Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice
by Shunryu Suzuki
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Book Reviews of Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice
Book Review: Mind at one with Tao
Summary: 5 Stars
Anyone interested in reading this book should not be dissuaded by the negative rantings of the "humble monk" and "Dharma teacher", whose reviews appear to be from the same person. This book does not disappoint. I first read it over 25 years ago and I've fondly returned to it time and again since.This book is intended as a look at 'Zen Mind', mind at one with Tao. The term 'Beginner's Mind' refers to the goal of always keeping our original beginner's mind in our practice. To awaken to this mind, Suzuki encourages the practice of Zazen, for when we take the Zazen posture we are at once aligned with The Buddha and all of the Patriarchs, we perfectly express our own Buddha nature. The act of sitting itself is the actualization of Buddha Nature or Being. This IS the practice of Zen.
Zen is a practice, not a religion and as thus can not be blasphemed in the way that the negative reviewer asserts. Religion is an attitude of devotion to something other than yourself which is regarded as worthy of supreme devotion. Zen Buddhism is not the worship of Buddha. Buddha taught the way to eliminate the cause of human suffering and conflict, the way to awakening. Zen is the means to that end.
To the Dharma teacher and "Zen monk", I quote Zen Master Dogen Zenji's Bendowa. "You look on the meditation of the Buddhas and the supreme law as just sitting and doing nothing. You disparage Mahayana Buddhism. Your delusion is deep; you are like someone in the middle of the ocean crying out for water. Fortunately we are already sitting at ease in the self-joyous meditation of the Buddhas. Isn't this a great boon? What a pity that your true-eye remains shut - that your mind remains drunk. The world of the Buddhas eludes ordinary thinking and consciousness. It cannot be known by disbelief and inferior knowledge. To enter one must have right belief. The disbeliever, even if taught, has trouble grasping it.... Your only purpose in reading the sutras should be to learn thoroughly that the Buddha taught the rules of gradual and sudden training and that by practicing his teachings you can obtain enlightenment. You should not read the sutras merely to pretend to wisdom through vain intellections.... While you look at words and phrases, the path of your training remains dark....Constant repetition of the Nembutsu is also worthless - like a frog in a spring field croaking night and day....Understand only this: if enlightened Zen masters and their earnest disciples correctly transmit the supreme law of the seven Buddhas, its essence emerges, and it can be experienced. Those who merely study the letters of the sutras cannot know this. So put a stop to this doubt and delusion. Follow the teachings of a real master and, by zazen; attain to the self-joyous samadhi of the Buddhas."
The Buddha himself said "This is itself the Way to Awakening".
Book Review: Not So Bad
Summary: 5 Stars
Yes, if you spend yer time studying Sutras & whatnot you'll find alot of contradictions between this book and those same sutras. But, I don't think that's so bad. Why should it be? The Sutras have alot of useful information, but alot of [stuff] too. For example, the Surangama Sutra would have you believe that drinking milk or eating meat or wearing leather would prevent you from enlightenment. "Well, that's just put in there by a copyist!" you might say, but still, it's obvious you cannot take a 100 percept literal interpretation of the sutras and still call it "Zen". If you read the Sermons of Bodhidharma translated by Red Pine, they will tell you that even being a butcher does not hinder you so long as you realize the Mind. So, Bodhidharma, the supposed founder of Ch'an (Zen) in China contradicted the Sutras. You'd also have to deny all Tibetan Buddhism too, because if you want to stay alive up there in the cold mountains, you better eat some Yak. That having been said, this book is about Soto Zen Buddhism. The methods taught in this book are used by Soto Zennists. If you want another school of Zen, then buy another book. This book is not about Buddhist Metaphysics or Esotericism. It is about daily practice, attitude and understanding. It's not a meditation manual, or a daily devotional or liturgy or anything like that. It is a bunch of talks. And what extraordinary talks they are! You really get a feel of what it's about while reading this. Sure, the practices may contradict other forms of Zen, but you have to understand who he (Suzuki) was talking to and that time period. There is a bit of compromise there. That's Upaya, skillful means. He still teaches to obey the precepts, and that Zen is not just sitting [around]. He teaches you should have a Zen mind even when you are laying in bed. And he doesn't condemn studying Buddhism, he simply points out that practice is better than just studying. In fact, Bodhidharma himself taught this. So, despite the frothing-mouthed railings against this book by a confessed "Theravadan" (meaning Hinayanist, meaning one of the lesser vehicle), you ought to by this book if you want to learn about Soto Zen. It would do you good though to not just restrict yourself to this book and look into Chinese, Tibetan, Korean, and Vietnamese forms as well. I especially recommend Sheng Yen's "Subtle Wisdom". This book does neglect such practices as Koans & Huatous, but they are not the main practices of the schools. Soto school came from Cao Dong, and they emphasized Silent Illumination, which is pure awareness. Go buy it! It's cheap, and worth more than the money.Book Review: Introduction to Soto Zen, not Rinzai
Summary: 5 Stars
This book is, in fact, probably the very best introduction to Zen Buddhism for Americans. It is short, informal, yet well written. Shunryu Suzuki, the author of this book, is not of the same school of Zen as D.T. Suzuki, who wrote many more books and is probably better known. Shunryu was of the Soto school of Zen, while D.T. belonged to the Rinzai school.
