Shunryu Suzuki: Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind

Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind
Shunryu Suzuki
Weatherhill, New York & Tokyo
ISBN 0-8348-0079-9

 

 

‘Do I really know what my own mind is? Is it what I am doing now? Is it what I am thinking now?’ And if you should then try to sit physically still for a while to see if you can discover just what your mind is, to see if you can locate it – then you have begun the practice of Zen, then you have begun to realize the unrestricted mind.’

Using simple examples from everyday life, Shuryu Suzuki talks the reader through the states of the mind, from beginning, to non-duality, emptiness and enlightenment.

From the Chapter: Breathing

When we practice zazen our mind always follows our breathing. When we inhale, the air comes into the inner world. When we exhale, the air goes out to the outer world. The inner world is limitless, and the outer world is also limitless. We say ‘inner world’ or ‘outer world’, but actually there is just one whole world. In this limitless world, our throat is like a swinging door. The air comes in and goes out like someone passing through a swinging door. If you think, ‘I breathe’, the ‘I’ is extra. There is no you to say ‘I’. What we call ‘I’ is just a swinging door which moves when we inhale and when we exhale. It just moves; that is all. When your mind is pure and calm enough to follow this movement, there is nothing: no ‘I’, no world, no mind nor body; just a swinging door.

From the Chapter: Bowing

Bowing is a very serious practice. You should be prepared to bow, even in your last moment. Even though it is impossible to get rid of our self-centered desires, we have to do it. Our true nature wants us to.
After zazen we bow to the floor nine times. By bowing we are giving up ourselves. To give up ourselves means to give up our dualistic ideas. So there is no difference between zazen practice and bowing. Usually to bow means to pay our respects to something which is more worthy of respect than ourselves. But when you bow to Buddha you should have no idea of Buddha, you just become one with Buddha, you are already Buddha himself. When you become one with Buddha, one with everything that exists, you find the true meaning of being. When you forget all your dualistic ideas, everything becomes your teacher, and everything can be the object of worship.