Live clean. Feel calm. Be happy.
We remove dust to sweep away our worldly cares. We live simply and take time to contemplate the self, mindfully living each moment. It's not just monks that need to live this way. Everyone in today's busy world needs it.
In Japan, cleanliness is next to enlightenment. This bestselling guide by a Zen Buddhist monk draws on ancient traditions to show you how a few simple changes to your daily habits - from your early morning routine to preparing food, from respecting the objects around you to working together as a team -will not only make your home calmer and cleaner, but will leave you feeling refreshed, happier and more fulfilled./var/www/hub/../html/index.php/var/www/hub/../html/index.php The Nine Wrong Answers from respecting the objects around you to working together as a team -will not only make your home calmer and cleaner Not Out of Hate: A Novel of Burma but will leave you feeling refreshed Those Days happier and more fulfilled.
Lopera di Rabelais e la cultur la Rabelais
Lopera di Rabelais e la cultur la Rabelais
Confession time: my house is an absolute mess.
It’s not dirty just, very, very messy. There are books everywhere. I used to organise them but I have long since run out of shelf room. Books pile up, they get shoved into corners and form giant stacks and then I can’t find the ones I want (though all the best ones get shelved, of course.)
I need to sort them out. So after reading this I found myself going online and buying four new bookshelves to display the rest of my books on. This monk argues that our homes reflect our minds, and in a way it is true. If our homes are disorganised and messy then our minds become unfocused and disorganised. Our homes, our temples, reflect our thoughts and our degree of motivation for the day. And I really do agree with this sentiment.
However, not all of us live as monk...
Shoukei Matsumoto, a Buddhist monk from a Tokyo temple, talks down to readers in
How to be Anal RetentiveA Monk’s Guide to a Clean House and Mind.Living in a clean house helps your mind in an immensely positive way, not least because, duuuuh, it’s nice to live in a clean house, and cleaning in itself can be quite calming – I totally agree. But that’s the entire book. “Cleanliness is next to godliness.” Hardly an original sentiment and definitely not in need of an entire book, however short, to explain something so straightforward a concept. And, my word, do you notice how thin the material is! It’s 100% filler.
In case you’re a drooling imbecile heading in for your latest lobotomy, he literally describes cleaning, cleaning instruments (brooms, dustpans, rags), and how to clean sinks and windows: so...
This book perhaps reads the best if you think that you will use those hints and opinions that you can use, and view the rest as an interesting view on places of Zen and the mind of those who live in them. This book clearly works best if you have already decluttered and minimalized (or nearly-minimalized) your place, though some points would work already.
It is a book on cleaning the house inside and outside (outside being the garden and walkways), plus cleaning your body and mind. There are some nice illustrations within. The writer is a Zen buddhist monk in Tokyo, who shows us how they do cleaning in Zen temples, and what they think of it, and personal clealiness and eating. What they use while cleaning, and what they wear while cleaning, is also quite interesting (and cute, in my opinion).
There's talk about when to clean,...
3 and a half stars.
"Think of your home as an allegory for your body."
In Zen, it is often said that the profane is sacred and that the sacred is profane; that's why what can seem like menial tasks to some are viewed as ascetic practices for monks, as Shoukei Matsumoto explains in this little book.
"A Monk's Guide to a Clean House and Clean Mind" is basically exactly what the title promises: it's an insightful explanation of the way cleaning and maintenance is handled in the context of a Zen monastery, how those practices reflect Buddhist principles, are a part of one's meditation and mindfulness practice - with some advice on how to reproduce the techniques in one's own home.
I enjoyed the read, even if I didn't really learn anything new. Matsumoto does a wonderful job in showing how Buddhist outlook a...
In 2017 I began to incorporate more self-care and spiritual practises into my life. In 2018 it has been my goal to really engage with a more mindful, present, and tranquil lifestyle. For that reason I felt very conflicted about what to rate this book. I loved the essence of this book and was so sure I was going to adore it, before I began reading. In actuality, I loved the idea of it more than the end result.
This book opens up the ideologies behind many of a monk's daily practises and shows how the reader can also use the same mindful techniques to improve their environment and mindset. I really appreciated how, for such a short book, this provided details on a multitude of everyday items in the Japanese culture. I found these sections of interest but, perhaps, not of great use to a Western reader. Once I understood the simple concept...
I read {site_link}The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying: A simple, effective way to banish clutter forever by {site_link}Marie Kondō at the start of 2016 and, when I read about {site_link}A Monk's Guide to a Clean House and Mind, I thought it might offer similar nuggets which I could incorporate into my routines.
