Household Zen

The home can be a complete field of practice: sweeping, washing dishes, cooking, caring for children and aging parents. The point is not that these chores make room for practice or interrupt it, but that such acts done wholeheartedly are zazenShikantaza (只管打坐, shikan ta za) — "just sitting," or more precisely, "nothing but wholeheartedly sitting" - is the zazen practice central to Soto Zen Buddhism. It is objectless, goalless, method-free meditation: open awareness without a focus point, without striving toward any particular state. Read more about zazen ».  There is no gap between laundry or dishes and the Buddha way.  Layman Pang, his wife and daughter Lingzhao were awakened laypeople. Pang's verse, "How wondrous, how marvelous: hauling water, carrying firewood." is the spirit of Dōgen' Tenzo Kyōkun (典座教訓, Instructions for the Cook).