2010 FEB.
HAVE YOU BEEN CLEANING
By Rev. Yushi Mukojima,
HAVE YOU BEEN CLEANING
By Rev. Yushi Mukojima,
| Dharma Message |
We had our annual Temple Clean-up in December of last year. Although we have a big cleaning at
the temple twice a year, before our Obon Service and New Year’s Day Service, the members of
Fujinkai and so many Sangha members carefully clean every corner of the Temple used for our
services, activities and events.
The Fujinkai (Buddhist Womens Association) members always help me wash and polish the
Butsugu, the Buddhist ornaments in the Onaijin (inner altar). This cleaning ritual is called Omigaki.
But the thick, dirty dust that has settled on the ornaments over half a year is always more persistent
than our expectations, so Omigaki is really hard work for the Fujinkai with its many aged members.
Nevertheless, the members of Fujinkai never complain at all. They work hard together in a very
friendly atmosphere to carefully clean the Butsugu. And thanks to the great help and support of
several younger members who have recently joined the Fujinkai, the Onaijin is now shining more
brightly than usual. After we finished up last December, a BWA member came up to me and said,
“Sensei, as I have heard that the Onaijin symbolizes the world of Amida Buddha’s Pure Land of
Utmost Bliss, I wish it always to be clean and beautiful as our spiritual home. So I am always very
happy to help you to polish it.” When I heard her precious words, I was really grateful for her loving
thoughtfulness.
I would like to take this opportunity to express my deep gratitude to the Sangha members who
came to thoroughly clean the carpet, the pews, windows and stairways, taking several hours. I really
appreciate your dedication.
Speaking of cleaning, what is your attitude towards it? Probably there are a lot of you who think of
cleaning as bothersome, smelly, dirty, tiresome, and so on. So I bet there are very few who grab a
broom and begin to sweep joyfully.
One of my big surprises after coming to the U.S. is that students don’t clean their classrooms or
the school restroom which they use daily. I know that there must be exceptions, but most schools
hire cleaning staff to take care of this job.
In Japan, most schools set aside time for both student and teacher to clean the spaces they use.
As a student, I used to participate with everyone else in cleaning, from elementary school through
high school. It was an important part of our education to sweep and clean with gratitude our
classroom and the restroom we used each day.
The act of working together to clean and bring to order things which we or others used and dirtied,
helped to shape our minds and character. This Japanese cleaning culture makes kids’ minds and
spirits grow and is very influential in shaping the course of their development. So it is said in Japan,
“Our mind and heart are purified when cleaning.”
The cleaning culture was born from the Buddhist idea that when cleaning the dirt and stains which
are around us, we also wash away all troubling thoughts from our minds and keep our minds pure. I
believe that after sweeping a room clean, each of us have felt refreshed and satisfied.
However, although I am talking big now, I confess that when I was a student, I sometimes played
baseball during clean-up time with my friends by using a ball made by a floor cloth made round with a
rubber band, and a broom in place of a bat. So we were scolded severely by my teacher when we
were found out. What a shameful story.
But to return to my original thought, for people seeking the Buddhist way, cleaning is one of the
most important practices to cultivate the heart and mind in daily life.
There is a very interesting story from the time of Shakyamuni Buddha which I would like to share it
with you.
There were brothers who were disciples of Shakyamuni Buddha. The older brother, Maha-
pantaka, was very intelligent, and the younger brother, Cuuda-pantaka, could not even memorize a
short phrase from a Sutra.
One day, Shakyamuni Buddha heard Cuuda-pantaka’s wailing cry from the outside of the
monastery gate. Buddha went out and asked him, “Cuuda-pantaka, why are you crying so hard?”
The man answered with tears in his eyes, “Oh, Buddha, I am a born fool. Instead of remembering
your teaching, I immediately forget even a short passage of the Dharma words. Because of this, my
older brother abandoned me, saying, ‘You are hopeless. You should give up being a monk and go
back to our hometown because you have given the other disciples so much trouble.’ When I think
that I who am a fool cannot become a Buddha, I am overwhelmed with grief!”
Buddha soothed gently, “Cuuda, don’t cry. A person who knows his own foolishness is not foolish.
You are much wiser than the person who believes that he is wise and who doesn’t realize his own
foolishness.”
Then Buddha held a broom out to Cuuda and asked him to use it every day to clean up the
monastery grounds by chanting, “Let’s dust! Let’s wash off the dirt!”
