Name: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind
Rating: 4.222222222222222 (36 reviews)
ISBN: 9780834800793

Shunryū Suzuki

The Zen master introduces the newcomer to the practice, nature, and basic attitudes of Zen meditation

Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind

Greg Talbot

You can't miss page 42. It's a photo of a fly. An inspiration, an annoyance. Never explained. What does it mean? Why would it be there? For all the quixotic and mysterious images concured up with the word "zen", Shunruyu Suzuki is firmly hitting the breaks from page one. In his words "In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are so few". Suzuki's instructions are easy: sit, with good posture, deep breaths from the diaphram. Just sit. For anyone who has spent 5 minutes giving focus to your mind, you know just how hard this is. And Suzuki continues to talk in a way that's grounded and continues to pull the carpet from our thinking mind. There's nothing to attain. There's no enlightenment but everyday living. All these monks sitting peacefully are more in awe of the people coming to visit then you are of them! It's not a ruse...it's true in a different sense. Right practice, Right attitude, right understanding. Buddhism feels more like a lightly held set of prepartions for inquiry than any deeply-entrenched worldviews. And Suzuki's light touch can be exhilarating: "The purpose of studying Buddhism is to study ourselves and to forget ourselves. When we forget ourselves, we actually are the true activity of big existence, or reality itself. When we realize this fact, there is no problem whatsoever in this world, and we can enjoy our life without feeling any difficulties. The purpose of our practice is to be aware of this fact. Obviously i'm not an expert on zen, but I appreciate this book so much, and could easily see this as one of the most illuminating books on awareness. The work in the pages, or on the cushions, may lead to the insights we can never explain, but manifest themselves brilliantly in the day-to-day world.

Diana Platgalve

Very simply described basics of ZEN. Not for philosophers but for everyday zen will do the work!

Shunryu Suzuki

David Chadwick

The Zen master explains the practice, nature, and basic attitudes of Zen meditation.

Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind

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