Content with cleaning

TIM BUNTING

KIWI YAMABUSHI

The eighth station of Mt. Gassan during the middle of summer.

山伏

キウイ

Content with cleaning

My friend told me he once did a month at a Buddhist ‘retreat’ in Taiwan. He told me that he spent the whole time cleaning.

This morning I had the honour of helping to clean Daishobo pilgrim lodge’s Shinden, the sacred altar. Only select people are even allowed to do this, and it is a very important task, what with the huge number of artifacts and the history of the place. This cleaning is not part of training, although I guess you could consider it as such. This task is known as ご奉仕Gohoshi, donating your time and effort in dedication to a place.

This simple task has such a deep lesson. If you can be content with cleaning, honestly, you should be able to be content with anything.

Tim
December 5, 2021
3:42 pm
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Hi, I’m Tim Bunting AKA the Kiwi Yamabushi, a New Zealander who became a Yamabushi Ascetic in the Dewa Sanzan mountains of north Japan. I’m part of the Yamabushido team, and we host life-altering Yamabushi training on the Dewa Sanzan (website link). People come to us for the ultimate mindfulness experience, to reach the next level, or simply connect with nature and themselves.

I’m on a mission to summit all 100 Famous Mountains of Yamagata Prefecture to spread the splendour of this fabulous location, and in dedication to all those who lost their lives out in nature, including my father.

On my daily blog I post thoughts of a practicing Yamabushi that I hope people can use to better themselves and live as fulfilling a life as possible.

Sign up to the weekly Mountains of Wisdom newsletter, follow me on social (Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, TikTok, Clubhouse, all @kiwiyamabushi), or send me an email via the link below to stay in touch.

Tim.