Earlier, during Buddha’s lifetime, there was a very wealthy brahmin benefactor fam-ily. Whenever they had a child, the child did not survive, it died. Then one of the soothsayers said, “I havea method. The next time you get a child, let me know, I have a method.” They had another child, called thesoothsayer and asked him what to do. The soothsayer put a little piece of butter in its mouth and said, “Letthis child be taken onto the street by the maid-servant and any teacher that comes by, she should ask topray for the survival of the kid.” This maid-servant went and stood with the child on a big road and to any-body passing through she said, “This kid seeks your help to be able to survive.” So every teacher thatpassed by prayed for the kid, “May this child live long, become very intelligent, join my order, and ultimatelyachieve the ultimate result.” A lot of teachers passed by and all said the same thing. Finally Buddhapassed by, said the same thing and went on. And the soothsayer had said, “If by sunset the kid is still alive,then bring it home. If it is not alive, take the butter out of its mouth and throw it away.” By sunset the childwas still alive and they brought it back home. So he survived because they took him to the roadside. There-fore he was called Lam Chen, ‘Great Road’.
Then another child was born, a younger brother, and they did the same thing. But the woman that wascarrying that child around happened to be lazy. Instead of taking a big road, she just took him down thestreet and waited there. Nobody passed by. Finally Buddha came. The quality of Buddha is being of com-passionate nature and all-knowing; wherever the needs arise and the opportunity is, Buddha appears. SoBuddha came by. The maid took up the child, went to Buddha and said, “This child seeks your help tolive.” Buddha said, “May the child live, may he survive, join my order and achieve ultimate enlighten-ment.” And he left. Nobody prayed that the child be intelligent, including Buddha. The child got namedLam Chun, ‘Small Road’.
The earlier brother was so intelligent; he went to different schools, he mastered all the arts veryquickly, finally joined Buddha’s ashram, became a follower of the Buddha and became an arhat. Theyounger brother was also sent to the same school, but instead of mastering the arts, every school kickedhim out because he was so stupid. He was kicked out everywhere and finally landed at Buddha’s placewhere is brother was. The brother kept him and tried to help him, but no way. After a little while thebrother thought, “What can I do for him now? Can I help him by being loving, compassionate and caringor can I help him better by being more ruthless?” He was an arhat, so he meditated and got the answer thatit was better to beat. So instead of being kind to him, he got hold of him, beat him up and abused him, say-ing, “You stupid fool, you are a disgrace to the family, you this, you that...” He said every bad thing hecould say, beat him up and threw him physically out of the ashram.
Small Road was outside on the road. At a small passage he sat against a small wall of stones. He wasupset and cried that he was so hopeless and useless. He felt completely low. Then Buddha walked by. Bud-dha asked, “What are you doing?” He said, “Don’t you see what I am doing? I am crying.” “Why are youcrying?” “I am not crying because I am happy, right?” Buddha said, “Come with me.” He said, “No, I amnot coming with you.” “Why not?” “You are going to kick me out.” “No, no”, Buddha said. He said, “Eve-rybody kicks me out, even my own brother kicked me out, so you are definitely going to kick me out. I amnot coming.” Then Buddha said, “Your brother is an arhat, I am a buddha; there is a big difference. You’dbetter come with me.” He said, “No!” But finally he said, “If you promise, if you give me your word of honoryou’re not going to kick me out, then I’ll come.” And Buddha said, “Okay, I won’t kick you out.” Then hesaid, “What will I have to do?” “Just cleaning up.” “Oh, well, that is something I may be able to do. Okay.” So he followed Buddha. The first job Buddha gave him, was cleaning everybody’s shoes. Buddha said,“Your first cleaning will be cleaning every sangha member’s shoes.” In Buddha’s place there was a templewith a small courtyard where everybody had a little room, and everybody used to leave his door open all thetime; that was sangha rule. They used to leave their shoes outside and meditate inside. Buddha had giveninstruction to everybody, “Whenever he comes round to clean the shoes, everybody has to say, ‘clear thedust, clear the dirt’.” Buddha tried to teach him this ‘clear the dust, clear the dirt’, but he could not remem-ber that at all. He was so stupid. When he had memorized ‘clear the dirt’ he had forgotten the dust, andwhen he remembered ‘clear the dust’ he had forgotten the rest. All the sanghas had received the order thatwhenever he would come to clean their shoes, they had to say nothing but ‘clear the dust, clear the dirt;clear the dust, clear the dirt’, so that he would be hearing it all the time. Wherever he went, everybody wassaying that. After some time he learned how to say it. And naturally he ran to Buddha and said, “Look, Iknow how to say it now: ‘clear the dust, clear the dirt’!” “Oh”, Buddha said, “Very good. Now you don’thave to clean the shoes any more. You can sweep the floor of the temple and outside.”
He started to sweep the temple. But when he cleaned this way, a lot of dust was coming from that way.According to Buddhist tradition it is said that Buddha blessed it to be that way. And when he cleaned thatway, the dust came this way. So he had a hard time. But he worked honestly and with enthusiasm; he kepton cleaning very well. He was using a small broom of kusha grass, not a broom with a long stick like in thewest. You have to bow down. So he went on, “Clear the dust, clear the dirt, clear the dust, clear the dirt.”And one day he thought, “What am I saying this for? What does it mean?” He suddenly said, “This dirt isthe dirt of attachment!”
This dust is not ordinary dust, it is the dust of attachment.
And if you are intelligent, you should be able to remove that from you.
This dirt is not ordinary dirt; this is the dirt of anger.
And if you are intelligent you should be able to remove that from you.
That is how he got realizations. And his whole practice was nothing but sweeping the floor. So cleaning is one of the best ways of purification. Buddha recommended it as the most importantpractice for purification. That is why you should clean the place. You don’t only gain the positive feelingsof a good environment, but you also have the benefit of clearing your delusions. It is one of the best ways. And not only cleaning your own place, but also cleaning the place where the sangha meets, where theteachings are given, the temple or any sacred place, gives tremendous benefit. And also the individual isrecommended to clean himself.