I despise doing the dishes. I have always despised doing the dishes. I will forever – until the day I die – despise doing the dishes. When I pass by my kitchen, that pile of plates, pots, and silverware are forever staring at me, rushing me along until I am going, going, gone. The worst part of my dish issue – and I'm only admitting this out of guilt – is the fact that, yes, I have a dishwasher. I have always had a dishwasher. If I am forced, by some freak of nature (i.e. company), to, uh, tidy up, my first task is to collect all dishes from the surrounding rooms and various counters and pile them neatly into the sink. Now, mind you, each dish gets a quick rinse from the hot water, which runs continuously throughout this entire process, as it goes into the pile. Why, you ask, can't the dishes go from the rinse to the dishwasher? Well, your guess is as good as mine. For my second and final task, which is no problem, I scrub the microwave, stove top, and even the perimeter of the sink until it absolutely sparkles. And, if I'm feeling really good that day, I might even get on my hands and knees with a sponge and scrub the little dirty spots off the kitchen floor. Then, with a quick and satisfied glance around my masterpiece, off goes the light and I'm done. Go figure.
Now, what does my issue with dirty dishes have to do with Zen? Actually, it has everything to do with it. Of course, I didn't realize this until I had devoured ten books on Zen Philosophy and discovered a connection. Having always been a high-strung, emotional person, I am most grateful that I love to read because I have found much comfort in the simple, poetic, and calming Buddhist philosophy of Zen. Zen is not a religion, as some would believe. It is simply a way of life that is neither strange, cultish, nor money-hungry. The books are written not for the purpose of convincing anyone of anything and that is what draws me to them again and again. These books are written so simply and offer such logical solutions to the problems of our chaotic lives that it is nearly impossible to find fault. So why doesn't everyone just tap into the Zen-mind and travel through life peacefully? Because, and this is the irony that so fascinates me, while the philosophy itself it so simple, logical, and practical, putting it into practice at the precise moment its needed often seems impossible. To be simple, logical, and practical goes against our very nature as humans. And example of this irony would be our love of drama. Oh sure – we all sit around and complain about how much we hate it, but we actually, without a doubt, love the drama in our lives. It makes us the center of our own attention. We hate drama but we love to gossip about it, read about it, watch it happen, and, ultimately, when we get bored with being the spectator, we do our best to create our own – which is centered around us, of course. Strangely enough, while this creates the excitement we think we want and need, it almost always makes us sad. And so the vicious cycle continues until, little by little, we begin to feel depressed, overwhelmed, tired, sad, unfulfilled, impatient, anxious, angry, guilty, stressed-out, and finally just crushed beneath a ton of emotions that we can't crawl out from under.
Again, what does this all have to do with my hatred of doing the silly dishes? I promise I will get to that. But, first, I want to discuss the two most important words in the world of Zen – Mindful Awareness. This mind-state is achieved, ideally, through the daily practice of meditation. Meditation is the foundation of the Buddhist philosophy and the hardest for us chaotic humans to practice. We would love to meditate but, hey, who has the time? We can always start tomorrow, right? Or the next day. Or the day after. I reconciled myself to the fact that as much as I need to meditate according to the simple practices in my books, it will definitely be awhile before I get right down to it. However, one of the wonderful things about Zen is that I do not ever have to feel guilty about anything or feel I shouldn't continue to read until I can commit to meditation. In Zen there is no guilt. To the Zen philosopher, guilt is just another unnecessary emotion that we create in our minds out of mere thoughts for the sole purpose of stressing ourselves out. The Zen belief is that whatever we are doing or not doing at this very moment, and wherever we happen to be while we are doing or not doing it makes the moment exactly as it is supposed to be. In simpler terms: We are fine just as we are. Worrying and stressing over what you should have done, shouldn't be doing, or should be doing is not being mindfully aware of this very moment that you are alive and standing in. And if you are not aware of this very moment, then how can the simple daily tasks of life that lead you into the next moment, whether they be at work or at home, possibly ever get done?
