The Joy of Spring Cleaning

Ten thousand flowers in spring, the moon in autumn,
a cool breeze in summer, snow in winter.
If your mind isn’t clouded by unnecessary things,
this is the best season of your life.

The preceding poem, "Ten Thousand Flowers in Spring," was written by Wu-Men, a practicing Buddhist and the head monk of the Lung-hsiang monastery in China. He lived from 1183 to 1260. Imagining how many fewer "unnecessary things" there were available to cloud the mind when he wrote those words makes me laugh out loud. No wonder we all suffer from so many ills today, some of them of our own making.

I've consistently found that frequent cleansing of the mind through meditation, even for a brief spell, can do wonders. Sure it's a pain in the neck in the beginning, and it doesn't seem very exciting, but once you've mastered the habit it works like a charm. The best part is that there's no wrong way to do it.

Wu Men (also called Mumon) was a head monk of the Lung-hsiang monastery in China. - See more at: http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/blog/2011/02/11/wu-men-ten-thousand-flowers-in-spring/#sthash.CtnS8KTS.dpuf

Wu Men (also called Mumon) was a head monk of the Lung-hsiang monastery in China. - See more at: http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/blog/2011/02/11/wu-men-ten-thousand-flowers-in-spring/#sthash.CtnS8KTS.dpuf

Wu Men (also called Mumon) was a head monk of the Lung-hsiang monastery in China. - See more at: http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/blog/2011/02/11/wu-men-ten-thousand-flowers-in-spring/#sthash.CtnS8KTS.dpuf

Wu Men (also called Mumon) was a head monk of the Lung-hsiang monastery in China. - See more at: http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/blog/2011/02/11/wu-men-ten-thousand-flowers-in-spring/#sthash.CtnS8KTS.dpuf