{site_link}Shoukei Matsumoto, a Buddhist monk at the Komyoji Temple in Kamiyacho, Tokyo, explains how a monk’s day begins with cleaning, and the various rituals, many cleaning based, which punctuate the day.
This slim, quick-to-read guide offers practical cleaning tips, as well as insights into life in a Buddhist temple, however it is far too weighted towards the daily routines of the monks and so less applicable to those who live in an ordinary home.
That said, I did pick up a few good tips, for exam...
Pretty bizarre short book that tells you how to clean your temple. The practical parts were either obvious (how to brush your teeth), not applicable (I don't have a temple or monk garment that needs to be darned) or holier-than-thou and unrealistic (you need to clean your whole place every morning before you do anything else, or else your soul will be unclean), and the rest was just... kind of there? Neither intersting in a spiritual sense nor in a practical one.
The main difference between authentic self-help books and patchworked ones is in the authors. Authors who don’t practice what they preach speak empty words. They leave no marks on their audience’s memories. The example of books written by false teachers are plenty. They fluff up the market, but nobody remembers the titles or authors.
Authors who practice what they preach, their words stick. Words that stick result in follow-up actions, in retention of information, in happier environments.
Books written by people who practice what they preach pretty much create dents in the readers’ minds, consequently and occasionally dents in the book market as well. Books such as 4-Hour Week, or The Art of Not Giving a Fuck, Daring Greatly or the Ten Arguments to Delete Your Social Media Account. These b...
I expected this book to change my life but it was literally how to clean a house and some really silly stuff I don't think anyone can implement.
Thanks to NetGalley and to Penguin UK for providing me an ARC copy of this book that I freely chose to review.
Sometimes I read the title and the description of a book in one of my favourite genres and it is intriguing enough or it has something that makes me want to read it. But sometimes I see a book that is completely different to what I normally read but still, it seems to call me and this is one of those books.
As I am about to move (houses and countries), I thought a book about cleaning (not only our houses but also our minds) might be an asset. And, oh boy, was I right!
This book does what it says on the tin. I can’t guarantee you that you’ll end up cleaning more if you read it, but I’d be surprised if it doesn’t make you think about the process.
I don’t know how accurate a translation of the original this is,...
This is a great book on cleaning. Some of it is specific to Buddhist temples along with a few specific things you're unlikely to find in the West such as shoji doors but the basic philosophy and the majority of the advice is all really useful and relaxing to read. I liked the emphasis on taking the time to appreciate the everyday things surrounding us in particular.
I think combining this with Marie Kondo's method would lead to some excellent tidying methods. She was definitely influenced by Shinto and other traditional Japanese practices, so that makes sense. I look forward to trying some of these out. ^^
O carte mică despre cum trebuie să menținem curățenia și cum dezordinea afectează viața noastră de zi cu zi . Cu multe sfaturi de la călugării budiști . Ma rog multe dintre ele sunt absolut logice , dar din păcate știu ca nu pentru toți 😅 de aceea cred ca o sa fie de folos . Multe lucruri noi nu am aflat , dar oare cum am primit plăcere citind-o . După îți apare un chef să te apuci de curățenie . Am primit doza de motivație pentru astăzi .
A cute little book I bought as a gift and sneakily read before wrapping it!! Makes sense of some Japanese household things. I liked it a lot.
Misschien ben ik een beetje te materialistisch, maar dit boek heeft me tegelijk ook laten realiseren dat je niet noodzakelijk als een monnik moet leven om de kleine gelukskes ik het leven te kunnen appreciëren.
Those who don’t need to read this book will, while those who do need to won’t 😑
That’s the most Zen thing I’ve ever written so I think the book has had an effect...
A dinky little book which offers an insight into the daily life of a monastery and the monks who inhabit it. The cleaning advice offered is pretty much common sense - make sure you involve your family, don't do gardening when it's raining, tidy things away at night before you go to bed and don't leave things unfinished - while some of the tips aren't going to be applicable to the majority of households, but it's interesting to view a snapshot of a vastly different lifestyle.
Eye opening book about the fundamental tasks of cleaning. Not only will you be cleaning your house more often, you will be cleaning your mind and heart as well. This book will give a new definition to "chores".
Although it seems as if you won't have any time doing only a fraction of the rituals, selecting those you deem useful and translating them towards your own flow, will prove liberating in the long run.
