Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind
By Shunryu Suzuki, 138 Pages, Paperback.
Zen Mind is one of those enigmatic phrases used by Zen teachers to throw you back upon yourself, to make you go behind the words themselves and begin wondering. "I know what my own mind is", you tell yourself, "but what is Zen Mind?" And then: "But do I really know what my own mind is? And if you should then try to sit physically still for a while to see if you can locate it - then you have begun the practice of Zen, then you have begun to realize the unrestricted mind.
This book is about how to practice Zen as a workable discipline and religion, about posture and breathing, about the basic attitudes and understanding that make Zen practice possible, about non-duality, emptiness, and enlightenment. Here one begins to understand what Zen is really about. And most important of all, every page breaths with the joy and simplicity that make a liberated life possible.
Zen Mind is one of those enigmatic phrases used by Zen teachers to throw you back upon yourself, to make you go behind the words themselves and begin wondering. "I know what my own mind is", you tell yourself, "but what is Zen Mind?" And then: "But do I really know what my own mind is? And if you should then try to sit physically still for a while to see if you can locate it - then you have begun the practice of Zen, then you have begun to realize the unrestricted mind.
This book is about how to practice Zen as a workable discipline and religion, about posture and breathing, about the basic attitudes and understanding that make Zen practice possible, about non-duality, emptiness, and enlightenment. Here one begins to understand what Zen is really about. And most important of all, every page breaths with the joy and simplicity that make a liberated life possible.
