A Grieving Atheist Book Review: A Monk's Guide to a Clean House and a Clean Mind

I recently checked out A Monk's Guide to a Clean House and a Clean Mind by Shoukei Matsumoto. I didn't expect it to have anything to say to help me with my grief, but as is the way with minds, we connect what we are reading to our current self. On the first page of this little book, I read these words, "We don't do this (ritual cleaning) because it's dirty or messy. We do it to eliminate suffering in our hearts."

The monk goes on to tell us that cleaning and clean spaces "serve to calm the mind." The repetitive rituals of cleaning are time for contemplation and learning to focus fully in the moment, a kind of meditation, if you will. 

The book carefully outlines how monks clean each living space, themselves, and their possessions. Much of it seems overly obvious and simplistic. However, each aspect of cleanliness is metaphorically equated with the state of one's heart and cultivation of one's mind. The monk appears to be very serious about the meaning and purpose of cleanliness, but I think it would be a mistake to take his spiritual sounding metaphors too seriously, as some reviewers do. 

I can see how treating cleaning as a meditation exercise could help to calm anxieties and refocus the mind, which I need help with right now. Plus there are chores I have been putting off as a result off my grief. A change in attitude toward the work may help me get to them sooner and accomplish them with more ease of mind. I hope.