Homemaker Bodhisattva

The other day I was listening to someone who was talking about his family. At one point, he was relating how much his wife disliked doing housework. And so to have a clean house, he cleaned it. Another person with us commented that it would be very different if only his wife could view the housework as a way of giving to her family.

Suddenly, I remembered something Teacher said many years ago:

If we are housewives, we practice giving when we do housework every day to make our houses comfortable for our families. A housewife without the mindset of giving would think that doing housework every day is tedious and boring. She would get tired of it. A Buddhist practitioner would think that she is practicing the Bodhisattva Path—the Six Paramitas—every day and is thus very happy.

A different mindset makes a world of difference.

We are practicing the paramita of giving because we give ourselves to our families.

But it does not stop here because we affect not just our families. If we take good care of our families and we become model families, we would be able to influence our neighbors, our relatives, and our friends.

This struck home because I'm sure we have all felt like that woman. Perhaps we found ourselves doing work we did not like to do. Perhaps we were given extra work to do when we were already very busy with our own. Or perhaps we were given something to do that was beyond our level of competence. 

Whatever the reason, we had something to do that we were unhappy with. Our mindset became one of resentment, frustration, self-pity. We became agitated. Or we just wanted to go to sleep. Whatever we felt, it wasn't good.

Then we remember—a different mindset makes a world of difference.

This is what practice is all about. Redirecting the mind from the negative to the positive. Transforming the mind with the practice of bodhisattvas, the practice of the first paramita, the paramita of giving.

Something to strive for—giving with the unrestrained, all-encompassing mind of an awakened being.

Comments

[BlackbeltMommy]

Another perspective to keep me motivated. Thanks.