| | Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind |  | Author: Shunryu Suzuki
Publisher: Weatherhill, Incorporated
Category: Book
Buy Used: $15.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  141 reviews
Media: Hardcover
Edition: Later Printing
ASIN: B001H8EKC8
Publication Date: January 1, 1970
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews: Read 136 more reviews...
 Great Meditation Book January 9, 2009
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind by Shunryu Suzuki is a book that will take you through varied topics like, sudden enlightenment and transience of the world. It sounds difficult but once you realize that your original nature is actually your true nature you begin to understand the fundamentals of Buddhism which is really the mindful study of oneself.
If you are leaning toward more modern spiritual advice may I suggest a down to earth book on the miracle of God and who exactly He is, and what you will do in the after-life then I suggest you read a great book entitled "The Enlightenment, What God Told Me After One Million Prayers: A Message for Everyone," by John H. Eagan. It brought me to tears. It's great and also deals with Jesus' Passion. I think if you liked Suzuki's book you will love this book.
Shusho: Practice/Enlightenment October 30, 2008
Who would want to criticise Suzuki-roshi, perhaps the best-loved figure in American Zen, or this wise, likeable book, the result of a lifetime's dedicated practice? Still it does show up the limitations of Soto Zen as practised in Japan, and still more when seeded overseas.
Soto Zen leads to an open-ended model of practice. You sit for the sake of sitting, not to achieve anything. Your practice goes on and on like a meandering river, now swift and narrow, now broad and slow, and now troubled by rocks and rapids. Whatever happens in meditation you "let go" of it and start again tomorrow with a "beginner's mind".
The notion of aiming at Enlightenment is anathema. That is Dualistic Thinking. Aren't Practice and Enlightenment one and the same?
But read the Pali Canon. You'll find that hundreds of times the Buddha urges his listeners to work with all their strength to attain Enlightenment. Why the contradiction?
From the highest standpoint, of course you can't attain Enlightenment: in Enlightenment there is no You, no Attainment. But this is a level of truth beyond most of us. No-one was ever nourished by pictures of food and no-one was ever enlightened by repeating words like "Nonduality" or "Must avoid Dualistic Thinking".
Have you experienced a Nondual state, with self and world perceived as One? Or a state of pure Unity beyond time and space, without subject or object? Can you "drop off body and mind" like Dogen-Zenji or "dwell without thought-coverings" as in the Heart Sutra? If the answer is No, then saying that Practice and Enlightenment are one and the same is like someone stuck out in the snow and the freezing wind, miles from home, repeating, "My house is cosy and warm; my house is cosy and warm".
Read the teachings of two Japanese Soto Ancestors: Dogen-Zenji's "Zazenshin" and Keizan-Zenji's "Zazen Yojinki". Both are findable online or in John Daido Loori's book "The Art of Just Sitting".
Better still read the "Practice-Instructions" of Master Hung-chih in "Cultivating the Empty Field". Also purely Soto (Ts'ao-tung) in outlook, these haunting poetic paragraphs tell you as much as can be said: and all you need then is the courage to put it into practice.
 Know and not know October 26, 2008
I was looking for a Zen book to help relieve work stress. Reading this book helpped me understanding my ignorance. I cannot claim I now know Zen since that would defeat the author's goal of teaching "Beginner's Mind". Learning is a continuos process so Zen is a practice, not an end to understanding a subject. Other than the concept of "Begginer's Mind", I thought "No Gaining Thought" is intriguing in looking at the world and doing the things you want to do in life. A great book to go back repeatedly.
Excellent October 22, 2008
Nutshell review - This is a beautiful book on Zen. It is an excellent book both for the novice and the seasoned practitioner. There are some valuable insights and lessons in this little book for anyone interested in Zen.
If you are going to read on book on Zen...Right Here October 19, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I can't count how many times I have read this book. this book is the rudder in my life.
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