Suzuki, Shunryū; Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind (1970)

Reading Notes

Preface

Daisetu Teitarto (D. T.) Suzuki (1870-1966) brought Zen to the West (with a focus on satori, or enlightenment), and fifty years later, Shunryū Suzuki (1904-1971) did similarly, but with less focus on satori.

On preparing his students for his death, he said:

If when I die, the moment I’m dying, if I suffer that is all right, you know; that is suffering Buddha. No confusion in it. Maybe everyone will struggle because of the physical agony or spiritual agony, too. But that is all right, that is not a problem. We should be very grateful to have a limited body…like mine, or like yours. If you had a limitless life it would be a real problem for you.

Introduction

Zen mind is a phrase used by teachers to invoke the purpose of Zen in their students: “to make you wonder and to answer that wondering with the deepest expression of your own nature.” To practice Zen mind is beginner’s mind (shoshin), or the “innocence of the first inquiry—what am I”? The beginner’s mind is:

free of habits and expectations
ready to accept and doubt
“the kind of mind which can see things as they are, which step-by-step and in a flash can realize the original nature of everything.”

The editing and translation of this book is nuanced: Shunryū tries to convey teachings in terms of the ordinary circumstances of people’s lives, in statements as simple as “have a cup of tea,” which may be accidentally edited out. Furthermore, English is a dualistic language, whereas Japanese lends itself more to non-dualistic thinking.

This book is divided into 3 sections, which are:

Right Practice (pertaining to the body)
Right Attitude (pertaining to feelings)
Right Understanding (pertaining to the mind)

On the relationship between Zen teacher and student:

A roshi is a person who has actualized that perfect freedom which is the potentiality for all human beings. He exists freely in the fullness of his whole being. The flow of his consciousness is not the fixed repetitive patterns of our usual self-centered consciousness, but rather arises spontaneously and naturally from the actual circumstances of the present. … But in the end it is not the extraordinariness of the teacher which perplexes, intrigues, and deepens the student, it is the teacher’s utter ordinariness. Because he is just himself, he is a mirror for his students. When we are with him we feel our own strengths and shortcomings without any sense of praise or criticism from him. In his presence we see our original face, and the extraordinariness we see is only our own true nature. When we learn to let our own nature free, the boundaries between master and student disappear in a deep flow of being and joy in the unfolding of Buddha mind.

Prologue: Beginner’s Mind

Practicing Zen is difficult because it is hard to keep the mind and practice pure.
The goal of practice is to keep our beginner’s mind.
The most important thing is not to be dualistic—the “original mind” contains everything in itself.
If your mind remains empty and ready, it is open to everything.
In the beginner’s mind, there is no self-centered thought of “I have attained something.”
The beginner’s mind is the mind of compassion.
There is no need to have a deep understanding of Zen—you have to read each sentence with a fresh mind. Always be a beginner.

Part 1: Right Practice

Posture

The zazen posture is the full lotus position: having the left foot on the right thigh, and the right foot on the left thigh.
This position reflects the oneness of duality: not two, and not one. This is the most important teaching.
Body and mind are not two and not one. Life is both plural and singular, We are all independent and dependent. We die and we do not die.
Taking forms is the right state of mind in it of itself—exist right here, right now.
Focus on ordering yourself—do not try to change things outside of yourself.
Try to keep the right posture in all your activities.
The state of mind you have when you exist in right posture is enlightenment itself.

Breathing

Breathing is like a swinging door. We are like swinging doors. We move, that is all.
Our understanding of life is usually dualistic: you/I, this/that, good/bad. But these distinctions are themselves the awareness of the universal existence—they are just swinging doors.
Do things as they are, even if it is not-doing something.Live in this moment.
Tozan, a famous Zen master, said that “the blue mountain is the father of the white cloud. The white cloud is the son of the blue mountain. All day long they depend on each other, without being dependent on each other. The white cloud is always the white cloud. The blue mountain is always the blue mountain.” They are independent, yet dependent.

Control

When we lose our balance, we die, but then we also develop and grow.
Things look beautiful because it is out of balance, but the background is in perfect harmony.
The best policy with people is to first let them do what they want, and watch them. Ignoring them is the worst policy, trying to control them is the second worst.
The same policy applies to yourself. Let your thoughts and images come and go in your mind, do not try to control them. Just try to see things as they are.
Dogen-zenji said “Time goes from present to past.” This is absurd, but sometimes true. “Just as you unreel the thread from a spool, I want the past to become present.”
Time goes from past to present to future, and future to present to past. A Zen master once said, “To go eastward one mile is to go westward one mile.” This is vital freedom.
Freedom is not without rules; without rules, we don’t have freedom. As long as you have rules, you have a chance for freedom.