Це книга про спосіб наповнення світу навколо себе порядком, чистотою, організованістю, лаконічністю. Це книга для тих, хто надихається дзен-буддизмом, японцями і їхньою ритмікою життя.
Тут можна знайти корисні речі і для власного побуту. Як доводить досвід багаторічної практики у монастирях, навколишнє середовище і турбота про нього стають основою для практики внутрішньої також.
Хотів знайти більше про практику, але загалом книга читається дуже швидк...
Yay for cleaning motivation! Hehe
Quick easy read about how Buddhist monks keep their homes clean!
Breaks cleaning down into rooms, frequency, and seasonality.
Enjoyed the spiritual mind connection to cleanliness and being organized. Loved how he connected gratitude and a pure heart with washing away the dust and dirt. Not the most detailed or helpful in "how" to clean and organize...but he is a monk in a simple monastery, after all, right? I mean, what does he really have to organize.
Tiếp tục series thanh tịnh đầu năm.
Bằng cách nào đó thì mình thích cuốn này nhỉnh hơn "Học ăn, Học nấu, Thẩm thấu yêu thương" một xí, chắc vì có thể hiểu và áp dụng từ cuốn này nhiều hơn.
Mà trước giờ mình dọn dẹp nhà cửa cũng hơi bị chuẩn, vì bố mình là người vô cùng sạch sẽ và bố sẽ soi từng hột bụi vết bẩn trong nhà nếu mình dọn chưa sạch í, thế mình đâm ra cũng sạch theo =))
Nhưng cuốn sách này chỉ ra nhiều tầng nghĩa hơn vậy, rằng không gian sống quanh mình phản ánh bản thân và tâm trí của mình cũng như trực tiếp ảnh hưởng đến sức khỏe của mình. Hơn nữa, còn phải dọn dẹp cả bên trong cơ thể, cả thể chất và tinh...
After reading and loving The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying, when I saw this on my library shelf, I quickly picked it up. This is a book that doesn't have anything particularly new in terms of advice but reading it in the spring air was very refreshing and it inspired me to spring clean. While I would never lead a monk's lifestyle, I found some inspiring and useful bits of advice in this book and it was put in a way that wasn't the slightest bit patronising.
Part of the book I didn't find useful, such as the parts about clothing or replacing a shoji screen but I did find it very interesting when Matsumoto talked about the reason behind all their actions. He described cleaning as a sort of meditative action as you clean your surroundings and focus your mind and how a clean, tidy environment can help to clear your mind of clutter.
An intriguing little book, which I suspect I found more enjoyable because of the line drawings that reminded me of a Herge Tintin illustration, (and because it was short, easy and quick to read).
It's an odd combination of common sense and often very obvious suggestions to keep your home clean and tidy plus suggestions that I suspect work as well outside the Buddhist monk author's community, e.g. adopting a particular pose each time you enter the bathroom, and leaving dried green tea leaf dregs in your toilet to welcome visitors.
I very much respect the Buddhist religion and philosophy, and there are a few snippets in here that made me think about doing things a little differently, or made me realise why what I'm already doing as prescribed (e.g. tidying up at the start and finish of each day) make me feel better, but it re...
This book is great - very quick read! Some great insights on how to be mindful when cleaning your house, but more importantly on how to clear your mind. Lots of tips and tricks on how not to think of cleaning as a chore, but to use it as a time for reflection and to allow you to be more productive throughout your day. I definitely want to read some more books written by monks. Looking forward to incorporating some (not all) of their habits into my everyday life.
I really enjoyed this book. It is very simple and easy to read. I found the details of a monks life interesting. I also like the connection of cleaning - to the state of the mind.
Товчхон гэр орон цэвэрлэхийг заасан боловч, нэг л сонсоод баймаар эмх цэгц, минималистийг 2цагт багтаачихаж.
Personally I found this little book more informative about Japanese Buddhist monks' day-to-day life and the attitudes they have toward cleaning, repairs, etc. than as a guide to keeping your house clean. I enjoyed it and thought the illustrations (by Kikue Tamura) really added to it, I'm not sure why the illustrator isn't credited on the book's Goodreads page.
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Source of the book: Lawrence Public Library
Easy read with some words of wisdom here and there about simple living and sustainability. There was a lot of focus on respecting animals and other creatures by being mindful of how we use everyday objects, which I really liked. However, a lot of information was of no use to me.
A quote I liked:
"Each blemish you find is a sign of unrest in your mind. Once you see how your inner turmoil manifests itself through your surroundings, you can reverse engineer this, mastering yourself by mastering the space in which you live."