Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind by Shunryu Suzuki

Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice by Shunryu Suzuki is a self-help book published in 1970.

Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind is a guide to Zen Buddhism that continues to resonate with readers seeking clarity, presence, and peace. The book distills Suzuki’s teachings into simple yet profound insights, emphasizing the value of approaching life with the openness and curiosity of a beginner. 

In a world obsessed with achievement and expertise, Suzuki reminds us that true understanding comes from humility and direct experience. Rather than offering quick fixes, this book invites readers into a way of being – one that embraces imperfection, stillness, and the unfolding moment.

Zazen

• Principles
  • Always be doing something, even if it is not-doing
  • Sit and observe universal activity
• Zazen Practice
  • Do not force thinking to stop – let it stop naturally
  • Allow mental images to come and go without attachment
  • Posture: spine straight, shoulders relaxed, head up, chin tucked
  • Breathe from the stomach; hands on top of navel
  • Zazen and everyday life are continuous – no separation
  • Everyday life itself is enlightenment
• Mindset
  • Avoid expectations or seeking gains in practice
  • Practice with purpose: simply continue and observe
  • No ideas; practice in non-achievement
  • Even without action, zazen’s quality remains
  • Practice should be natural, like drinking when thirsty; do not force it
  • Cultivate your own spirit

Controlling The Mind

• Best method: observe, don’t ignore or suppress thoughts
• Don’t try to control thoughts — letting them be brings calm
• You create the waves in your mind; external events cannot disturb it
• Forget everything; avoid clinging to methods or techniques
• When left naturally, the mind becomes calm, wide, and clear

Understanding Reality

• Seeing things as they are
  • Let everything go as it goes
  • Emptiness = mindfulness
• Realizing emptiness
  • No attachment to existence
  • Everything is a tentative form
  • Without realization, everything seems like suffering
  • Understanding existence reveals suffering as part of life
• Nature of problems
  • True problems don’t exist
  • Problems arise from self-centered ideas or views

Beginner’s Mind

• Many possibilities, unlike the expert’s mind which sees few
• Maintain a beginner’s mind toward everything
• Prevents overlooking opportunities

Naturalness

• Place, action, and time
  • Cannot be separated
  • “To eat lunch is itself one o’clock”
  • Cultivate naturalness in all experiences: drink when thirsty, eat when hungry, sleep when tired
• Zazen and life
  • Practice should be natural, as should daily life
  • Without naturalness, activity becomes egocentric
  • True emptiness in activity = fully natural activity
  • Fully immerse in the activity; otherwise it is not natural

Enlightenment

• “Kill the Buddha”
  • Let go of fixed ideas or idols, even of enlightenment itself
  • Buddhism = various life truths, not a single teaching
  • Turns the arrow inward; complements rather than contradicts other religions
  • Understand yourself fully → this is enlightenment
  • Enlightenment = a state of understanding, not supernatural
• Buddha Nature
  • Everything has Buddha nature and the capacity to just be
  • Human rational thought often causes delusion
  • Purpose of practice: direct experience of Buddha nature