Mind Waves

Do not be afraid or bothered by the waves of your mind. If you are not bothered by them, they will become calmer and calmer.
True understanding is seeing that the mind includes everything: you yourself make the waves in your mind. This is big mind (the mind that includes everything). Nothing outside of yourself can bother you.
Small, or limited mind is the mind that is related to something outside itself.
They are actually the same thing, but the understanding is different.
Water and waves are one. Big mind and small mind are one.
Big mind amplifies itself through experiences: in one sense, experiences are always fresh and new, but in another sense, experiences are just a continuous unfoldment of big mind.
For example, if you say your breakfast is “good,” the notion of “good” is constructed from something experienced long ago, even if you do not remember when.
Big mind is to see yourself mirrored in your experiences.

Mind Weeds

Be grateful for weeds in your mind, because they will enrich your practice later on.
“Pulling out the weeds we give nourishment to the plant.”
If you have experience of how the weeds in your mind change into mental nourishment, you will feel progress.
We must make some effort, but we have to lose ourself in the effort. Keep your mind on breathing until you are unaware of your breathing.

The Marrow of Zen

In the Samyuktagama Sutra, it is said that there are 4 horses: excellent, good, poor, and bad. The worst horse is the most valuable.
Those who find great difficulties (in practicing Zen) will find more meaning in it.
We say, “A good father is not a good father.” One who thinks he is a good father is not a good father; one who thinks he is a good husband is not a good husband.
Even though you are the worst horse you will get to the marrow of Zen. As long as you try with a single-hearted effort, that is enough.
When you are sitting in the middle of your own problem, what is more real to you: your problem or you yourself? The awareness that you are here, right now, is the ultimate fact.

No Dualism

“Form is emptiness and emptiness is form.” “Form is form and emptiness is emptiness.” No dualism.
When you can sit in zazen and not be bothered by pain, this is “form is form and emptiness is emptiness.” When you concentrate on obtaining the emptiness of mind, this is “form is emptiness and emptiness is form.”
When you do something, just to do it should be the purpose.

Bowing

Bowing to Buddha is becoming one with Buddha—you bow to yourself. In big mind, everything has the same value.
Forgetting dualistic ideals means that everything becomes your teacher; everything can be the object of worship.
Dualistic ideas drop away: heaven/earth, master/disciple, man/woman, human/animal.
Sen no Rikyu, the founder of the Japanese tea ceremony, committed hara-kiri and said “when I have this sword there is no Buddha and no Patriarchs.” When we have the swords of big mind, there is no dualistic world: the only thing that exists is this spirit.
The four Buddhist vows are:
- Although sentient beings are innumerable, we vow to save them.
- Although our evil desires are limitless, we vow to be rid of them.
- Although the teaching is limitless, we vow to learn it all.
- Although Buddhism is unattainable, we vow to attain it.These vows remind me of The Myth of Sisyphus by Camus: One must imagine Sisyphus happy
Whether or not something is possible is not the point: we have to do it because our true nature wants us to.
Calmness in activity is true calmness.
Progress is always little by little—just be sincere and make a full effort in each moment.

Nothing Special

Zen practice is the direct expression of our true nature.
When you no longer want something, or try to do anything special, then you do something.
Before you obtain something, it is wonderful; after you obtain it, it is nothing special.
When we express our true nature, we are human beings.

Part 2: Right Attitude

Single-minded Way

Our human life is rare and wonderful.
Whatever you do should not be in preparation for something else—it should be an expression of deep activity and sincerity.
The Bodhisattva’s way is called “the single-minded way.” It is “one railway track thousands of miles long.”
Actually, there is no railway track. There is no beginning or end to the track, no goal, nothing to attain. Becoming curious about the track is dangerous; you will become dizzy. But there is no secret: everyone has the same nature as the track.
It is impossible to give a verbal interpretation of the way.
You have full understanding within yourself.

Repetition

In the practice that the Buddha found in India, they thought the physical side of man bound the spirit, so the practice turned ascetic and idealistic.
But Buddha wasn’t concerned with physics or metaphysics—he was more concerned with how he existed in this moment. How flour becomes bread was the most important thing (not what flour is or what bread is). So he made bread over and over again.
We should practice repeatedly, but not too idealistically, or else the gap between the real and the ideal will become too large. We should just put ourselves into the oven.

