There is a story in the TENZO Kyokun about Dogen, the founder of Zen in Japan and perhaps the most revered teacher in all of Zen practice. Over 800 years ago, Dogen travelled from Japan to China in search of a true Zen teacher. The first person he met was a Zen monk in his seventies whom Dogen was surprised to discover was the TENZO in a mountain monastery. This monk had travelled several miles to buy some mushrooms for the evening meal.

Dogen was excited to meet a Chinese Zen monk and invited him to spend the evening with him. When the TENZO said he needed to return to the temple to make dinner, Dogen said that surely there must be others who could do the cooking and that the old monk did not need to make the long journey back that evening. The TENZO laughed and said that it was his responsibility and his practice to oversee the cooking of the meals. He said that Dogen clearly did not understand that Zen practice was not separate from the act of work. Dogen was moved by this conversation and by the spirit of the monk... and was forever changed.