Cuuda-pantaka, unable to remember even a few words for a short time, tried to thoroughly clean
every corner of the monastery with the broom by chanting, “Let’s dust! Let’s wash off the dirt!” in a
loud voice. He did so without neglecting even one day though he was ridiculed by other disciples.
One day after several years had passed, and due to his great efforts, Cuuda truly came to realize
what the Buddha was trying to teach him in making him concentrate on cleaning. The dust around
him was the temptation which confuses our minds; the dirt was the greed that wants to possess
things; and the mind that gets angry results when we cannot have these things. It is the foolish mind
that cannot understand that it is the greed and anger which bring us unhappiness.
Actually, Cuuda-pantaka’s awakening was that in order to become a Buddha, he had to rid his
mind of the dirt of “greed, anger, and ignorance,” the Three Poisons of the Blind Passion. As a result
of his untiring efforts at cleaning, he finally was able to clear his mind and became an excellent
disciple who was revered by all.
Buddha was really glad to see his disciple achieve that great stage and told all his disciples that
Cuuda-pantaka had attained the sagehood of Arhat. After that, he preached to them, saying, “Oh, my
disciples, even if you learned many teachings of the Dharma, if you only memorize them, there is no
sense. If you thoroughly practice even one phrase of the teachings, you will be able to attain the way
of the truth. Look at Pantaka. I am really proud of him. Follow his good example!”
So it is clear that cleaning is a very important Buddhist daily practice because the mind is naturally
purified when one cleans. Of course, it is very important to practice in your house but especially, we
should try to make our Temple clean because it is the spiritual home for all of us. After the Family
Service, we should return the service book which we used back to its place. If we have trash, we
shouldn’t leave it in the pew, but discard it in a trash can. After a meeting, we should put the chairs in
order, wipe the table clean, wash the coffee maker and coffee cups. We should try to clean the room
we used carefully in gratitude so that next person can use it comfortably. It is very important for us,
Buddhists to always have such a mental attitude. We should never allow the lazy mind which thinks
that somebody else will clean up after us.
Well, today let us try to sweep up the mess around us by chanting, “Let’s dust! Let’s wash off the
dirt!” and thus make our minds empty. While cleaning, we don’t have to take Buddhism too seriously.
But maybe pushing your heavy vacuum cleaner will lead you to the sagehood of Arhat.
In Gassho,
the temple twice a year, before our Obon Service and New Year’s Day Service, the members of
Fujinkai and so many Sangha members carefully clean every corner of the Temple used for our
services, activities and events.
The Fujinkai (Buddhist Womens Association) members always help me wash and polish the
Butsugu, the Buddhist ornaments in the Onaijin (inner altar). This cleaning ritual is called Omigaki.
But the thick, dirty dust that has settled on the ornaments over half a year is always more persistent
than our expectations, so Omigaki is really hard work for the Fujinkai with its many aged members.
Nevertheless, the members of Fujinkai never complain at all. They work hard together in a very
friendly atmosphere to carefully clean the Butsugu. And thanks to the great help and support of
several younger members who have recently joined the Fujinkai, the Onaijin is now shining more
brightly than usual. After we finished up last December, a BWA member came up to me and said,
“Sensei, as I have heard that the Onaijin symbolizes the world of Amida Buddha’s Pure Land of
Utmost Bliss, I wish it always to be clean and beautiful as our spiritual home. So I am always very
happy to help you to polish it.” When I heard her precious words, I was really grateful for her loving
thoughtfulness.
I would like to take this opportunity to express my deep gratitude to the Sangha members who
came to thoroughly clean the carpet, the pews, windows and stairways, taking several hours. I really
appreciate your dedication.
Speaking of cleaning, what is your attitude towards it? Probably there are a lot of you who think of
cleaning as bothersome, smelly, dirty, tiresome, and so on. So I bet there are very few who grab a
broom and begin to sweep joyfully.
One of my big surprises after coming to the U.S. is that students don’t clean their classrooms or
the school restroom which they use daily. I know that there must be exceptions, but most schools
hire cleaning staff to take care of this job.
In Japan, most schools set aside time for both student and teacher to clean the spaces they use.
As a student, I used to participate with everyone else in cleaning, from elementary school through
high school. It was an important part of our education to sweep and clean with gratitude our
classroom and the restroom we used each day.
