Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind
Beginner's Mind
"In the beginner's mind, there are many possibilities, but in the expert's, there are few." People say that practicing Zen is difficult, It is difficult because it is hard to keep our mind pure and our practice pure in its fundamental sense. The goal of practice is always to keep our beginner's mind. (it may be our original mind or true nature)
For Zen students, the most important thing is not to be dualistic. Our "original mind" includes everything within itself. It is always rich and sufficient within itself. You should not lose your self-sufficient state of mind. This does not mean a closed mind, but an empty mind and a ready mind.
If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything; it is open to everything. In the beginner's mind, there are many possibilities; in the expert's there are few. If you discriminate too much, you limit yourself.
If you keep your original mind, the precepts will keep themselves. In the beginner's mind, there is no thought, "I have attained something.' All self-centered thoughts limit our vast mind. The beginner's mind is the mind of compassion. When our mind is compassionate, it is boundless. So, the most difficult thing is always to keep your beginner's mind. You should not say, "I know what Zen is," or "I have attained enlightenment." This is also the real secret of the arts: always be a beginner.
1. RIGHT PRACTICE
Zazen practice is the direct expression of our true nature.
[POSTURE]
"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."
This is the most important teaching: not two, and not one. Our body and mind are not two and not one. If you think your body and mind are two, that is wrong; if you think that they are one, that is also wrong. Our body and mind are both two and one. Each one of us is both dependent and independent. We die, and we do not die. This is the right understanding. even though we say mind and body, they are actually two sides of one coin. This is the right understanding. so when we take this posture it symbolizes this truth.
The most important thing in taking the zazen posture is to keep your spine straight. Your ears and your shoulders should be on one line. Relax your shoulders, and push up towards the ceiling with the back of your head. And you should pull your chin in. When your chin is tilted up, you have no strength in your posture.
You should be sitting straight up as if you were supporting the sky with your head. This is not just form or breathing. It expresses the key point of Buddhism. It is a perfect expression of your Buddha nature.
These forms are not a means of obtaining the right state of mind. To take this posture itself is the purpose of our practice. When you have this posture, you have the right state of mind, so there is no need to try to attain some special state.
The most important point is to own your own physical body. Everything should exist in the right place, in the right way. Then there is no problem. When we have our body and mind in order, everything else will exist in the right place, in the right way. But usually, without being aware of it, we try to change something other than ourselves, we try to order things outside us. But it is impossible to organize things if you are not in order. When you do things in the right way, at the right time, everything else will be organized. You are the "boss". When the boss does something right, everyone will do everything right, and at the right time. That is the secret of Buddhism.
So try always to keep the right posture, not only when you practice zazen, but in all your activities. Enlightenment is not some good feeling or some particular state of mind. The state of mind that exists when you sit in the right posture is, itself, enlightenment.
[BREATHING]
When we practice zazen, our mind always follows our breathing. If you think, "I breathe," the "I" is extra. There is no you to say "I." What we call "I" is just a swinging door which moves when we inhale and when we exhale. It just moves; that is all. When your mind is pure and calm enough to follow this movement, there is nothing: no "I", no world, no mind nor body; just a swinging door.
We should live in this moment, so when we sit, we must concentrate on our breathing. then, we become a swinging door. When we become truly ourselves, we just become a swinging door, and we are purely independent of, and at the same time, dependent upon everything. We are in the center of the world always, moment after moment. If you have this kind of experience, this kind of existence, you have absolute independence; you will not be bothered by anything. So when you practice zazen, your mind should be concentrated on your breathing. This kind of activity is the fundamental activity of the universal being.
[CONTROL]
To give your sheep or cow a large, spacious meadow is the way to control him. so, it is with people; first let them do what they want, and watch them. This is the best policy. To ignore them is not good; that is the worst policy. The second worst is trying to control them. The best one is to watch them, just to watch them, without trying to control them.
We say concentration, but to concentrate your mind on something is not the true purpose of Zen. The true purpose is to see things as they are, to observe things as they are, and to let everything go as it goes. This is to put everything under control in its widest sense. Zen practice is to open up our small mind. So concentrating is just an aid to help you realize the "big mind," or the mind that is everything.
Perfect freedom is not found without some rules. People, especially young people, think that freedom is to do just what they want, that in Zen there is no need for rules. But it is absolutely necessary for us to have some rules. But this does not mean always to be under control. To try to obtain freedom without being aware of the rules means nothing. It is to acquire this perfect freedom that we practice zazen.
