Cleaning Day 2008

Cleaning Day 17 October 2008

It is a cleaning day again, every year people have come to help us clean the temple, and this year lots of people came to give us a hand. It is a true saying “Many hands make light work”. If the work to be done is small or large, if we give each other a hand it can be done much more easily.

Cleaning day reminds me of the Sammajjana Bhikkhu Sutta, which told me that as a monk, I should not clean the place outside, I should have cleaned my mind out of greed, hatred and done my duty; learning Buddhist scriptures, practising meditation and teaching people who want to understand Buddhism. They are three main monastic duties.

The temple is clean, but how about our mind and body, are they clean or free from greed, hatred and delusion. If we still have greed, hatred and delusion, it is our duty to clean them as much as we can. I hope the cleaning day can remind all of us of cleaning our mind and body. Don’t forget that, inside cleaning needs to be done, otherwise we always fall under some bad habits.