Boots and shoes where I live.

If someone leaves shoes in disarray, let us silently set them to order, such an act surely will bring harmony to the minds of people around the world.

Thanks to Pascal for this quote – found on a postcard from Eiheiji temple in Japan.

And from Karen, also left as a comment and also too interesting to leave hidden:

This article puts me in mind of a time, many years ago, when David and I took our three children to a Buddhist family camp in the Theravada tradition. Though of course, the monks and laity had many ways of training with and manifesting compassion for both self and others, putting their slippers straight, as in the Zen tradition, wasn’t one of them. Being still ‘green’ to the true purpose of this practice, I found myself greatly ‘phased’ by piles of scattered shoes outside the meditation hall door. It took me a good 24 hours of persistent shoe tidying before I finally stopped, laughed at myself and let it go!

See guest post, First Things…. about the teaching of putting ones shoes straight.