[MIND WAVES]
"Because we enjoy all aspects of life as an unfolding of big mind, we do not care for any excessive joy. So we have imperturbable composure."
Do not be bothered by anything. It appears as if something comes from outside your mind, but actually it is only the waves of your mind, and if you are not bothered by the waves, gradually they will become calmer and calmer. In five or at most ten minutes, your mind will be completely serene and calm. At that time your breathing will become quite slow, while your pulse will become a little faster.
It will take quite a long time before you find your calm, serene mind in your practice. Many sensations come, many thoughts or images arise. but they are just waves of your own mind. Nothing comes from outside your mind.
The true understanding is that the mind includes everything; when you think something comes from outside it means only that something appears in your mind. Nothing outside yourself can cause any trouble. You yourself make the waves in your mind. If you leave your mind as it is, it will become calm. This mind is called big mind. If your mind is related to something outside itself, that is a small mind, a limited mind.
If your mind is not related to anything else, then there is no dualistic understanding in the activity of your mind. You understand activity as just waves of your mind. Big mind experiences everything within itself. Do you understand the difference between the two minds: the mind which includes everything, and the mind which is related to something? Actually, they are the same thing, but the understanding is different, and your attitude toward your life will be different according to which understanding you have.
That everything is included within your mind is the essence of mind. To experience this is to have a religious feeling. Even though waves arise, the essence of your mind is pure; it is just like clear water with a few waves. Actually, water always has waves. Waves are the practice of the water. To speak of waves apart from water or water apart from waves is a delusion. Water and waves are one. Big mind and small mind are one.
A mind with waves in it is not a disturbed mind, but actually an amplified one. Whatever you experience is an expression of big mind. The activity of big mind is to amplify itself through various experiences.
[MIND WEEDS]
In pure zazen, there should not be any waves in your mind. While you are sitting these waves will become smaller and smaller, and your effort will change into some subtle feeling. We say, "Pulling out the weeds we give nourishment to the plant." So even though you have some difficulty in your practice, even though you have some waves while you are sitting, those waves themselves will help you.
We should try to continue our efforts forever. That effort will be refined more and more while you are sitting. At first, the effort you make is quite rough and impure, but by the power of practice, the effort will become purer and purer. When your effort becomes pure, your body and mind become pure. This is the way we practice Zen.
Once you understand our innate power to purify ourselves and our surroundings, you can act properly, and you will learn from those around you, and you will become friendly with others. This is the merit of Zen practice. But the way of practice is just to concentrate on your breathing with the right posture and with great, pure effort.
[THE MARROW OF ZEN]
In continuous practice, under a succession of agreeable and disagreeable situations, you will realize the marrow of Zen and acquire its true strength. In the zazen posture which you have acquired by long, hard practice, your mind and body have great power to accept things as they are, whether they are agreeable or disagreeable.
[NO DUALISM]
"Form is emptiness and emptiness is form." But if you attach to that statement, you are liable to be involved in dualistic ideas. But fortunately, our teaching goes to say, "Form is form and emptiness is emptiness." Here there is no dualism.
Knowing that your life is short, to enjoy it day after day, moment after moment is the life of "form is form and emptiness is emptiness."
[BOWING]
Bowing is a very serious practice. You should be prepared to bow, even in your last moment. Even though it is impossible to get rid of our self-centered desires, we have to do it. Our true nature wants us to.
By bowing we are giving up ourselves. To give up ourselves means to give up our dualistic ideas. When you become one with Buddha, one with everything that exists, you find the true meaning of being. When you forget all your dualistic ideas, everything becomes your teacher, and everything can be the object of worship. Bowing helps to eliminate our self-centered ideas. This is not so easy. It is difficult to get rid of these ideas, and bowing is a very valuable practice.
Your effort appeases your inmost desire. There is no other way to attain calmness. Calmness of mind does not mean you should stop your activity. Real calmness should be found in activity itself. We say, "It is easy to have calmness in inactivity, it is hard to have calmness in activity, but calmness in activity is true calmness.
[NOTHING SPECIAL]
The most important thing is to forget all gaining ideas, all dualistic ideas. In other words, just practice zazen in a certain posture. Do not think about anything. Just remain on your cushion without expecting anything. Then eventually you will resume your own true nature. That is to say, your own true nature resumes itself.
2. RIGHT ATTITUDE
The point we emphasize is strong confidence in our original nature.
