Zen Mind, Beginners Mind: Informal Talks On Zen Meditation And Practice (Shambhala Library)

Zen Mind, Beginners Mind: Informal Talks On Zen Meditation And Practice (Shambhala Library)

Product Description In the beginners mind there are many possibilities, but in the experts there are few. So begins this most beloved of all American Zen books. Seldom has such a small handful of words provided a teaching as rich as has this famous opening line of Shunryu Suzukis classic. In a single stroke, the simple sentence cuts through the pervasive tendency students have of getting so close to Zen as to completely miss what its all about. An instant teaching on the first page. And thats just the beginning. In the thirty years since its original publication, Zen Mind, Beginners Mind has become one of the great modern Zen classics, much beloved, much re-read, and much recommended as the best first book to read on Zen. Suzuki Roshi presents the basics?rom the details of posture and breathing in zazen to the perception of nonduality?n a way that is not only remarkably clear, but that also resonates with the joy of insight from the first to the last page. Its a book to come back to time and time again as an inspiration to practice. Review ?ne of the best and most succinct introductions to Zen practice.? Library Journal ?hough covering Zen basics like zazen posture, bowing, intention, and so on, Suzuki Roshi? masterwork is hardly just for Zen people?r just for beginners, for that matter. It skillfully introduces important Buddhist concepts like non-attachment, emptiness, and enlightenment.? Lion? Roar This is one of the top five Buddhist books, ever.Elephant Journal About the Author Shunryu Suzuki (1904971) was one of the most influential spiritual teachers of the twentieth century and is truly a founding father of Zen in America. A Japanese priest of the Soto lineage, he taught in the United States from 1959 until his death. He was the founder of the San Francisco Zen Center and the Tassajara Zen Mountain Center. He is the author of Zen Mind, Beginners Mind and Branching Streams Flow in the Darkness: Zen Talks on the Sandokai, and he is the subject of the biography Crooked Cucumber by David Chadwick.