Shundo David Haye – Zen Priest

‘We should listen to the sound of the water and the scrubbing, to the various sounds the dishes make when they hit each other. The sounds of our work tell us much about our practice… Most people dislike dishwashing. Maybe they can learn to appreciate the touch of the wooden bowls, the pots and mugs and everything they handle, the weight of what we lift up and set down, the various smells and sounds. St. Benedict. the Patriarch of Western monks, says that in a monastery every pot and pan should be treated with the same reverence as the sacred vessels on the altar.’ (from Wind Bell)

This venerable monk had a long association with Zen Center, though I hadn’t realised he had been the head dishwasher at Tassajara in the second summer there. The final words echo Dogen’s in the Tenzo Kyokun.