Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind
Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice
In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities; in the expert’s — few. The whole practice is keeping the cup empty: sit, breathe, and don’t turn zen into one more achievement.
Shunryu Suzuki was a Japanese Soto Zen monk who moved to San Francisco in 1959 and founded the San Francisco Zen Center, one of the first Zen training centers outside Asia. Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind (1970) is a collection of his informal talks to American students, transcribed and edited after his death. It has no plot or argument to follow — it keeps circling back to one point: practice isn’t a means to some future enlightenment, it’s the thing itself, done with a mind that stays open rather than expert.
A few lines worth keeping:
In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few.
When you do something, you should burn yourself up completely, like a good bonfire, leaving no trace of yourself.
The most important point is to accept yourself and stand on your two feet.
Zen is not some kind of excitement, but concentration on our usual everyday routine.
Zen is not some kind of enlightenment to be attained. It is simply a way of life.
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