A Non-Recipe: Mindful Seasonal Eating & the Practice of Mu-Shin
- Eiten
- Jul 27
- 5 min read
Updated: Jul 28
Today, I want to share with you how the Buddhist teachings of no-mind and non-action can de-revolutionize your approach to cooking, eating, and perhaps living. In this time and place where knowledge impersonates wisdom, it felt appropriate to share my insights by way of a recipe/dharma talk. I am speaking on my own accord, as a chef and monk. This is not a scholarly Buddhist work, and really offers nothing in the way of technical culinary expertise. My apologies in advance if you hoped for something more. It is simply me—Eiten—speaking directly to you as the words come to mind. What you are about to read is just as I wrote (write?) it: no planning, no editing.
Perhaps this unstructured approach is fitting, because what I want to share with you is fundamentally about stepping back from our need to control and complicate everything—including how we feed ourselves.
Cooking is often unnecessarily complicated. The past thirty years have seen unparalleled change in the culinary world. Modernist theory appeared on the scene, and the restaurant industry embraced it, ran with it, and never looked back. It didn't take long for home cooks to follow, and now I would suspect it is hard to find a home cook that isn't at least familiar with sous vide cooking if not a devoted practitioner. My mother, who is nearly eighty years old, even has a circulating bath in her kitchen!
Sometimes, the most profound nourishment comes not from what we add, but from what we choose not to do.
Understanding Mushin: The Mind of No-Mind
Mushin (無心), literally "no-mind," represents a mental state where we act without forcing, planning, or controlling—a state of natural responsiveness free from the ego's constant chatter. In Japanese, this is expressed as "mushin no shin" (無心の心). That means the mind without mind. The mind free from attachments.
The Chinese origins of this teaching, wu wei (無為), translate as "non-action" or "effortless action." Note this is not inaction, it is NON-action: action that flows naturally without force or struggle. By force or struggle, I mean to say the inner dialogue that is seeking a specific outcome regardless of surrounding circumstances, etc. It means being at peace while engaged in tasks, carrying them out with maximum skill and efficiency precisely because we're not forcing outcomes.
This isn't passivity. Rather, mushin represents the highest form of response. A response that emerges from reflection rather than reaction. When we apply this to cooking, we discover something remarkable: the most nourishing meals often require the least intervention.
Application to Modern Life
The Monastic Foundation
In Japanese Buddhist monasteries, shojin ryori originally consisted of simple meals called 'ichijiu-issai' (一汁一菜)—"soup plus one dish." The monks maintained health on minimal nutrition. Food was seen as a way to sustain one's effort along the path. About 800 years ago, Master Dōgen Zenji compiled the Tenzo Kyokun (Instructions for the Cook), emphasizing that "one should not waste any ingredients, and bring forth the taste of each food to its maximum effect".
This approach wasn't born from scarcity but from abundance. An abundance of respect for life itself. When we honor ingredients completely, we discover that elaborate preparation often obscures rather than enhances their inherent gifts.
The Modern Application
Today's world presents us with endless choices, complicated recipes, and pressure to create meals "for the 'Gram." We've been conditioned to believe that good food requires extensive knowledge, expensive ingredients, and considerable time. The teaching of mushin offers a different path.
Consider how often we complicate simple acts:
Overthinking meal planning rather than simply shopping for what is fresh and in season
Starting with complex recipes instead of allowing the ingredients to guide us
Worrying more about perfect photogenic presentation than flavor and nourishment
Chasing exotic superfoods and trends instead of celebrating local abundance and community
Non-action teaches us to step back from these compulsions and trust in a simpler intelligence—one that recognizes a perfectly ripe tomato needs little more than perhaps a pinch of sea salt and our complete attention. Watch this short of French chef Alain Passard to see a demonstration of the sort of restraint and intelligence I am talking about.
The Non-Recipe: Mindful Seasonal Eating
What Is a Non-Recipe?
A non-recipe is not the absence of technique or methodology, but the ultimate expression of mindful presence. Deep attention to what the moment is offering to us. It's the recognition that foods are often already complete, requiring only our awareness to reveal their full potential: mindful seasonal eating.
The Practice of Mindful Selection
Summer's Teaching: The Perfect Tomato
August is just around the corner, and if you take a walk through a farmer's market in the upcoming weeks, you'll find tomatoes that seem to be glowing and bursting with accumulated sunshine. Their skin might be slightly imperfect, their shape more than somewhat irregular. This is your non-recipe beginning. The practice is simple:
Choose mindfully: Select tomatoes that feel heavy for their size, that give slightly to gentle pressure, that smell like earth and summer.
Prepare minimally: Slice at room temperature, sprinkle with coarse sea salt if desired. If you have a good olive oil in the pantry, go wild and drizzle some over the top.
Experience fully: Notice the burst of juice, the balance of sweetness and acidity, the way the stored up sunlight seems to radiate from each mouthful.
This isn't cooking—it's collaborating with nature's natural cycles and rhythms.
Summer's Gift: The Ripe Peach
A tree-ripened peach requires even less effort. The non-recipe here is equally profound and simple:
Understand what to look for: A ripe peach yields to gentle pressure, releasing its fragrance freely.
Practice patience: Eat it when it's ready, not when you want to.
Receive with gratitude: As the juice runs down your chin, be present and thankful for the moment.
Seasonal Rhythms as Natural Recipes
Each season offers its own non-recipes:
Spring: Tender greens that need only washing and perhaps a gentle dressing of oil and vinegar. Young radishes eaten whole with good salt.
Summer: Tomatoes, peaches, berries, cucumber—all perfect in their natural state, perhaps enhanced with herbs from the garden.
Fall: Apple varieties that tell stories of trees and terroir; squash and other gourds, each with a unique flavor profile and texture that requires little more than steaming to bring out their innate sweetness.
Winter: Comforting roots and whole grains, served alongside carefully preserved summer foods that contrast with their satisfying density (for lack of better words).
Putting it into (Non) Practice
Practical Applications
Shop intuitively: Buy ingredients that speak to you rather than following a predetermined list.
Embrace seasonality: Let the market teach you what wants to be eaten now.
Celebrate imperfection: The slightly crooked carrot often tastes better than its uniform siblings
Trust simplicity: If an ingredient is in shun and at the peak of its potential, let it be just as it is.
A Challenge
This week set yourself a challenge. Try preparing one non-recipe per day. It is easier than it sounds, but in case you need guidance here is a master recipe to follow:
Find one ingredient at its peak
Prepare it with minimal intervention
Eat it with complete attention
Notice what changes in your relationship with food
You might discover, as countless practitioners have before you, that the most profound meals are often the simplest ones. That in the practice of non-action, we find a deeper form of nourishment that no complex recipe can provide.
The non-recipe isn't about doing less; it's about being more present to what is already complete, and doing only what is necessary.
If you take up the challenge, I would be grateful to hear your thoughts and insights. What non-recipe(s) did you try? What if anything has changed in your approach to food and the act of eating? Share your non-recipe discoveries in the comments below.
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