Category Archives: Dojo cleanig

– – – by Kimbal Anderson Sensei

Cleaning’s a very profound act.

I have to do it before I do any artwork.

I try to do it between each person I work on  [in my healing practice of acupuncture and massage therapy…]…  we change the sheets,  we do other stuff… I have a thing in the morning when I go in  – now, my office is not a sterile office environment at all, but it’s homey enough… and I’m working on painting this week, so it’s like… –  well, I go in every morning, and I sweep it,  and I light candles,  and I change the water,  and change all the sheets and all that…  I put on music and I get ready to begin the  day.

I tell you what struck me once was when I was building Sensei’s dojo in Everett… I had built a kamidana first thing in the building, and every day we’d bring food and we’d do that thing, and I’d got my co-workers to get into it with me, and we’d always do that before we started.  And I  remember that  we were all done, and I came one morning early because I was going to fix some little detail,  and Sensei was out sweeping the sidewalk in downtown Everett:  because it was his place now,  and he was cleaning it…

And I was just so impressed with his spirit… you know, he was just happily… like:  “Here’s my place.  I’m now the guardian,  and I’ll sweep the sidewalk  even though in two seconds it’s going to get dirty…”  But the spirit he swept it with made it clean in ways that are unique.

So that’s my rant about dojo-cleaning….