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: Never Had Satori
Summary: 1 Stars
Shunryu Suzuki never had Satori.
He admits this on the FIRST page of this very book.
So why should we listen to him?
According to D. T. Suzuki, "Satori is the raison d'être of Zen, without which Zen is no Zen. Therefore every contrivance, disciplinary and doctrinal, is directed towards satori."
Shunryu Suzuki inherited his Roshi title from his father, without any authentic Dharma transmission.
HIS only named Dharma successor, Richard Baker, was a notorious playboy who spent the SF Zen Center money on Porsches and jetsetting.
And now the SF Zen Center, run by a bureaucracy of new age politically correct "talking parking meters", is a franchise temple, spinning off their chain store temples all over the nation, with their emphasis on "no enlightenment buddhism".
The San Francisco Zen Center has yet to produce an enlightened Roshi. They are a fraud.
And this fox's book continues to trick naive Dharma seekers.
No satori, no authority.
Book Review: Right Practice - Right Attitude - Right Understanding
Summary: 5 Stars
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind by Shunryu SuzukiThis was the first book on Zen I read some twenty years ago. To a westerner conditioned to experience one's perceptions through the filter of the mind, it was near incomprehensible at the time and it was only many years later, as I began to establish my sitting practice, that I was able to read Suzuki-Roshi's talks with benefit.
This book will probably make little sense to you if you do not practice zazen. If you are looking for an intellectual exposition of Buddhist thought, there are many other books that will better suit your purpose.
If you are looking for a how-to method for sitting practice, this book is also probably not the best place to start.
However, if you are looking for encouragement with your sitting practice, this book is what you are looking for. Suzuki-Roshi's gentle words will nudge you back onto the cushions and help you feel that there is some sense in what you are doing. His compassion shines through on every page.
Book Review: Formalism in the name of spirituality
Summary: 3 Stars
I've been interested in Buddhism for many years, but never really looked into Zen specifically. I tried this book on the recommendation of a friend. I had high hopes for it based on his recommendation, but I found it extremely disappointing. The first chapter really explains my major gripes with the book. In it he states that the most important part of Buddhism (not specifically Zen, Buddhism) is to meditate with a perfectly erect spine, and that this act of sitting with an erect spine is meditation, is Buddhism, and that there is no necessary mental component, no special breathing, nothing but sitting in this fashion.
That's absurd. Its mindless formalism for the sake of formalism. Posture, while nice and helpful is not the point of meditation, and certainly not the point of Buddhism. I think he has an unhealthy attachment to the position of his body and the continuation of acts in accordance with his tradition.
Otherwise, I have no problem with him.
Book Review: a zen classic...a book you can always come back to
Summary: 5 Stars
Weather you don't know anything about Zen or have been practicing for twenty years, "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind" will always give you something new. Out of all the Zen books I own, this is the one I am constantly going back to and re-reading. For many American Zen students, this is the book that started it all. "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind" is a collection of lectures given by Shrunryu Suzuki given to his students in Los Atlos, CA. They deal with the fundamentals of practice in the Soto Zen tradition started by Dogen in Japan. However it would be wrong to limit this book to just a tradition. I believe no matter what your beliefs or practices are, this book and the practice of zazen can help you. Suzuki emphasises strongly on practice which in Zen, its easy to get carried away with false ideas and I think that is what makes this book so helpful with my practice. So pick up this book and a Zafu and take the lotus position and be prepared to be changed forever.Book Review: The Best and Most Practical Book on Zen
Summary: 5 Stars
Zen Master Suzuki gives the most lucid exposition on practicing zen ever put on paper. The teachings are not watered down, sugar coated, or given false pretenses as the absolute truth. The chapter on meditation exemplifies all these qualities. To Suzuki, just the act of sitting zazen is meditation itself and as a consequence, enlightenment. No mention of mystical visions, long processes of clearing the mind and becoming "one with the universe" - his only instruction is to perceive simple reality. As a long time meditator, I have found Zen Master Suzuki's approach much more honest and fruitful than any of the methods that use various mediums(i.e. imagery, sounds) to facilitate meditation. The rest of the book constantly reaffirms this simple yet profound concept. Anyone interested in Zen Buddhism, out of spiritual or intellectual curiosity, should start here.