ZEN MIND, BEGINNER’S MIND
Sara de Clercq - 29 August 2022
The practice of Zen inspires me.
Especially the well known Buddhist concept of a Beginner’s Mind.
Join me for a practical and experiential 6 week course into Wholeness: Unity in Duality
Text below is largely inspired by words from Shunryu Suzuki.
Some people say that practicing Zen (or any other form of spirituality) is ‘difficult’ or ‘hard’, but there is a misunderstanding as to why. It is not difficult because it’s hard to sit in a cross-legged position, eat well, sleep well, spend time in nature, fast, spend time in solitude and take care of the body or because of any other practices one might undertake to clear the mind.
It is difficult because it is hard to keep our mind pure and our practice pure in its fundamental sense.
In its fundamental purpose.
More often than not there is a distraction within the practice, the teaching, the teacher, the community - the ‘way it’s supposed to be’. The original well-intended undertaking of this practice becomes the very distraction to clear or release.
This is what I love about the concept of the Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind - it’s simple and it’s timeless. It’s a remembrance of the same Presence over and over again.Don’t get me wrong, in my perspective the distraction into the practice & the teaching is a part of the process. It’s a part of the journey. However we must remember what we were here for in the first place.
And this moment to moment remembrance is in my eyes the very practice of Beginner’s Mind.
It might be a very good teaching. A very powerful practice. But what would happen to you if you repeat it twice, three times, four times, or more? You might easily lose your original attitude towards it.
For any reader of this blog, I’m sharing an encouragement to realise your own nature, your own Zen mind.
Maybe for the first time, maybe for the 50th time.
For me all religion and all spiritual practices point towards the same thing - our fundamental original being.
They might have different ways of expressing this & some might be more clouded by noise, contain more
mis-interpretations or be more mis-used than others. But for me they all hold wisdom.
In this blog I choose to explain the same fundamental principles & insights that I facilitate with my clients and in our courses, through the lens of Buddhism and particularly the Zen Mind. Another word for Zen Mind or Beginner’s Mind is an Open Mind.
A Pure Open Mind.
The purpose of all Zen teaching - to make you wonder and to answer that wondering with the deepest expression of your own true nature. Which is pure & innocent.
Nyorai in Japanese or tathagata in Sanskrit is a name for Buddha, which means “he who has followed the path, who has returned from suchness, or is suchness, thus-ness, is-ness, emptiness, the fully completed one.” It is the ground principle which makes the appearance of a Buddha possible. It is Zen mind.
“The mind of the beginner is empty, free of the habits of the expert, ready to accept, to doubt, and open to all the possibilities. It is the kind of mind which can see things as they are, which step by step and in a flash can realize the original nature of everything.”
In Zen the idea is that students/practitioners don’t get lost in the world of dualism.
To see through the world of dualism by seeing through dualistic polarities.
Some examples of dualistic Polarities are: Day & Night, Light & Dark, Self & Other, Masculine & Feminine, Inside & Outside, Work & Play or Work & Life, Me & Them, You and Me, Unity & Duality, Life & Death, Good & Evil, Pain & Pleasure, Inhale & Exhale, Good & Bad.
Unity in Duality is a 6-Week Course where we will be transcending and including dualistic perspectives, through intentional somatic practices & polarity integration.
To see through the world of dualism we need to see through our own stories in mind. This means not suppressing thought, or wanting to ‘get rid’ of thoughts - but letting them come and go. If you don’t attach to certain thoughts or avoid certain other thoughts, they will fly through your mind without leaving a trace. In other words: the mind is empty. There are no traces, no dislikes or likes. There is just the moment. This is an Open Mind. A Zen Mind.
In this beginner’s mind there is no thought like “I have attained something.” All self-centered thoughts limit our vast mind. When we have no thought of achievement, no thought of self, we are true beginners.
Then we can really learn something.
“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 mind there are few.”
