Zen Mind, or Beginner’s Mind

In Japan there is a phrase called
soshin,
which means “beginner’s mind”. The purpose of this practice is to keep our minds in a state of beginning. For a while you will be able to have the “beginner’s mind”, but if you continue to practice, a year, two, three, or more, even if you could improve something, you are likely to lose the unlimited meaning of the original mind.

For students in Zen, the most important thing is to be outside of duality. “Our original mind” includes everything in it. It’s always self-sufficient for herself. We must not lose this state of self-sufficiency. It doesn’t mean a closed mind, but it can even be an empty mind or a prepared mind. If the mind is empty, it’s always ready for anything, it’s open to anything. In the “mind of the beginner” state there are many possibilities, in the minds of the experts there are only a few.

If we discriminate too much, we limit ourselves. If we’re too picky or greedy, our minds aren’t broad and self-sufficient. If we lose our original and self-sufficient mind, we will lose all our perceptions. When the mind wants something, when we begin to look for ways to fulfill these desires, we will end up violating our own perceptions: not to tell lies, not to steal, not to kill, not to be immoral and so on.

If we maintain our original mind, the perceptions will also be preserved.

In the beginner’s mind there is no thought, like, “I got something”. All thoughts about ego limit the vastness of our minds. When we have no thought about getting anything, no thoughts about ourselves, we are truly beginners. Only then can we really learn something. The beginner’s mind is the mind of compassion. When the mind is compassionate, it becomes vast, limitless.

Dgen-zenji, the founding master of the Zen school, Soto, has emphasized in his teachings, more than eight centuries old, as important as it is important to confine ourselves to the unlimited original mind. Then we are always in a fair relationship with ourselves, in harmony with all beings, and we can practice correctly.

In conclusion, the most difficult thing is to always maintain a beginner’s mind. You don’t have to have a deep understanding of Zen for this. Even if you’ve read a lot of Zen literature, you have to read each sentence with a fresh mind. You have to say. “I know what Zen is” or “I’ve already touched the Enlightenment.” This is also a great secret in art: to always be a beginner. Pay close attention to this and do not minimize its value. If you start practicing zazen (meditation), you will begin to appreciate this “beginner’s mind”.

This is the secret of ZEN!

After an article by ~Shunryu Suzuki
Zen Mind or Beginner’s Mind