Wednesday, April 18, 2007

Cleaning Meditation

What's your choice of cleaning meditation?

At the old temple, I would mop the floor or clean the carpet or rub newspaper on the mirror - depending on what's available.

....


(Warning: stop reading now if you get grossed out easily.)

....

Now I mostly clean the toilet bowls.... It's oddly satisfying to rub the toilet bowl clean (although I don't do it enough at home because I think that my own waste is not that dirty.) The smell of bleaching agent is also strangely alluring to me.

I notice that these new toilet bowls get dirty easier than the one at the old temple. Almost every time I train, I clean toilet bowls. And every time I want to use them, they are dirty!

Why? I came up with a couple of reasons.
  1. These new bathrooms are brighter so I see more.

  2. The toilet bowls get smaller so it's harder to aim.

  3. We eat spicier food (actually my blog mate came up with this.)

  4. etc.
So what's your cleaning meditation of choice? And why?

11 comments:

  1. since old temple i have always wanted to clean & dust the altar, to touch & kiss the beautiful buddhas & other deities. however, someone always beats me to it! so i usually do my old standby - the mirrors. many people can clean at the same time so it's nice to work with everyone & talk to one another. also i can practice my gongbu/mabu while doing so & check out how my hair looks!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I used to dust the weapon racks, `cause I seemed to do a better job than anyone else. Now it's usually mirrors or vacuuming, or whatever else if it isn't getting done.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Like Chad, I like to practice mabu and gong bu whilst polishing mirrors.

    Othertimes, I like feeding the turtles, and occasionally helping Mo with cleaning their tank.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I've been 'newspaper-ing' the mirrors, mopping the floors, or vaccuming the carpets.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I usually vacuum. It's a calming cooldown, and I like making a nice regular pattern in the carpet.

    ReplyDelete
  6. you guys still have chi to do mabu and gongbu while cleaning? I usually just collapse on the floor in front of the mirror while reaching my arms out to rub newspaper.

    I like the pattern vacuuming leaves on the floor too. I like it more though when I ruin the pattern by trying to do forms on the freshly cleaned carpet.....

    ReplyDelete
  7. I always did the mirrors at the old temple. So many people would go to clean them but then not much would really get done. So I found myself sitting there for a while looking at all the different angles seeing the light hit it different ways, to get all the smudges off. and then the next day its completely smudged again (esp. after kids class). there's probably some kind of mad buddhisty analogy in there somewhere =P

    ReplyDelete
  8. Originally the bodhi is not a tree,
    Neither is there a bright mirror.
    Since originally there is nothing,
    Where can dirt gather?

    ReplyDelete
  9. (You know I didn't write that, right?)

    ReplyDelete