Recipe for "the wisdom of no escape" - Strawberry Pie

There is a Zen story about a man, a tiger, a cliff, and a strawberry.  The story says there was a man being chased through the jungle by a fierce tiger.  Eventually, the man's flight from the tiger brings him to a cliff and he is cornered by the tiger at this precipice.  Deciding to move ahead in an attempt to escape from the tiger, the man grabs a vine and starts to climb down the cliff, which is a great risk for the man. 


While he is dangling there, a mouse comes out of a hole in the rock and starts gnawing on the vine.  Now, clinging to the vine on which a mouse is chewing, he sees a second tiger at the bottom of the cliff.  It seems that being trapped between two tigers in the midst of certain death that the man would panic.


Realizing that he cannot return to the top where one tiger is staring down at him and realizing that if he climbs to the bottom, there is another tiger waiting, he does not panic.  Instead, he takes a breath and notices that growing from the rock is plant producing a single luscious, ripe, red strawberry.  He takes the wild strawberry and eats it, savoring every bite, letting the sweetness of the strawberry fill him, dwelling only in the moment that is now.  It is the best strawberry that the man has ever eaten in his entire life.  What could have easily been a crisis, turns out to be a blessing.


In this moment the man has found what Pema Chodron calls "the wisdom of no escape."


When we let go of the past...when we are neither anxious or apprehensive about the future...when we become aware of what is happening right now, we are practicing the wisdom of no escape.  This is what some refer to as "the power of now"...we have let go of the past--letting go of regret, sorrow, pain, and suffering...we have let go of the future--of expectations, of fear, of stress and concern.  Now we are free and fully aware; we can see the beauty and blessings of the moment in which we are dwelling.  Here we have the ability to create our own reality...finding the strawberry between two tigers.

Recipe for "The Wisdom of No Escape" - Strawberry Pie

Photograph by Jon-Erik Lido


Pie Filling
Ingredients:

• 6 cups of fresh strawberries - slightly more than a pound (Try to get seasonal ones from the farmer's market or pick your own!)
• 1 avocado
• 8 soaked dates
• 1 TB lemon juice
• 6 TB ground chia seeds (use a coffee grinder or buy them "pre-ground")

In a food processor, first blend the dates, avocado, chia, and lemon juice until smooth.  Then pulse chop 4 cups of strawberries until the mixture is a chunky consistency.  Cut the remaining 2 cups of strawberries into slices or cubes.  Stir 1 cup of chopped strawberries into the mixture, reserving 1 cup for topping.

Crust
Ingredients:

• 1 cup walnuts (preferably soaked/dehydrated)
• 1 cup pecans (preferably soaked/dehydrated)
• 8-9 dates
• 3-4 TB raw chocolate powder (optional, but super delicious)
• dash of sea salt

In a food processor, blend the nuts until there is a light, powdery consistency.  Next slowly blend in the dates and finally add the chocolate powder and sea salt.  Press the mixture into a pie plate.  Pour in the strawberry filling and decorate the top with pieces of strawberries and perhaps a mint leaf for garnish.