Zen Mind, Beginners Mind (Shunryu Suzuki)
A Cool, Classic Spiritual Text
[My 4-star Amazon review (NDA) of “Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind” by Suzuki Roshi.]
“Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind” is a cool, classic spiritual text. In that sense, it reminds me of “Be Here Now,” by Baba Ram Dass. Both books, first published around 1970, have groovy covers, boss interior lay-outs, and spiritual messages that have resonated with tens-of-thousands spiritual seekers over the past decades. Although Shunryu Suzuki (commonly referred to as Suzuki Roshi) wasn’t the clearest, most concise, or deepest communicator—like, say, Bubba Free John (a.k.a. Da Free John, Adi Da) – his words impart plenty of wisdom and are a smooth and easy read.
Although Suzuki Roshi provides plenty of pithy nuggets that have stuck with me over the decades, such as--“To give your sheep or cow a large spacious meadow is the way to control it,” and “If you’re trying to get out of the rain, it’s raining everywhere”—he also throws in some clunkers. For example, regarding meditation (or zazen) posture, he says, “These forms are not the means of obtaining the right state of mind. To take this posture is itself to have the right state of mind. There is no need to obtain some special state of mind.” To me, it’s as if he’s effectively reducing Zen to a hatha yoga level. When Ramana Maharshi, India’s greatest twentieth-century guru, was asked about meditation posture, his reply was just the opposite. He said, assume any posture that’s comfortable to you, and that “the best posture is concentration of mind.” And in my opinion, the “right meditation posture” is simply right (or direct and immediate) relationship.
“Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind” is not an advanced or esoteric Zen text, but it is a worthwhile and delightful one for beginner to intermediate spiritual practitioners. I have practiced and taught Zen and read umpteen books on the subject, and, for what it’s worth, here is my suggested reading order for those interested in the subject: Start with Alan Watts’s “The Way of Zen” for a general overview; read “Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind” to get a feel for “passive” Soto Zen (which Suzuki Roshi taught) and “The Three Pillars of Zen” to get one for Rinzai Zen (the “aggressive” Zen school that emphasizes koans). Then graduate to “The Zen Teaching of Huang Po” and “The Diamond Sutra and the Sutra Hui Neng”; and continue with various translations by Thomas Cleary.
[My 4-star Amazon review (NDA) of “Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind” by Suzuki Roshi.]
“Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind” is a cool, classic spiritual text. In that sense, it reminds me of “Be Here Now,” by Baba Ram Dass. Both books, first published around 1970, have groovy covers, boss interior lay-outs, and spiritual messages that have resonated with tens-of-thousands spiritual seekers over the past decades. Although Shunryu Suzuki (commonly referred to as Suzuki Roshi) wasn’t the clearest, most concise, or deepest communicator—like, say, Bubba Free John (a.k.a. Da Free John, Adi Da) – his words impart plenty of wisdom and are a smooth and easy read.
Although Suzuki Roshi provides plenty of pithy nuggets that have stuck with me over the decades, such as--“To give your sheep or cow a large spacious meadow is the way to control it,” and “If you’re trying to get out of the rain, it’s raining everywhere”—he also throws in some clunkers. For example, regarding meditation (or zazen) posture, he says, “These forms are not the means of obtaining the right state of mind. To take this posture is itself to have the right state of mind. There is no need to obtain some special state of mind.” To me, it’s as if he’s effectively reducing Zen to a hatha yoga level. When Ramana Maharshi, India’s greatest twentieth-century guru, was asked about meditation posture, his reply was just the opposite. He said, assume any posture that’s comfortable to you, and that “the best posture is concentration of mind.” And in my opinion, the “right meditation posture” is simply right (or direct and immediate) relationship.
“Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind” is not an advanced or esoteric Zen text, but it is a worthwhile and delightful one for beginner to intermediate spiritual practitioners. I have practiced and taught Zen and read umpteen books on the subject, and, for what it’s worth, here is my suggested reading order for those interested in the subject: Start with Alan Watts’s “The Way of Zen” for a general overview; read “Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind” to get a feel for “passive” Soto Zen (which Suzuki Roshi taught) and “The Three Pillars of Zen” to get one for Rinzai Zen (the “aggressive” Zen school that emphasizes koans). Then graduate to “The Zen Teaching of Huang Po” and “The Diamond Sutra and the Sutra Hui Neng”; and continue with various translations by Thomas Cleary.
