Book Review: A Monk's Guide to a Clean Home and Hearth (2018)

A Monk’s Guide to a Clean Home and Mind is a charming short book written by the Zen monk Shoukei Matsumoto. The English translation of the Japanese bestseller was published in 2018. By giving insight into a Zen monk’s life in a temple, as well as the Buddhist teachings guiding it, the author tries to bring deliberateness, mindfulness, and gratitude into a short-living world increasingly driven by consumerism and unhappiness.

Shoukei Matsumoto studied Western philosophy at the University of Tokyo and got an MBA from the Indian School of Business. He has written several books in Japanese, started a temple management school, and is CEO & Co-Founder of Interbeing Inc., a company trying to bring Buddhist teachings to business people. Matsumoto has also been selected as a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader. As part of the Desirable Digitalisation project at the Center for Science and Thought at the University of Bonn, Shoukei Matsumoto worked on 'Beyond the Human Perspective: AI, Buddhism, and the New Realism of Transperspectivity'.

The goal of Buddhist teachings is to reduce the suffering in people’s lives and open them up to enlightenment. Besides sitting meditations, other Zen practices are the so-called 'samu'. 'Samu' are everyday chores like cleaning, cooking, chopping firewood, etc., that are practised in a meditative fashion. Since most people already practice some of these in their daily lives, most notably cleaning, Shoukei Matsumoto believes cleaning is a powerful gateway to introduce Buddhist practices into the lives of normal people. By shifting the perception of cleaning from a chore towards a deliberate meditative practice, we can benefit from the positive effects of mindfulness and gratitude. The author tries to achieve this in his book by giving a detailed account of the life at a temple, the daily routines and practices as well as going over the possessions a monk has and the tools he uses. He then gives guidance on how to implement them in your everyday life. While the detailed remarks on the tools and possessions might not be of interest to everyone, they help set the scene. Buddhist practices and teachings are interspersed throughout the book and accompanied with a short explanation of why they are practised and what makes them important.

Most of the claims in the book are based on religious beliefs for which there is no evidence provided, neither scientific nor otherwise. Opinions are stated as facts without further explaining why they should be true. It can be argued that some claims resonate on the level of common sense or are reasonable in the context of reducing one’s negative impact on nature and the planet. Even though the claims might seem arbitrary to non-religious individuals, once you accept them as "given", they appear to at least be consistent with one another.

Personal Opinion

I read this book because I have an interest in minimalism and a minimalist blog, sadly I don't remember which one, mentioned it as providing an interesting point of view on minimalism. To me, the book seemed a bit disjointed. What seem like important core philosophies are casually mentioned in a single sentence while discussing the optimal properties of a dust cloth. This might be, however, because I am not at all familiar with any Buddhist teachings and have no prior knowledge. I also couldn't benefit from the many detailed descriptions of tools and cleaning instructions (like what kind of socks to wear and how to clean a lamp).

That being said, the parts about being grateful for your food and being more intentional and mindful in everything we do left a lasting impression on me. I will also try out some of the cleaning routines as well as attempting to shift my view on cleaning as a chore towards a deliberate practice.

Finally, the book introduced me to an interesting author, and I’m planning on giving his other books 'A Quiet Mind: Buddhist ways to calm the noise in your head (2020)' and 'Work Like a Monk (2026)' a try.

Who Should Read This Book?

The book is relevant to anyone who is interested in how Zen monks live or is interested in Zen Buddhism in general. The content is also related to mindfulness and the minimalist culture and offers an interesting perspective on it. It is short (less than three hours) and easy to read.

Key Points and Concepts

These are the key points I isolated from the book. I have written a small summary for each concept below.

