Maddie Posted March 9 I have always hated doing chores, running errands and other routine tasks like this. I think I heard there is a Zen practice of making doing chores a type of practice. Is anyone familiar with this, and if so what the correct approach is? 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
wandelaar Posted March 9 (edited) Apparently the chores aren't mindless because they bother you even when you're not doing them. When you succeed in just watching the discomfort and thoughts that go with the chores without getting actively involved in further boosting those thoughts en complaints about the chores than the total discomfort will become much less. You might even start to value doing the chores as a test and spiritual training. I don't know if this is the official approach, but it seems consistent with Zen to me. Edited March 9 by wandelaar 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Maddie Posted March 9 22 minutes ago, wandelaar said: Apparently the chores aren't mindless because they bother you even when you're not doing them. When you succeed in just watching the discomfort and thoughts that go with the chores without getting actively involved in further boosting those thoughts en complaints about the chores than the total discomfort will become much less. You might even start to value doing the chores as a test en spiritual training. I don't know if this is the official approach, but it seems consistent with Zen to me. I don't recall calling chores mindless but I do agree with you about approach which is what I am currently doing, which is what made me aware enough of the situation to make a post about it lol. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
C T Posted March 10 Much of Thich Nhat Hanh's Zen teachings center on offering practitioners insight into the inseparability between the mundane and the transcendent. Drink your tea slowly and reverently, as if it is the axis on which the whole earth revolves - slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future. ~ Thich Nhat Hanh 6 2 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
steve Posted March 10 Reminds me of a favorite line from the short story, A Girl I Knew - “She wasn't doing a thing that I could see, except standing there leaning on the balcony railing, holding the universe together.” J.D. Salinger 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
