Let’s start by comparing your modern mind to your desktop computer. After weeks, months, and years of use your computer is bogged down, however with a few clicks of your mouse you can DELETE all of the unwanted files and have a smooth running computer! Our task in Beginners Mind is similar, however the DELETE button is highly camouflaged in layers and layers of useless information stored in our minds computer.
The Great Buddha discovered the secret to achieving Beginner’s Mind which is a dedicated program of daily meditation. Don’t stop reading and be put off by thinking oh no I don’t want to learn meditation and hum om’s till the cows come home. Since the goal to achieve Beginner’s Mind can be experienced by anyone… let’s start with THE EASY BUTTON. Utilizing only fifteen minute a day …you are on your way to achieving Beginners Mind which frees up your minds hard drive and you now have a more peaceful and anxiety free life.
Using the Easy Button you can start with loose fitting clothing and a good posture sitting in a comfortable chair. The next step is to close your eyes and begin to slowly count your breathe from one to ten and repeat. Do this practice for thirty days and soon you will see bright colors indicating the mediation is working. Don’t try too hard…it will come natural with better results. Expand your time from fifteen minutes until you reach one hour…and you are on your way to some excellent long lasting results.
The wisdom of uncertainty frees us from what Buddhist psychology calls the thicket of views and opinions. “Seeing misery in those who cling to views, a wise person should not adopt any of them. A wise person does not by opinions become arrogant. How could anyone bother those who are free, who do not grasp at any views? But those who grasp after views and opinions wander about the world annoying people.” I like to think that the Buddha said this last sentence with a laugh. Ajahn Chah used to shake his head and smile, “You have so many opinions. And you suffer so much from them. Why not let them go?”
Freedom from views is like a cleaning of the glass, a breath of fresh air. Zen master Shunryu Suzuki calls this open-mindedness “beginner’s mind.” Listen to Rachel Carson, the great naturalist, as she evokes it: “A child’s world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement. It is our misfortune that for most of us that clear-eyed vision, that true instinct for what is beautiful and awe-inspiring, is dimmed and even lost before we reach adulthood. If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over all children, I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life.”
When we are free from views, we are willing to learn. What we know for sure in this great turning universe is actually very limited. Seung Sahn, a Korean Zen master, tells us to value this “don’t know mind.” He would ask his students questions such as “What is love? What is consciousness? Where did your life come from? What is going to happen tomorrow?” Each time, the students would answer, “I don’t know.” “Good,” Seung Sahn replied. “Keep this ‘don’t know mind.’ It is an open mind, a clear mind.”
In close relationships, if we rely on assumptions, we lose our freshness. Whether as parents or lovers, what we see about those close to us is only a small part of their mystery. In many ways we don’t really know them at all. Through beginner’s mind we learn to see one another mindfully, free from views. Without views, we listen more deeply and see more clearly. “For there are moments,” says Rilke, “when something new has entered into us, something unknown; our feelings grow mute in shy perplexity, everything in us withdraws, a stillness comes, and the new, which no one knows, stands in the midst of it and is silent.”
Now that you have the basics it would enhance your education and training if you would read the book: Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind by: Zhunrya Suzuki
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. 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 it’s all about. An instant teaching on the first page. And that’s just the beginning. According to Zen, we should all try to have a Beginner's Mind.
THINGS YOU MAY NOT KNOW: The practice of Zen mind is Beginner's Mind. ... 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. If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything; it is open to everything.
THINGS YOU MAY WANT TO SAVE: You worked hard to get it…you should keep and save your Beginner’s Mind
The direction of our lives needs to be positive. We weren’t born to cause trouble or do harm to others. For our life to be of value, I think we must develop good human qualities – warmth, kindness, compassion. Then our life will become meaningful and more peaceful – happier. Dalai Lama
ZENTRAVELER SAYS: You can practice ZEN BEGINNER’S MIND EVERYWHERE! In a busy train station, under a Bodhi Tree, before you go to bed at night or laying on your back on a Luge Sled as you whizz down the ice covered track at 87 miles an hour.
From here to Infinity is a relatively short ride! The next leg takes eons and eons as you fly through the Barycentric Dynamical Time Zone! …and on and on and on. Follow the Zentraveler Newsletter often for Travel, Health and Zen-like stories and such. Where else can you get a three in one blog for the price of free?
I live with a four year old and he sees the world in a very open fashion that teaches me many things, everyday. In 15 minutes you can save on your car insurance and empty your mind too.