• Cleaning as a Path to Enlightenment
• Mindfulness and Gratitude
• Order
• Minimalism
• Don’t Kill

Cleaning as a Path to Enlightenment

As I understood it in Shin Buddhism, the religion the author practices, cleaning and domestic chores are described as a core tenet. Their purpose is not only to keep everything tidy but also, similar to sitting meditation, to clean one’s own hearth and cultivate the mind. It is believed that your inner state manifests itself through your surroundings and inversely, that you can influence your inner state by mastering said surroundings. Cleaning and domestic chores in general are therefore viewed as a way to reach enlightenment. So according to the author, one should continue to clean even if everything in the physical world is already spotless, because it offers an opportunity to practice mindfulness and contemplate on the self. Treating cleaning as a practice also makes it clear that you can’t outsource it; after all, you would not outsource your meditating sessions.

Doing this consistently is very important. In the same way that dust returns as soon as you stop cleaning, negative thoughts will return to your mind as soon as you stop cultivating it. So this is intended to be a lifelong practice.

Cleaning Your Surroundings

Matsumoto recommends that you allot some time to cleaning in the morning, even if it is only ten minutes. This daily ritual of cleaning in silence, while preferably opening the windows and feeling the cold morning air, refreshes and clears your mind and sets you up for the day’s work ahead. Investing a small amount of time every day will also help to keep your home clean at all times and prevent work from piling up.

Ideally, you should spend as much time cleaning as possible. In an interview, Matsumoto mentions, however, that you should only do this to an extent which is possible for you and still enjoyable. If you feel pressure or an obligation to clean, then it becomes a practice of pain. And according to him, A painful practice is not practice.

Cleaning Yourself

Similar to the belief that you can change your mind by changing your surroundings, it is believed that the body reflects the heart and the heart reflects the body. So by taking good care of your body and cleaning it, you also take good care of your heart. The most important of which is to mindfully clean your face every morning.

Mindfulness and Gratitude

The idea to be fully with whatever you are doing, without distractions or stray thoughts, is a core concept of the book.

For example, when cleaning an object, we should be mindful of how much work, care, and love went into making it, be thankful of what this object does for us, and handle it with appropriate care.

But mindfulness and gratitude are important outside of cleaning as well. We should eat our meals without distractions and ideally in complete silence. We should appreciate the food we eat, the work and love that went into growing and preparing the meal, and deliberately savour every bite of it. We should not eat so that we are completely full and never waste any food.

The seasons, the weather, and the time of day are other things we should appreciate and be mindful of. Spending all our time in climate-controlled rooms that feel the same all year round severs our connection with nature. Instead, we should be spending time outside, feeling the sting of the cold air in the morning and the warm sun in the afternoon. This way, we can live in tune with the seasons and be grateful for the changes during the year.

Finally, we should always put all our efforts into each day so we have no regrets. We must not grieve for the past nor worry for the future, but live in the moment and put nothing off till tomorrow, so we can live every day to its fullest.

Order

Similar to cleaning, tidying up is a daily ritual but should be performed at the end of the day. This guarantees that you can start off every day refreshed and unburdened by unfinished work from yesterday.

Ideally, you would even keep everything in order during the day, so that tidying up in the evening becomes obsolete. As a prerequisite for this, every object needs to have a place where it belongs. If you take the object away from that place, you should immediately return it there after use. Before putting it back, though, you should make sure it is clean and in working order, so that the next time you want to use it, it is ready to go. If you open containers, cupboards or boxes to take stuff out, don't leave them open but close them immediately.

Minimalism

Keeping your home clean and orderly becomes easier the less stuff you own. Owning fewer things means there are fewer items to weigh you down and clutter your mind. So be mindful that you only own what you truly need. Prioritise durable and repairable, high-quality items over cheap products. Get rid of things that don't make you happy or that you hide in a cupboard. Try to repair, reuse, recycle, or gift away items before considering throwing them out. Before buying something new, think about what commitments come with owning this new item and how much work it will take to maintain it. Lastly, be mindful of the water and food you use and don't waste them.

Don’t Kill

Live your life in a way so that you don't kill other living beings. In the context of this book, that means mainly eating a vegetarian diet and keeping your home clean so no insects are attracted that you might kill on accident.

References