Spring Cleaning
Chinese New Year is just a few days away and festive music can be heard in the streets. My friends and I from
Nidana Youth Group
had the great opportunity to help a few elderly clean up their places
for the new year yesterday. I had the good opportunity to reflect on my
experience.
I was give the chance
to scrub this basin which was covered in dirt, which probably had been
accumulated for quite some time. And as I was scrubbing the dirt away,
trying to reveal the nice original state of the basin, this thought
arises, "Aren't our minds like this basin, covered in negative habitual
tendencies, accumulated over time?"
After the session, I had some time to reflect on this as the photos were uploaded on social media.
The detergent, the scrub and the water that we used to scrub the basin
are like the knowledge (for improvement of self) and help (from others
to improve ourselves) to 'scrub the dirt' from our mind and reveal the
original.
The crux at this point of time, is whether we want to
engage in the efforts to start cleaning up. It is tough work I must say.
Some of the 'dirt' had been accumulated for too long and become
'embedded' in the mind.
Like the basin, it takes more efforts to scrub
it clean.
Use the knowledge such as kindness and empathy like
the detergent to scrub away the negative habitual tendencies of
jealousy, anger, greed and the ego. Utilise help from others such as
peer support and getting to know and hang out with supportive, positive
friends like the scrub and water to scrub and wash away the dirt. And
soon, you will see that the original goodness state of the mind is more
visible comparatively.
Why? You may asked why was the elderly
alright with living in such a condition? He probably grew accustomed to
the conditions of the basin like how we grew accustomed to our negative
habitual tendencies and thinks that it is part of us, it is who we are
and that is permanent. The 'scrub' had shown otherwise.
Even
after we wash it, clean it. It may still become dirty again over time
hence we will need to keep up the efforts to maintain it. Well unless we
decided to leave the house that we are living in right now. If we do it
everyday, every moment without fail, the dirt is easier to scrub away.
The start is always difficult especially the basin had been covered in
the accumulated dirt over a long period of time but perhaps the
maintenance is easier just that it requires more efforts to do so every
single time.
It is time for spring cleaning of both the house, and the mind for a better new year ahead.
Thank you once again to my friends who organised this meaningful activity.
May all have the conditions to improve ourselves starting now and continuing in the new year.
May all be well and happy.
For those who have not started cleaning, start scrubbing. For those who
already started cleaning, keep it clean, keep scrubbing.
