Instructions to the Cook: A Zen Master's Lessons in Living a Life That Matters

In addition, it confirmed for me the fact that PR-type folks sometimes
don't know what they're talking about . . . when coming up with
a name for the bakery, many advised against any mention
of the Zen tie-in . . . Glassman disagreed, though, because
he felt that to hide the fact would be not consistent with his
value system . . . he fortunately won out.

My only criticism: I would have liked to have seen a few
more actual lessons; i.e., suggestions that I could apply
to my daily life along the lines of the following one that
I did recall:

As with time, there's almost always enough money to
start the process [of starting a business or virtually
anything else].


Not a lot of Instructions...   January 31, 2001
Ken Hiser (Phila PA)
10 out of 17 found this review helpful

I'm a little disappointed with Glassman Roshi here. Its useful if you're considering a new endevour in business, but as far as personal practice it's not. It's more a bio on Glassman ans his successes, tooting of the horn , I feel. The "instructions" were vague an dalmost always applied only to business or corporate functioning. If you're not in this world, don't expect too much.


Combining Zen and Activism   May 13, 2000
Helene Hoffman (Long Beach, CA)
13 out of 13 found this review helpful

I liked this book because it combined Zen and activism, a rare combination in our culture (unfortunately). Almost as soon as he hit the streets of New York to set up his Zen Center, Glassman was intent on helping the homeless in a meaningful way. What I enjoyed the most is when he focused on Zen principles in doing his activism. When a dilemma arose, he recommended that people meditate to find a possible solution. In the bakery he set up to employ the unemployed and homeless, he erected a meditation center so that people could meditate, if so inclined. I think his merging of spiritual practice, hard work, and activism is probably a good reason why his projects were successful. He realized that business without "more" is not fulfilling, and that spirituality needs to help the community we all live in, as its purpose is not simply to help our individual souls. A most worthwhile book. The only criticism: although he discussed himself, I would have liked to have learned even more about his background, how he came to the place of combining Zen and activism.


Building a community is a job for us all   August 24, 1998
6 out of 7 found this review helpful

Filled with inspiration and common sense wisdom, Glassman shows that caring can become compassion, and in turn can significantly alter our communities for the better. This is a message of hope for those who see government subsidies and the welfare system as our only way to deal with the unemployed or underemployed.

Business owners and community leaders could learn more from this book than from sitting through dozens of meetings filled with people who like to complain, rather than take action. I highly recommend this book both for the joy of seeing that there is light in the world, and as an example of how compassion can reap profits in so much more than dollars and cents.


Best Guide to Spirituality in the Street   May 11, 1997
14 out of 15 found this review helpful

On Becoming a Zen CookHow do you go further from the top of a hundred-foot pole? The answer to this Zen koan, given on the opening page of Instructions to the Cook: A Zen Master1s Lessons in Living a Life that Matters (Bell Tower Harmony Books) is simply, 3Live life more fully.2The Zen 3cook2 writing this book is Bernard Glassman, abbot of the Zen Community of New York and the Zen Center of Los Angeles, with assistance from Rick Fields, editor of Yoga Journal and co-author of the Zen book, Chop Wood, Carry Water. When Dr. Glassman (with a Ph.D. in mathematics from U.C.L.A.) was an aeronautical engineer working on manned missions to Mars at McDonnell-Douglas in the 1970s, he felt a hunger for 3something more.2 He began his practice of Zen and soon became a teacher himself. Glassman vowed to serve the 3supreme meal2 to the world1s hungry. The supreme meal for a Zen cook is life lived to the fullest. By the time he wrote his cookbook, he had created a Zen community in New York, complete with uniquely profitable means of livelihood for its members, as well as several not-for-profit social action enterprises. How did he come to serve up such a full meal? He began by gathering the ingredients at hand at started cooking. Along the way, he didn1t worry so much about doing the 3right thing2 as simply doing the 3next thing,2 which usually proved to be correct. His cookbook, which is also an autobiography of his work, shows that a meal concocted from spirituality, livelihood and service is quite fulfilling. His story, and the teaching he makes from it, has provided me with some of the most inspiring reading I1ve encountered in a long time. I want to pass along some of his recipes here for each of five courses which make up the complete meal. The first course is spiritual practice, such as meditation (or use other methods at hand), to develop the awareness of the oneness of all things. Spirituality also helps us to realize the stillness in the center of all our activities. We need to clear our minds just as a cook cleans the kitchen prior to cooking. We don1t meditate to become enlightened, however, but because we are enlightened, we meditate to keep our stillness in the endless cycle of cooking, serving, cleaning. The second course is study or learning. We need our education to develop intelligence and skills. Rabbi Glassman--of course I should call him Roshi, not Rabbi, but he was born Jewish and his practical, down to earth approach has a Jewish flavor--teaches that we learn by doing. No need to wait until you know everything before you do anything, but you learn like a baby learns to walk, by getting up over and over again until you get going. Then you become more polished with practice. He teaches you to cook with all available ingredients, including your own faults and problems, which are always in plentiful supply. When a series of burglaries into the housing complex for the homeless, for example, began to anger the residents, he used the situation to teach them how much they cared about and wanted to protect their dwelling place. He used this problem to get them more involved in its management, and they learned valuable skills in the process. The third course is livelihood, which requires practical skills put to good use. Although we don1t live to eat, we have to eat to live. No matter how spiritual we may be, finding a way to sustain ourselves in the world is a common necessity. He calls it the meat and potatoes of the meal. Denying donations, Glassman created a self-sustaining businessa bakerybecause good food would nourish others and because it could be quite profitable. His tales of creating that business (becoming the official supplier of baked goods to the Rain Forest brand of cookies and for Ben and Jerry1s ice cream sandwiches) is an instructional manual itself in practical spirituality. He saw to it that the employees not only earned a living, but also found spiritual nourishment in their work. He had a double bottom line that he sees as really one: profit and service to all concerned. He didn1t aim merely for profit that served, but also profit that transformed, because the forth course is social action. Creating economically self-sustaining structures that nourished the community and transformed its social landscape, he hired and trained the homeless so they could earn money to own their own shelter. Have a big vision, he counsels, but pay attention to the details. He developed, for example, an 800 number voice mail network for the homeless to communicate with each other and with potential employers. The final course is relationship and community. He and his students lived among the homeless and learned from them in designing their programs. He also engaged local business and government to participate as be began a program of refurbishing abandoned buildings. Glassman has had his critics, people who miss the traditional zendo. They ask, 3But is it Zen?2 He treats the question as a koan, and replies, 3Three pounds of fudge!2