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.

Enjoy!

Practice & Zazen
Mind & Observation
Understanding Reality
Beginner’s Mind & Learning
Time, Action, and Naturalness
Self, Enlightenment, and Buddha Nature

Practice & Zazen

Always be doing something, even if it is not-doing
- Sit and be aware of universal activity
When practicing zazen:
- Do not try to stop your thinking – let it stop by itself
- Do not be bothered by images in the mind – let them come and go
- Keep spine straight, relax shoulders, push head to ceiling with chin tucked
  - Breathe from the stomach
  - Hands on top of the navel
Zazen and everyday life are the same
- There should be no “zazen is over and now I go about life”
- Everyday life itself is enlightenment
Do not have expectations or gaining ideas in practice
- However, do not sit without purpose
- Just be and observe
- No ideas
- Purpose should be to just continue
Practice in non-achievement
- Idealistic practice leads to discouragement
- If you try to find the quality of zazen, you have no quality
- Even without doing anything, you can retain the quality of zazen
Practice should be natural, like drinking when thirsty
- Cultivate your own spirit

Mind & Observation

Best way to control the mind is to observe
- Do not ignore thoughts
- Do not try to control thoughts
If you leave your mind as it is, it will become calm
- You make the waves in your mind
- Nothing from the outside can stir your mind
Forget everything
- Do not have a method or technique in consciousness
- Then the mind becomes calm, wide, and clear

Understanding Reality

See things as they are – let everything go as it goes
Emptiness = mindfulness
- When you realize everything is part of emptiness:
  - You have no attachment to existence
  - Everything is a tentative form
If you don’t realize the true nature, everything appears to be suffering
If you understand existence, you realize suffering is life
We do not have actual problems
- Problems are created by self-centered ideas or views

Beginner’s Mind & Learning

In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities
- In the expert’s mind there are few
- Always keep a beginner’s mind towards everything
- You will not overlook opportunities

Time, Action, and Naturalness

Place and action cannot be separated from time
- “To eat lunch is itself one o’clock”
Have naturalness in all your experiences
- Drink when thirsty, eat when hungry, sleep when tired
- Zazen should be natural, as should your whole life
- Without naturalness, it becomes egocentric
True emptiness in activity = natural activity
- Fully immerse yourself in the activity
- If not, it is not natural

Self, Enlightenment, and Buddha Nature

“Kill the Buddha”
- Let go of fixed ideas or idols, even of enlightenment itself
Buddhism is not a particular teaching, it is various life truths
Buddhism turns the arrow into yourself
- Not contradictory to other religions
- Fills gaps in teaching
Understand yourself through and through
- That is enlightenment
- A state of understanding, not supernatural
Everything has Buddha nature
- Everything has the capacity to just be
- Human rational thought leads to delusion
- Purpose of practice: direct experience of Buddha nature

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