A washing machine having a breathing lamp set and a method for controlling the same are provided. The breathing lamp set is disposed on an outer wall or inner wall of a housing of the washing machine and is composed of a plurality of breathing lamps. The washing machine further includes a controller, configured to change, according to work process changes of the washing machine, a quantity ratio of lighted breathing lamps to dimmed breathing lamps among the plurality of breathing lamps in the breathing lamp set. The method for controlling the washing machine having the breathing lamp set includes step S1: changing, by the controller, the quantity ratio of lighted breathing lamps to dimmed breathing lamps among the plurality of breathing lamps in the breathing lamp set, so as to discriminately display different work states of the washing machine.