[SINGLE-MINDED WAY]
The Bodhisattva's way is called "the single-minded way," or "one railway track thousands of miles long." That is the Bodhisattva's way. So even if the sun were to rise from the west, the Bodhisattva has only one way. His way is in each moment to express his nature and his sincerity.
[REPETITION]
If you lose the spirit of repetition, your practice will become quite difficult. In order to find out how dough became perfect bread, he made it over and over again, until he became quite successful. That was his practice.
[ZEN AND EXCITEMENT]
Zen is not some kind of excitement, but concentration on our usual everyday routine. When young people get excited about Zen, they often give up schooling and go to some mountain or forest in order to sit. That kind of interest is not true interest. Just continue in your calm, ordinary practice and your character will be built up. When your practice is calm and ordinary, everyday life itself is enlightenment.
[RIGHT EFFORT]
If your practice is good, you may become proud of it. What you do is good, but something more is added to it. Pride is extra. Right effort is to get rid of something extra.
[STUDY YOURSELF]
The purpose of studying Buddhism is not to study Buddhism, but to study ourselves. It is impossible to study ourselves without some teaching. We need a teacher because it is impossible to study ourselves by ourselves. To study Buddhism is to study ourselves. To study ourselves is to forget ourselves. When we forget ourselves, we actually are the true activity of the big existence, or reality itself.
[TO POLISH A TILE]
"When you become you, Zen becomes Zen. When you are you, you see things as they are, and you become one with your surroundings." There is no Buddhahood besides your ordinary mind. When a cart does not go, which do you whip, the cart or the horse? What is true zazen? When you become you! When you are you, then no matter what you do, that is zazen. When you are you, you see things as they are, and you become one with your surroundings. There is your true self. There you have true practice.
[CONSISTENCY]
People who know the state of emptiness will always be able to dissolve their problems by consistency.
[COMMUNICATION]
Without any intentional, fancy way of adjusting yourself, expressing yourself as you are is the most important thing. ... We emphasize straightforwardness. You should be true to your feelings, and to your mind, expressing yourself without any reservations. This helps the listener to understand more easily. we should be faithful, subjectively and objectively, to ourselves, and especially to our feelings. True communication depends upon our being straightforward with one another. Zen masters are very straightforward.
[NEGATIVE AND POSITIVE]
Big mind is something to express, not something to figure out. Big mind is something you have, not something to seek for.
[NIRVANA, THE WATERFALL]
Our life and death are the same thing. When we realize this fact, we have no fear of death anymore, nor actual difficulty in our life. Before we were born we had no feeling; we were one with the universe. This is called "mind-only," or "essence of mind," or "big mind."
3. RIGHT UNDERSTANDING
Our understanding of Buddhism is not just an intellectual understanding. True understanding is the actual practice itself.
[TRADITIONAL ZEN SPIRIT]
The most important things in our practice are our physical posture and our way of breathing. The points we emphasize are not the stage we attain, but the strong confidence we have in our original nature and the sincerity of our practice. If originally we have Buddha nature, the reason we practice zazen is that we must behave like Buddha.
When we have the traditional spirit to follow the truth as it goes, and practice our way without any egoistic idea, then we will attain enlightenment in its true sense. And when we understand this point we will make our best effort in each moment. That is true understanding of Buddhism.
[TRANSIENCY]
The basic teaching of Buddhism is the teaching of transiency, or change. That everything changes is the basic truth for each existence. No one can deny this truth. Because each existence is in constant change, there is no abiding self. In fact, the self-nature of each existence is nothing but change itself, the self-nature of all existence. When we realize the everlasting truth of "everything changes" and find our composure in it, we find ourselves in Nirvana.
[THE QUALITY OF BEING]
When you do something, if you fix your mind on the activity with some confidence, the quality of your state of mind is the activity itself. When you are concentrated on the quality of your being, you are prepared for the activity.
[NATURALNESS]
Naturalness is some feeling of being independent from everything, or some activity which is based on nothingness. Something which comes out of nothingness is naturalness, like a seed or plant coming out of the ground. We say "soft or flexible mind." Nyu nan shim means a smooth, natural mind. When you have that mind, you have the joy of life.
When you lose it, you lose everything. You have nothing. Although you think, you have something, you have nothing. But when all you do comes out of nothingness, then you have everything. Do you understand? That is what we mean by naturalness.
[READINESS, MINDFULNESS]
It is the readiness of the mind that is wisdom.