To the beginner, the differences might seem small. Both schools practice sitting meditation, called zazen. But Rinzai puts more emphasis on the experience of Satori, which I will not explain here (and is hardly explainable, anyhow). Soto Zen, and Shunryu in this book, emphasizes just sitting and practicing zazen. He does not dwell on Satori, in fact, I don't even think he mentions it.
In any event, I highly recommend this book as an introduction to Zen. Shunryu tells you about real Soto Zen practice -- not history, or theoretical concepts. It can be read in an evening, and can be re-read for years.
You can later proceed to other books on Zen; by D.T. Suzuki, Philip Kapleau, Christmas Humphreys, or others, including John C. H. Wu. Thich Nhat Hanh is very popular too, and has written many books. He is Vietnamese, while both of the Suzukis were Japanese. I believe that Nhat Hanh is of the Soto school, but I could be wrong. Certainly other authors are worthy, but the reader should be careful until you are more familiar with the basics of Zen. (Beware especially of the shallow, even flippant, Zen books which often begin with the words "Zen and the Art of..." They have little value.) Just remember that Zen Buddism has two main schools: Soto and Rinzai. Also, Zen is a special form of Buddhism -- kind of like Quakers being a special form of Christianity -- and is not necessarily representative of Buddishm as a whole.
Zen was heavily influenced by Taoism. So if you really want to go deeper, consider getting a translation of the Tao Te Ching -- I highly recommend the version by Stephen Addiss and Stanley Lombardo, but the translation by John C. H. Wu is good and very popular, plus he is Chinese by birth. Stephen Mitchell's version is very popular and accessible to modern Americans.
Finally, both Shunryu Suzuki and D.T. Suzuki definitely agree on one thing; Zen is understood through practice, not through books or ideas. Zen is not a philosophy. If you really want to understand Zen, then you will need to find a Zendo (meditation center or temple) and a teacher. And meditate!
Book Review: Four stars only to warn true "beginners": it's deceptively simple
Summary: 4 Stars
Beginner's minds: many possibilities; in experts: few. This sums up the optimism and clarity in these transcriptions. These talks were collated and edited by his students who organized these Zen pep talks in to Right Practice, Attitude, and Understanding. They flow, summed up in epigraphs and pithy examples that open up into profundity. As with the Zen message itself, deceptively simple on its surface.
This can be, as Amazon reviewers have cautioned, not the best book for absolute beginners. I liked David Fontana's "Discover Zen" and read that and pondered its contents for a few months before tackling Suzuki's classic. This will not give you a true primer for Zen; it's a guide for those already "sitting"-- that's the audience for the talks edited here. You can find out about Suzuki's life and career in David Chadwick's "Crooked Cucumber" (I recently reviewed Fontana and Chadwick); the contents of "ZMBM" strive for a sense of what a master might advise for his followers, but the aim's always to get beyond teacher-student dualities, and all barriers between you and the teaching. So easy to compress, yet it expands into infinity and nothingness from the brief chapters compiled within a few elegantly designed pages.
No inspirational fluff, this can be demanding, no-nonsense, and sobering. Basically, "just sit." Eat when you should eat, work when it's time to work, sleep the same-- and practice meditation regularly. Stay disciplined but free from habit; composed yet able to stand up for righteousness; detach from the world but marvel at it.
It's often moving. "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 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." (88) This gives a flavor of the calm tone and steady pace of these reflections from the Japanese-born founder of the San Francisco and Tassajara Zen Centers, responsible for the great 1960s expansion of Soto Zen into America. Anyone will find here wisdom, common sense, and the same peace that must have permeated the "zazen" sessions that inspired this book.
Book Review: A beloved classic of American Zen
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a collection of talks by one of the first Zen teachers in the U.S. If you're already practicing Zen, I highly recommend this book. If you're new to Zen, you might love this book or you might find it largely incomprehensible, or maybe both. Suzuki makes liberal use of the paradoxical language that is typical of Zen--e.g., "For us, complete perfection is not different from imperfection. The eternal exists because of non-eternal existence." If you'd prefer a more ordinary, explanatory style, I recommend Charlotte Joko Beck's "Everyday Zen." If you're looking for practical instruction in Zen meditation, you'll find it in "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind," but you might prefer either Philip Kapleau's "The Three Pillars of Zen," which includes more detailed instructions and illustrations of sitting postures, or Cheri Huber's instructional video "The Secret Is There Are No Secrets."
When I first read "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind," for a college class on Buddhism, I wasn't quite sure what to make of it, but I did end up practicing Zen, and maybe this book had something to do with that. For many years, even while living at a Zen monastery, I suspected that a lot of the enthusiasm for this book was an "emperor's new clothes" phenomenon: a few respected people said it was wonderful, so then everybody said it was wonderful. I figured its aura of profundity was due in large part to Suzuki's congruence with our archetype of mountaintop gurus--the short sentences and limited English vocabulary, and the paradoxical language that sounds deep even though nobody actually knows what the heck it means. More recently, I've come to think that the emperor really does have clothes and that the big issues of human life are hard to talk about without paradox, and this is now one of my favorite Zen books.