How to Eat Dinner with Buddhist Temple Monks

Buddhist monks and nuns don’t eat like the rest of us and don’t allow photos or videos to document it. However, I was invited to experience a dinner with them first hand. Prior to the dinner Master Jiru, who was our guide while were stayed at the monastery, gave us detailed instructions on how the meals were served. The bowls, plates and chop sticks are always placed in the same position prior to the meal and at the end are stacked in a particular way. No talking is allowed, so they have a system to indicate if you don’t want a particular food, want more of one food, or are finished with your food. It is absolutely fascinating to see and a bit unnerving to experience. Below is a list of instructions on what is involved:

1. Follow the group into the dining hall and you will be assigned a seat
2. The meal is to be eaten in silence; no talking is allowed
3. You will be given two bowls, one plate and chopsticks (set with the plate in the middle)
4. The food is set out just prior to you being seated with soup in one bowl, rice in the other, and four vegetables on the plate
5. No drinks are served as most asian cultures view the soup as a drink to be sipped throughout the meal
6. Before eating, everyone repeats a chant (they told me just to mumble because it was to long for me to learn before the meal)
7. If you wish to eat all the food items, you are to move them from the far edge of the table in front of you to be closer to you and switch the location of the two bowls (soup & rice) so they are on opposite sides
8. If you don’t wish to eat one item, just leave it in the original position and it will be removed
9. If you want a refill, push the plate or bowl forward leaving some of the food on it that you want, you can silently indicate to the server how much more you want once they come to give you more food (servers are constantly walking the rows refilling food)
10. When you are done, stack the bowls on the left, chop sticks in the middle on the table, and plate on the right with any remaining trash or left over food on the plate
11. Bow to the Buddha at the far end of the room after standing, but before leaving

I chose to keep it simple and ate all the items I was given. Once finished, I stacked my bowls as instructed, and pushed my plate to the proper position with chopsticks between the bowls and plate on the table. I was given the thumbs up under the table by Master Jiru that I had done everything correctly. The entire meal took about 10 minutes and felt a little bit like an eating contest without talking, but also rather stern and serious due to the rules. I believe they served about 300 devotees in under 15 minutes which was quite amazing, especially given the whole experience was done in silence. Unfortunately no photos are allowed in the dining hall, so I was unable to take pictures other than monks and nuns lining up before the meal.