Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind
Informal talks on Zen meditation and practice
Shunryu Suzuki
Back at the turn of the 19th century, a Zen master named Daisetz Suzuki translated and explained many zen principles in English for the first time. His works remain as some of the definitive and primary introductions to Eastern thought. When I picked up this book, I thought that I was getting something by that man. Instead, this is a set of teachings, short essays really, by another Suzuki. He came America in the late 1950s and established a zen practice. I was fairly disappointed once I figured that out, but a few chapters disabused me of that notion. This book is very worthwhile in its own right.
Zen can be a very frustrating subject for the analytically trained mind. Whether the material is fundamentally difficult … or whether it’s the tradition of teaching through obfuscation and forcing the student to let go of analysis … it winds up being quite annoying. Zen koans, in particular, are nearly gleeful in their refusal to make any sense whatsoever. You either “get it,” or you don’t. Thus the suddenness of enlightenment. All of a sudden, light dawns and you understand those years of teaching all at once. Or not.
Suzuki removes a large portion of that gleeful denial and simply explains things as best he is able.
I found lots of tidbits in here, none of which seem amenable to a quick exposition. I would merely be quoting … rather than communicating. I have no idea whether that would work without the context … or honestly whether it would work for anyone but me. So, in short, I found this book really valuable … but in a way that I find difficult to explain in a quick and concise way.
One final note is that I had to read this book differently from most. In general, I plow through books with great speed. I read books in two or three sittings. This one denied that from the get-go. I could take in perhaps three short essays at a sitting, and then I had to let the material simmer on a back burner in my mind for a day or two.
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