Zen and Excitement

Zen is not excitement, but concentration on routine.
Don’t get too excited about Zen; just continue in calm, ordinary practice.
Building character is like making bread—you build it little by little, with a moderate temperature. You know yourself, and you know how much temperature you need. You know exactly what you need. But if you get too excited, you forget what temperature is good for you, and you will lose your way.

Right Effort

Do things with the spirit of non-achievement; just to do something is enough. Do not attach to some result.
When we say “to hear the sound of one hand clapping,” we may think that it makes no sound at all. But the sound already exists before you clap—sound is everywhere. We just practice it. If you don’t try to listen to it, there is sound everywhere. If you try to listen to it, sometimes there is sound, and sometimes there isn’t.
You are living as one individual, but before you did, you were always there. How is it possible for you to appear in the world when there is no you? How is it possible for you to vanish if you do not exist? But even though you vanish, something that is existent cannot become non-existent.
You already have everything; if you understand this, there is no fear of losing anything.

No Trace

Sometimes its difficult to be concentrated on what we’re doing, because our activity is shadowed by some preconceived idea.
We should think without leaving a trace, i.e., without prescribing ideas and constructs to things (like “I did something good”).
To not leave traces, you should do things with your whole body and mind. You should do it completely, like a good bonfire. Zen activity is activity that is completely burned out.
Instead of criticizing culture, you should devote your mind and body to this simple practice; then society and culture will grow out of you.
The truth is always near at hand, within your reach.

God Giving

Every existence is something which was given or is being given to us. Since everything is originally one, we (the “big I”) are giving out everything.
Six ways of true living:
- Dana prajna paramita: Reach the other shore with each step of the crossing
- Sila prajna paramita: The Buddhist precepts
- Kshanti prajna paramita: Endurance
- Virya prajna paramita: Ardor and constant effort
- Dhyana prajna paramita: Zen practice
- Prajna paramita: Wisdom
Dogen-zenji said “to give is nonattachment.”
In Christianity, every existence is created for or given to us by God. This is the perfect idea of giving, but if you think God created man, and you are separate from God, then you are liable to think that you can create something separate and not given by Him. Then you forget about God. To create with the “big I” is to give; we cannot create and own what we create for ourselves because everything was created by God.
Everything has absolute value as God’s creation. Everything should be done in awareness of this absolute value.
There are perhaps 3 types of creation:
- To be aware of ourselves after we finish zazen; when we are there, everything else is there and created all at once.
- To act, produce, or prepare something.
- To create something within yourself.
Usually everyone forgets about zazen; everyone forgets about God; everyone forgets about the fundamental source for our creating. How is it possible for Him to help when He does not realize who He is?
Do not hold onto anything we have done; only reflect on it.

Mistakes in Practice

Practicing with an ideal is harmful—you will sacrifice yourself now for an ideal in the future. If you are tired of or disgusted with your practice, this is a warning sign that you have adopted an ideal.
Another mistake is practicing for the sake of joy. There are four stages of practice:
- Just doing it (highest)
- Doing it for physical joy
- Doing it for physical and mental joy
- Doing it with no thought and no curiosity

Limiting Your Activity

When we practice zazen, we limit our activity to the smallest extent: keeping right posture and being concentrated on sitting.
Instead of having some object of worship, be concentrated on the activity in the present moment.
Usually when someone believes in a religion, the attitude becomes more like a sharp angle pointing away from oneself. In our way, the point of the sharp angle is towards ourselves. So there is no need to worry about the difference between Buddhism and the religion you believe in.

Study Yourself

The purpose of studying Buddhism is not to study Buddhism, but to study ourselves. To study ourselves, we need teachers. You need a teacher so that you can become independent.
Rinzai, an early Chinese Zen master, taught his disciples in four ways:
- Talking about the disciple himself
- Talking about the teaching itself
- Interpreting the disciple or the teaching
- Not giving any instruction at all
Those who are outside the monastery feel its atmosphere—those outside feel nothing. “When we hear the sound of the pine trees on a windy day, perhaps the wind is just blowing, and the pine tree is just standing in the wind. That is all that they are doing. But the people who listen to the wind in the tree will write a poem, or will feel something unusual. That is, I think, the way everything is.”
“We ourselves are the big activity. We are just expressing the smallest particle of the big activity, that is all.”

To Polish a Tile

Koans are Zen stories.
Trying to become a Buddha is like trying to polish a tile to make a jewel. When a cart does not go, which do you whip, the cart or the horse? Which do you address, yourself or your problems?
- Dogen-zenji comemented: “when the Horse-master becomes the Horse-master, Zen becomes Zen.”
Whatever you do is zazen.
“When the night is here, the dawn comes.” Before the summer is over, autumn comes.
“When you eat, eat!” Sometimes you do not eat; you do not taste what you have in your mouth.