The beginner’s mind is the mind of compassion. When our mind is compassionate, it is boundless. Dogen-zenji, the founder of the school of Zen, always emphasized how important it is to resume our boundless original mind. Then we are always true to ourselves, in sympathy with all beings, and can actually practice.
So the most difficult thing is always to keep your Beginner’s Mind. There is no need to have a deep understanding of Zen. Even though you read a lot of Zen literature, you must read each sentence with a fresh 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.
For me art has been ‘a way’, ‘a practice’, ‘a play’ back to this original State of Mind. This original State of Mind is moreso a state of being Beyond Mind. To ‘maintain’ this original state, that is, to not get distracted into the realm of conceptualizations, polarities, rational understanding and meaning making structures is a moment to moment practice.
A moment to moment surrendering.
Relaxing.
Returning.
Even the most subtle act of holding on, wanting things to be a particular way is not surrendering into what is.
With the increased amount of relative complexity in our lives, especially in the West, this practice is even more necessary, more fundamental and in a way more difficult. The more complex our relative lives are, including work, relationships, world events etc etc the more complexity we need to include. There is simply ‘more stuff’ to include.
In my perspective there is a direct correlation between the increasing complexity of our relative lives and an increased ‘need’ in returning to our original state. To our Beginner’s Mind.
A simple practice is therefore useful.
Practicing Zazen
“When we practice zazen our mind always follows our breathing. When we inhale, the air comes into the inner world. When we exhale, the air goes out to the outer world. The inner world is limitless, and the outer world is also limitless. We say “inner world” or “outer world,” but actually there is just one whole world.”
The same way works for you yourself as well. If you want to obtain perfect calmness in your zazen, you should not be bothered by the various images you find in your mind. Let them come, and let them go.
To stop your mind does not mean to stop the activities of mind. It means your mind pervades your whole body. Your mind follows your breathing. With your full mind you form the mudra in your hands. With your whole mind you sit with painful legs without being disturbed by them. This is to sit without gaining any idea. At first you feel some restriction in your posture, but when you are not disturbed by the restriction, you have found the meaning of “emptiness is emptiness and form is form.” So to find your own way under some restriction is the way of practice.”
An Open Mind is An Open Heart
When our mind is open to receive all, our heart is warm and open to receive all. I speak to the heart space in particular because that keeps us human. It keeps us grounded in the body.
The true purpose of Zen is not only to see things as they are, to observe things as they are, and to let everything be as it is. In other words, to see clearly, without labeling & pre-conceptions.
It is also to BE as YOU are. Which means to be human.
Therefore for me, a spiritual life means a free life, free to be fully human.
With all the human imperfections that come with that.
To realize our true identity, which is divine, and to include our humanness in this realization.
To not deny our humanity, but include it. To embody divinity in our human form. When we can truly include our humanness, we can love ourselves fully. We can now truly be free. It took me a while to truly ‘feel’ this.
The last year has been a deepening of this realisation and it’s been incredibly heart opening, humbling and freeing.
So to see through the world of dualism does not mean LEAVING the world of dualism.
It means SEEING THROUGH the world of dualism and being WHOLEHEARTEDLY ENGAGED in life.
To open the heart to all. All humans, all animals, all imperfections. To resist none.
And if, at times, a slight distortion, attachment, judgment or any other thought occurs, to see that as it is.
No need to judge the judging, to not be attached to the attachment.
To, in that moment, let it be.
Let it all be.
UNITY IN DUALITY.
During this course, we explore the above deeply and compassionately. As a group we will be exploring how unity lives in duality and how duality lives in unity. Real freedom occurs when we find Unity in Duality.
This has been a realisation for me in the last year or so and has brought a depth to my practice and ‘understanding’ of what live & let live really is about.
This is a course with limited spots as it’s important to create an intimate group, so you can only join via registration.
If you’re interested to receive more about this course, register HERE.
Links:
Book: Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind by Shunryu Suzuki