The offering of food to Buddhist practitioners and their acceptance of it is just as serious and significant as offering them anything else, or making ceremonial offerings to the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas in the temple halls. Gongyang means the serving of food to monastics, but can be also used when presenting them with clothing or other materials useful for their monastic life, including scriptures. From largest to smallest, they are bowls for rice, soup, side-dishes and water. The four bowls are of different sizes and can nestle into one another, with the entire set having a cover. The bowls and utensils are usually made out of a polished hardwood with lovely natural grain patterns in it, but could also be metal or ceramic. A Korean Buddhist balu is a complete dining kit consisting of four matching bowls with a spoon, a pair of chopsticks, a place mat, a dish cloth, and a wrapping cloth to cover it all. Its key values of consumption are spiritual practice thriftiness out of respect for the gifts we receive from nature, and practicing in silence so as to promote self-reflection, which have meant a lot to me.īalu literally means “the four bowls containing food.” This tradition comes from a myth stating that after Sakyamuni attained enlightenment, the Four Heavenly Guardian Kings offered meals to him in stone bowls. Ever since then I’ve had a much deeper appreciation for the spiritual factors inherently in accepting energy in the form of food into myself, with a sense of gratitude, austerity and togetherness with all beings. Hwangak Jikji monastery, and I had never before experienced such a religious way of eating. The first time that I experienced a balu-gongyang ritual-meal in a Korean temple was a spiritual revelation. This way-of-eating has, over many centuries, become an integral feature of the seon practices of the Jogye Order, and these days it is an important component of the templestay programs operated at many of the great monasteries across this nation. Monks themselves do not eat this way at every meal, as some are taken more informally, but generally practice it in ceremonial situations and during seasonal intensive meditation sessions. “Balu-gongyang” is the name for the traditional and formal communal meal practice unique to Korean Buddhist temples, using four bowls of different sizes and not wasting even a speck of food. Further, our daily meals are recurring opportunities for expanding and deepening our awareness, as a type of meditation in themselves. What one eats and how one eats it are very significant, and ought to be approached with a conscious seriousness and sincerity. Korea Timesīuddhists have always regarded eating as a highly important religious act, nourishing the body properly so that development of the mind might continue to progress smoothly. A monk wraps up ``balu'' bowls with a gray cloth.