Constancy

Instead of seeking to gain knowledge, you should listen to teachings with a pure, clear mind. That way, you can accept it as if you are hearing something that you already know. This is called emptiness; omnipotent self; or knowing everything.
When you know everything, you are like a dark sky—sometimes a flashing will come and a wonderful sight may be seen. When you have emptiness, you are always prepared for the flashing.
There is always a possibility of understanding as long as we exist in the utter darkness of the sky, as long as we live in emptiness.
Understanding takes nin, or patience/constancy.

Communication

To understand someone’s language is to understand more than what their words actually say.
When we say things, our subjectivity and distortion is always involved. But through our statements, we have to understand objective or ultimate fact (things as they are in each moment; “being” or “reality”).
Statements are not only in words, but also in one’s behavior or natural expression of themselves.
You should be true to your feelings and to your mind; expressing yourself without any reservations. This helps the listener to understand more easily.
When listening, you should give up your preconceptions and opinions. Just observe what their way is and accept them.
Mistakes when listening:
- Usually, when you listen to someone, you hear it as an echo of yourself; you are actually listening to your own opinion.
- Also, you may be caught by the statement, without understanding the spirit behind the words.
If you try to adjust yourself intentionally, it is impossible to be natural. You should be faithful to ourselves and our feelings.
Communication depends on being straightforward with each other.

Negative and Positive

The more you understand Buddhist thinking, the more you will find it difficult to talk about.
When we talk about the way, there is some misunderstanding, because we cannot talk in a positive and negative way at the same time. So to not say anything, and just to practice it, is the best way.
Dogen-zenji said, “When you say something to someone, he may not accept it, but do not try to make him understand it intellectually. Do not argue with him; just listen to his objections until he himself finds something wrong with them.”
Try not to force your idea on someone; think about it with him.

Nirvana, the Waterfall

I went to Yosemite National Park, and I saw some huge waterfalls. The highest of these is 1,430 feet high, and from it the water comes down like a curtain thrown from the top of the mountain. It does not seem to come down swiftly, as you might expect; it seems to come down very slowly because of the distance. And the water does not come down as one stream, but is separated into many tiny streams. From a distance it looks like a curtain. And I thought it must be a very difficult experience for each drop of water to come down from the top of such a high mountain. It takes time, you know, a long time, for the water finally to reach the bottom of the waterfall. And it seems to me that our human life may be like this. We have many difficult experiences in our life. But at the same time, I thought, the water was not originally separated, but was one whole river. Only when it is separated does it have some difficulty in falling. It is as if the water does not have any feeling when it is one whole river. Only when separated into many drops can it begin to have or to express some feeling. When we see one whole river we do not feel the living activity of the water, but when we dip a part of the water into a dipper, we experience some feeling of the water, and we also feel the value of the person who uses the water. Feeling ourselves and the water in this way, we cannot use it in just a material way. It is a living thing.

Before we were born we had no feeling; we were one with the universe. This is called “mind-only,” or “essence of mind,” or “big mind.” After we are separated by birth from this oneness, as the water falling from the waterfall is separated by the wind and rocks, then we have feeling. You have difficulty because you have feeling. You attach to the feeling you have without knowing just how this kind of feeling is created. When you do not realize that you are one with the river, or one with the universe, you have fear. Whether it is separated into drops or not, water is water. Our life and death are the same thing. When we realize this fact we have no fear of death anymore, and we have no actual difficulty in our life.

When the water returns to its original oneness with the river, it no longer has any individual feeling to it; it resumes its own nature, and finds composure. How very glad the water must be to come back to the original river! If this is so, what feeling will we have when we die? I think we are like the water in the dipper. We will have composure then, perfect composure. It may be too perfect for us, just now, because we are so much attached to our own feeling, to our individual existence. For us, just now, we have some fear of death, but after we resume our true original nature, there is Nirvana. That is why we say, “To attain Nirvana is to pass away.” “To pass away” is not a very adequate expression. Perhaps “to pass on,” or “to go on,” or “to join” would be better. Will you try to find some better expression for death? When you find it, you will have quite a new interpretation of your life. It will be like my experience when I saw the water in the big waterfall. Imagine! It was 1,430 feet high!

