3 ideas
Dōgen meets an elderly tenzo drying mushrooms under a scorching sun without a hat, and asks why he doesn't have assistants do it or wait for a cooler time. The cook answers that others are not him, and if not now, when? The practice cannot be delegated or postponed, because the work done by one's own hands in this moment is the only place practice actually occurs.
The cook handles every ingredient, pot, and utensil with the care one would give to one's own eyes, and puts things back in their proper place. A poor ingredient isn't dismissed and a rich one isn't fawned over. Each one is given full attention on its own terms, so the quality of attention stops depending on the value of the object.
Dōgen names three attitudes the tenzo must bring to the work. Joyful mind is gladness at the chance to serve. Parental mind is caring for the assembly as a parent cares for a child. Magnanimous mind is a large, steady mind like a mountain or ocean that doesn't tilt toward favoritism or get disturbed by circumstances. Together they turn a menial role into full practice by changing the stance from which the task is done, not the task itself.