Chef's Table

With food...

we can share and communicate our emotions.

It's that mindset of sharing that is really what you're eating.

There is no difference between cooking...

and pursuing Buddha's way.

It's been almost half a century since I entered this way.

I did it

in pursuit of enlightenment.

I am not a chef.

I am a monk.

Everyone calls it "temple food."

The Koreans...

even the monks.

Secular food is focused on creating dynamic energy.

But temple food

keeps a person's mind calm and static.

When making temple food, there are five ingredients we don't use:

garlic, onions, scallions, chives and leeks.

Those are the five pungent spices.

Those five spices are sources of spiritual energy, but...

too much of that energy will prevent a monk's spirit

from achieving a state of calmness.

This is a distraction to meditation.

Temple food, the food monks eat,

is flavored with nature.

You see, temple food is extremely simple.

But it uses a lot of seasonings...

like curcuma, sichuan pepper, brown pepper, shiso.

We never use instant ingredients.

The flavor is based on salt, soy paste, soy sauce and chili paste.

These ingredients awaken your mind. They keep you aware.

Temple food is deeply connected

to spiritual energy.

I was born in Yeongju,

a city in North Gyeongsang Province.

I was the fifth of seven brothers and sisters

and the third daughter.

Is it done?

We had a small farm and a very happy family.

When I was six or seven...

I enjoyed cooking very much.

I had seen my mother making noodles.

One day, I tried making them for my parents,

who worked so hard on the farm.

Just as I was finishing the noodles...

my parents returned home.

My mother looked at me and asked...

"Where did you learn to make this?"

I said, "I learned from watching you...

to make you happy."

Mother praised me.

She patted me on the shoulder and told me,

"You will live well one day."

When I felt the love of my mother,

I wanted to become like her.

The porridge is done.

I learned the mother's way from my mother.

Have some, sister monk.

Preparing a lot of food to share.

As a monk, I try to practice such a mind...

the mother's mind.

A monk is everyone's mother...

not just to a family,

but to the whole community.

Let us start our meal service.

Wonderful.

When I was young, my father would say...

"A woman should be able to make seven dishes with straw.

Only then does she deserve a good husband."

One day, I got angry.

When my father said that, I told him,

"No, Father. I'm not trying to find a good husband.

I will live in a small shack out in the mountains...

surrounded by nature.

I will live all alone."

He said, "Then I will let you stay up in the mountains,

but I will feel sad."

And, as he said this...

he cried.

I asked, "Why are you crying?"

He answered...

"How can a young girl like you think like that?"

I thought I had to be alone to be free.

All year long, plants grow by the energy of nature,

the universe, the earth and human labor.

It's man's greed that wants the plants to grow faster

and grow bigger and prettier.

That is why some resort to chemical substances.

But I let the plants in my garden grow as they want.

After planting the seeds, I just watch them grow.

They grow in snow, rain, wind and sunlight.

When it's hot, they grow in heat. When it's cold, they grow in cold.

I make food from these vegetables with a blissful mind.

And I eat the vegetables with joy.

I periodically leave the temple and go into the city.

I want to communicate with everyone through food.

So I lecture at the Department of Culinary Arts at Jeonju University.

I have been lecturing on vegetarian cooking

for five years.

Sugar acts as a preservative.

It acts as a preservative,

which is why we hardly use any sugar.

That's why temple food is considered healthy and good for your well-being.

Today's young people have a different way of eating.

Their eating habits have become westernized.

And with the propagation of fast foods,

they have experienced a great change in food culture.

I teach because I want the world

to be united through healthy and happy food

and to thrive together.

Whenever you have leftover flour or you throw away a lot of ingredients,

that is not acceptable.

You must treasure the ingredients.

I don't consider my activities to be teaching.

It is communication.

I lecture on the spirit,

the definition of temple food,

why the monks eat temple food,

and how you can change yourself with temple food

even if you are not a monk.

You need to taste it and right away understand what is missing.

The tongue is just one part. All your five senses must move.

The five senses are body, feeling, perception, intention, and consciousness.

We need to take these things into consideration when cooking.

Although it is merely progress toward a goal...

the very action of progressing with the greatest passion,

with the greatest energy...

is a kind of an enlightenment.

When I was 17, my mother suddenly passed away.

I was deeply upset when she died so early.

And I realized there was no guarantee

that I wouldn't give my children the same kind of pain one day.

I vowed never to pass down that pain.

One day, I just disappeared...

without telling anyone.

I didn't take anything with me.

I just decided to be a monk.

In 1974, I left home...

and came to the temple.

The winter sun was setting.

I got off the bus.

I had nothing in my hands.

No money. No things. Nothing.

Just a small girl...

going step by step up a mountain.

When I looked up, I saw an old monk.