckwheat, leeks, and onions) are not used in Shojin cuisine. Unlike the monotonous stereotype of vegetarian food, delicacy and beauty are synonymous with refined cuisine.
To experience intensive cuisine, of course, is not only to simply satisfy the appetite, but also to pay attention to the five laws, five colors, five tastes and five views.
The number "five" comes from the Chinese philosophical concept of "five elements", reflecting the cycle and balance required by nature and society.
The food of Jingjin cuisine is mainly cooked in five ways: raw, boiled, burned, fried, and steamed;
The five colors refer to the blue, yellow, red, white and black in the color of food;
Put food in the mouth, you can taste the five tastes of sweet, spicy, sour, salty and bitter, representing the various tastes of life;
The five views are to reflect on one's own behavior when eating, examine one's mistakes, and be grateful for food. If you've ever been to Japan, you've definitely heard the word itadakimasu before eating, or even before eating a simple snack with your hands folded and your head slightly bowed, a phrase that is often translated as "I humbly accept" to indicate acceptance and gratitude for food.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > how is Shojin cuisine different from other vegetarian dishes? </h1>
As far as other vegetarian dishes are concerned, imitation meat dishes are a common means of attracting customers in many vegetarian restaurants. For example, the common vegetarian steak made of tofu and mushrooms, the sweet and sour ribs made of lotus root and potatoes, and so on. Jingjin cuisine is different, it will not be over-processed, will not be excessively seasoned, and the cooking techniques are as gentle as possible, so that its appearance and taste can be natural and simple, so that the eater can taste the elegance and longevity of the food. Diners are encouraged to embrace the reverence for nature and discover the joy of food itself.
Shojin cuisine pays great attention to "ten" in terms of ingredients, which is what Chinese said about "not eating from time to time". Tasting the changes of the four seasons in the cuisine is also one of the major characteristics of Shojin cuisine. When the monks make their dishes, they only use seasonal vegetables, melons and fruits to show their respect for nature.
Intensive cuisine pays attention to making the best use of materials and never wastes raw materials. The stem of an eggplant, for example, is usually discarded as inedible, but monks cut it into small pieces and put it in the soup as a decoration. Of course, they are edible.
In addition to the five flavors commonly used as sweet, spicy, sour, salty and bitter, The sixth flavor of Jingjin cuisine is added, that is, the subtle original taste of the food itself.
Encouraging vegetarianism has never been the meaning of the existence of refined cuisine, and it is fundamental to arouse people's love for food and nature through cooking.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the first experience of temple shogen cuisine</h1>
The first snow in Koyasan in 2019
In the evening of arriving at Koyasan, it actually snowed heavily. In a short period of time, the entire temple is wrapped in silver, adding another atmosphere to our experience of refining cuisine. We welcomed our first meal in the Japanese room where we were staying.
Dinner of Hyeko-in Temple
Keikoin offers a wide range of shogen dishes, including pickles, boils, tempura, soups, and fruits, most notably the local flax tofu of Koyasan. The change of food taste is reflected through cooking methods, and retaining the original taste is the first meaning.
Each dish is not a small portion and perfectly matches a good-sized container. The amount is small, and the delicious things should be cherished, and the spirit of Zen Buddhism lies in this.
I asked the monks who delivered us the meals, were they so rich in their daily meals? He smiled and shook his head, usually their diet is just a meal and a soup. Moreover, before eating, they will chant the sutra, and they are not allowed to laugh and chat during the meal, or even make chewing sounds.
The monk who delivered the meal introduced us to each dish, and after tasting it one by one, we could feel the ups and downs of the taste. The portions may not seem like much, but they are also very satisfying.
Vegetable tempura. Fried, with matcha powder and fine salt, it doesn't feel greasy at all.
Although they are all soy products, the fried tofu with kelp and the light Takayasan tofu taste are very different, and it has to be mentioned that the density of the entrance to Takayasan tofu is really breathtaking.
The steaming pot is a perfect match for the snowy night
The main course of today's dinner is tofu soup pot made of tofu, seasonal vegetables and mushrooms, which preserves the original taste of the food very well, and the taste is fresh but not dull. Interspersed with a few mouthfuls of pickled side dishes, it is very refreshing.
Koyasan is famous for its flax tofu
Legend has it that at that time, in the process of gradually building a temple complex on The mountain of Koyasan, because of the high altitude, cold weather, and inconvenient transportation, the ingredients mainly rely on the monks to solve the problem, but also because of the strict requirements of Zen Buddhism for dietary norms, the available ingredients are relatively scarce, the monks make full use of the available ingredients, seasoning through various means, and change the infinite combination of limited ingredients, of which flax tofu is one of the best.
Dinner ends with a sweet apple.
As a tourist, alcohol is allowed during the meal. But we chose traditional oolong tea as a drink to accompany the meal.
After dinner, monks will come to collect the dishes. In the snowy night outside the window, we quietly copied a heart sutra, and experienced a long-lost peace and tranquility in our hearts.
Breakfast in Huiguangyuan
After the morning class, after visiting the Fire Festival, at about 7 o'clock, we returned to our room and began to enjoy today's breakfast.
There are salads, miso soup, white rice, seaweed, stains, sour plums, boiled things, fruits, etc. at breakfast, and my favorite is the monks' homemade fried tofu balls.
Kapok tofu is served with carrots, lotus root, fungus, etc., and the excess parts of the ingredients used in the dish are not discarded, they are chopped, mixed into the tofu, wrapped up, and fried and cooked thoroughly. Nothing is wasted, and it is one of the essences of intensive cuisine.
In the days that followed, we tried the Shojin cuisine of other temples and restaurants in Koyasan, and the dishes were different, but the essence of the Shojin cuisine was surprisingly the same. Eating meat and drinking happily is a pleasure in the world, but it is also fun to calm the heart and feel the connection between man and nature in the intensive cuisine.
Food is medicine, and diet is practice. We rely on food, but we rarely think about our relationship with food, we don't think about the hard work of the cultivators behind food, and we rarely feel grateful to nature. In fact, we can also integrate the profound Zen of jingjin cuisine into our lives, which is not to require people to strictly follow the rules of the temple to cook and eat, but to encourage people to try to cook with the mood of cherishing ingredients and loving nature, enjoying the original flavor of food, and feeling the connection between man and nature.
If you can, you may wish to try to stick to this way of eating, chew slowly, and in the daily meal, you have the most precious things in life.