Rain Flower Hut: 300+ gift-ecology, vegetarian cafes in China

Starting about a year ago, here and there, I start to hear mentions of a blossoming vegetarian restaurant network in China, called Rain Flower Hut (Yu Hua Zhai 雨花斋). I heard it was started by an old Buddhist monk (now called the Rain Flower elder by many), who gave his whole life’s savings of 50,000 Yuan (about USD 8,000) to create a free, all-volunteer-run, vegetarian cafe for the elderly and (financially) poor members of the community. And the model spread across the entire country like wildfire – or more appropriately, like rain and flower!

Having been a volunteer at Karma Kitchen, a pay-it-forward restaurant in Berkeley, I am eager to experience firsthand the sister endeavor in my homeland :)

Study Notes: Yoga of Eating, Theater of the Oppressed

Two recent "courses" have helped me to gradually re-enter the human body, after having been a disembodied "ghost in a machine" for all these years :) , not really in touch with the body's innate intelligence and wisdom. They helped usher in a new chapter of "embodied rehabilitation" in my journey.

Yoga of Eating

Yoga of Eating is the first book that Charles Eisenstein published. It turns the conventional diet-book paradigm on its head by inviting readers to tune into the authentic needs of the body, and follow those insights to fully enjoy the food.

I See You. I’m With You.

Finally. Sitting down. Breathing deep. Going back in time, into the transformative 10-day intensive with fellow Shambhala warriors, deepening into the Work That Reconnects, led by our beloved teacher/friend/elder Joanna Macy.

It’s been three full days since I returned home from that magical land. I am still vibrating in an altered state of being/consciousness, with a shame-free humility and awe, a new-found curiosity for other ways of knowing/healing/being, and a renewed commitment to serve life on Earth.

Overwhelmed with gratitude, the unknown, and excitement, I struggled to concentrate on work in the past few days. I felt that going back to the “old life” so quickly could not do justice to the transformation and learning that had just happened. I feel like there is a song wanting to be sung, but there’s no space yet to let it out; thus, the reluctant singer is frequently choked up by the bursting song.

Finally. Now, in a brief window between life’s commitments, I could let that song start to flow through.