Early this morning, I was in the kitchen here at Telford Priory, and saw a couple of counters were awash with water! Briskly I mopped up, checked the cupboards below and mopped them up too. While down low, I removed the pots and pans in the cupboard and gave the shelves a thorough clean. With a bowl of hot water and still on the floor, the cupboard doors got a clean, and the floor and….well, I could have gone on forever. Cleaning, like just about everything else, can become obsessive.  After all, there is always something somewhere that needs cleaning! However, the priory cleaning has to be low on the to-do list.  Until the need is obvious, pressing and can’t be eclipsed by, for example, screen work.

This morning a woman wrote a comment having just discovered the Jade Mountains website. She landed on a post about cleaning and ‘accumulation’ and wrote a comment. Thank you and here it is.

I finally found your site, and almost immediately stumble on this! Cleaning is like my anti-forté, a nemesis of sorts. My fridge is constantly filled. I set my intention to eat up what is there, clean out what has passed beyond healthy consumption, ready for a deep clean. But every time I open the door to look again it seems more full than ever. And the more I consume, the more accumulates (both in the fridge and round my waist). And the smell grows. A self-fulfilling cycle. Until finally, the fridge shelf collapsed under the weight, forcing a wholescale clean out and reevaluation.
For now, the fridge smells fresh again, and is working so much better. Now the real work is to make regular checks, to leave space for the fridge to breathe, and only adding to the shopping trolley what is truly needed and not just desired.

I think there can be an accumulation of just about anything, internally within one’s mind and body and externally – you name it. Sitting in meditation regularly with the unspoken intention to ‘let go’ of that which has accumulated has a consequence, far-reaching.

Yes, far-reaching, and extending well past what we like to regard as ‘me’ and ‘my life’, extending to all beings. This is the Bodhisattva Path, as understood in Mahayana Buddhism. To live an altruistic life. There is much to say on this subject…for another day.

See this post ‘Accumulation and Cleaning’. Clearly, I’ve thought about this subject before!

This ceremony was held at Telford Buddhist Priory in early October 2023, with the sun shining brightly for the occasion. About 80 people attended, many travelling from a distance. The event was ‘filmed’ by Rev. Master Aiden Hall, Prior of the Turning Wheel Buddhist Temple in Leicester, and expertly edited by Rev. Master Roland, resident at Throssel Hole Buddhist Abbey. Bows of gratitude for your work.

Rev. Aiden wrote about the event in their November 2023 Newsletter.

As the anniversary of Rev. Master Saidō’s death approaches (he died March 3rd) there may well be updates here. And I am so sorry to all the regular Jade Mountains readers. I’ve been quite busy, one way and another, since Rev. Saidō’s departure. However, things are easing and I hope and intend to get back to posting more frequently.