1. Wash four cups rice and rinse.

2. Put four and half cups of water in the rice pot with rice.

3. Put rice pot in the rice cooker.

4. Put cover on the rice pot.

5. Press cook button on rice cooker. (Different rice cookers will take different times to cook the same amount of rice.)

As silly as this recipe may seem to you, it is the easiest recipe which I can relate to the Buddha-Dharma. The uncooked rice is all sentient beings which are not only us humans but also all living beings. The water is the Ocean of Wisdom and Compassion of Amida Buddha which surrounds all forms of lives and constantly guides us to live in the Buddha-Dharma. The rice cooker is Arizona Buddhist temple where we listen to and practice the Buddha-Dharma.

While the uncooked rice is absorbing the water during the cooking process, as Amida Buddha embraces and takes us all in his Ocean of Wisdom and Compassion without any exceptions, Sangha becomes one and listen to and practice the Buddha-Dharma. As each of uncooked rice has a different shape, each follower has one’s own unique experiences to appreciate the Buddha-Dharma depend on the situations and the circumstances which bring one to encounter the true Dharma, just like the different rice cookers taking different times to cook.