The act of working together to clean and bring to order things which we or others used and dirtied,
helped to shape our minds and character. This Japanese cleaning culture makes kids’ minds and
spirits grow and is very influential in shaping the course of their development. So it is said in Japan,
“Our mind and heart are purified when cleaning.”
The cleaning culture was born from the Buddhist idea that when cleaning the dirt and stains which
are around us, we also wash away all troubling thoughts from our minds and keep our minds pure. I
believe that after sweeping a room clean, each of us have felt refreshed and satisfied.
However, although I am talking big now, I confess that when I was a student, I sometimes played
baseball during clean-up time with my friends by using a ball made by a floor cloth made round with a
rubber band, and a broom in place of a bat. So we were scolded severely by my teacher when we
were found out. What a shameful story.
But to return to my original thought, for people seeking the Buddhist way, cleaning is one of the
most important practices to cultivate the heart and mind in daily life.
There is a very interesting story from the time of Shakyamuni Buddha which I would like to share it
with you.
There were brothers who were disciples of Shakyamuni Buddha. The older brother, Maha-
pantaka, was very intelligent, and the younger brother, Cuuda-pantaka, could not even memorize a
short phrase from a Sutra.
One day, Shakyamuni Buddha heard Cuuda-pantaka’s wailing cry from the outside of the
monastery gate. Buddha went out and asked him, “Cuuda-pantaka, why are you crying so hard?”
The man answered with tears in his eyes, “Oh, Buddha, I am a born fool. Instead of remembering
your teaching, I immediately forget even a short passage of the Dharma words. Because of this, my
older brother abandoned me, saying, ‘You are hopeless. You should give up being a monk and go
back to our hometown because you have given the other disciples so much trouble.’ When I think
that I who am a fool cannot become a Buddha, I am overwhelmed with grief!”
Buddha soothed gently, “Cuuda, don’t cry. A person who knows his own foolishness is not foolish.
You are much wiser than the person who believes that he is wise and who doesn’t realize his own
foolishness.”
Then Buddha held a broom out to Cuuda and asked him to use it every day to clean up the
monastery grounds by chanting, “Let’s dust! Let’s wash off the dirt!”
Cuuda-pantaka, unable to remember even a few words for a short time, tried to thoroughly clean
every corner of the monastery with the broom by chanting, “Let’s dust! Let’s wash off the dirt!” in a
loud voice. He did so without neglecting even one day though he was ridiculed by other disciples.
One day after several years had passed, and due to his great efforts, Cuuda truly came to realize
what the Buddha was trying to teach him in making him concentrate on cleaning. The dust around
him was the temptation which confuses our minds; the dirt was the greed that wants to possess
things; and the mind that gets angry results when we cannot have these things. It is the foolish mind
that cannot understand that it is the greed and anger which bring us unhappiness.
Actually, Cuuda-pantaka’s awakening was that in order to become a Buddha, he had to rid his
mind of the dirt of “greed, anger, and ignorance,” the Three Poisons of the Blind Passion. As a result
of his untiring efforts at cleaning, he finally was able to clear his mind and became an excellent
disciple who was revered by all.
Buddha was really glad to see his disciple achieve that great stage and told all his disciples that
Cuuda-pantaka had attained the sagehood of Arhat. After that, he preached to them, saying, “Oh, my
disciples, even if you learned many teachings of the Dharma, if you only memorize them, there is no
sense. If you thoroughly practice even one phrase of the teachings, you will be able to attain the way
of the truth. Look at Pantaka. I am really proud of him. Follow his good example!”
So it is clear that cleaning is a very important Buddhist daily practice because the mind is naturally
purified when one cleans. Of course, it is very important to practice in your house but especially, we
should try to make our Temple clean because it is the spiritual home for all of us. After the Family
Service, we should return the service book which we used back to its place. If we have trash, we
shouldn’t leave it in the pew, but discard it in a trash can. After a meeting, we should put the chairs in
order, wipe the table clean, wash the coffee maker and coffee cups. We should try to clean the room
we used carefully in gratitude so that next person can use it comfortably. It is very important for us,
Buddhists to always have such a mental attitude. We should never allow the lazy mind which thinks
that somebody else will clean up after us.
Well, today let us try to sweep up the mess around us by chanting, “Let’s dust! Let’s wash off the
dirt!” and thus make our minds empty. While cleaning, we don’t have to take Buddhism too seriously.
But maybe pushing your heavy vacuum cleaner will lead you to the sagehood of Arhat.
In Gassho,