Part 3: Right Understanding

Traditional Zen Spirit

According to the Buddhist understanding, human nature is without ego. Egoistic ideas are delusion, causing a karmic life.
Right effort is more important than any stage that you will attain in your practice. When you believe in the way, enlightenment is already there.
Even after attaining enlightenment, the Buddha continued the same effort he was making before. But his view of life was now stable, and he watched everyone’s life, including his own.
Only through practice can we understand what Buddhism is—not through reading or contemplation of philosophy.

Transiency

The basic teaching of Buddhism is transiency, or that everything changes.
Because everything changes, there is no constant self. The self-nature of every existence is this change.
We suffer because we cannot accept this transiency.
We should find perfect existence through imperfect existence; complete perfection is not different from imperfection. Good is not different from bad. They are two sides of one coin.
Finding the pleasure in suffering is the only way to accept the truth of transiency.

The Quality of Being

Dogen-zenji said that “every existence is a flashing into the vast phenomenal world.” Each existence is an expression of the quality of being itself.
“In calmness there should be activity; in activity there should be calmness.”
Our temporal existences are independent—we can always change into something else. The “I” of yesterday and the “I” of today are independent. The past, present, and future are all within you.

Naturalness

Jinen ken gedo is heretical naturalness, which is like a kind of sloppiness. What naturalness means in this context is a feeling of being independent from everything, or some activity that is based on nothingness, like a seed or plant coming out of the ground. The seed has no idea of being a certain plant, but is in perfect harmony with its environment.
To practice zazen should be to sit as if drinking water when you are thirsty. You don’t have to force yourself to drink water when you’re thirsty.
Shin ku myo u: “from true emptiness, the wondrous being appears.”
When listening to a lecture, you should not have an idea of yourself, or else your understanding will be one-sided.
Nyu nan shin: “soft or flexible mind.”

Emptiness

If you want to understand Buddhism, you should forget about your preconceived ideas, like ideas about substantiality or existence. The Buddhist understanding of life includes both existence and non-existence.
When you make your own way, you will express the universal way. “When you understand one thing through and through, you understand everything. When you try to understand everything, you will not understand anything. The best way is to understand yourself, and then you will understand everything.”
“Step by step I stop the sound of the murmuring brook.”
Concentration is freedom, but focus.

Readiness, Mindfulness

When we realize that everything we see is a part of emptiness, we have no attachment to any existence, and we realize that everything is a tentative form and color.
We should have soft, flexible thinking (mindfulness). Your mind should not be divided.
Wisdom is the readiness of the mind.

Believing in Nothing

It is necessary to believe in nothing—that is, to believe in something with no form and no color, something that exists before all forms and colors appear. Something that is always prepared for taking some particular form. This is called Buddha nature.
When Buddha nature is personified we call it Buddha; when we understand it as ultimate truth we call it Dharma; when we accept it for ourselves we call it Sangha. Even though there are these separate forms, it is one existence which has no form or color.This reminds me of the Holy Trinity
“If you understand yourself as a temporal embodiment of the truth, you will have no difficulty whatsoever. You will appreciate your surroundings, and you will appreciate yourself as a wonderful part of Buddha’s great activity, even in the midst of difficulties.”

Attachment, Nonattachment

Dogen-zenji said, “Even though it is midnight, dawn is here; even though dawn comes, it is nighttime.”
Dogen-zenji said, “Although everything has Buddha nature, we love flowers, and we do not care for weeds.”
We should not attach to love alone—we should accept hate.
Dogen said, “To learn something is to know yourself; to study Buddhism is to study yourself.” To learn something is not to acquire something which you did not know before. You know something before you learn it. There is no gap between the “I” before you know something and the “I” after you know something. There is no gap between the ignorant and the wise.
In love there should be hate (or non-attachment); in hate there should be love (acceptance).

Calmness

For Zen students a weed, which for most people is worthless, is a treasure. With this attitude, whatever you do, life becomes an art.

Experience, Not Philosophy

Contrary to the urgings of American society, there is no need to analyze Zen intellectually.

Original Buddhism

Everything is Buddha’s activity. Buddha’s teaching is everywhere.
We should forget about particular teachings; teaching is in every moment, in every existence.

Beyond Consciousness

Sometimes in scriptures there are some analogies to describe empty mind; like an astronomically great number, so great that it is beyond counting.
If you recognize your delusion, it cannot stay. But do not be bothered by it.
“The purpose of Buddhist teaching is to point to life itself existing beyond consciousness in our pure original mind.”

Buddha’s Enlightenment

When the Buddha attained enlightenment under the Bo tree, he said, “It is wonderful to see Buddha nature in everything and in each individual!”