“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities,” wrote Shunryu Suzuki in his book “Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind,” “but in the expert’s there are few.” As much as I love beginner’s mind, though, I advocate an additional discipline: cultivating a beginner’s heart. That means approaching every encounter imbued with a freshly invoked wave of love […]
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The Creative Spirit Of The Self-Actualizer
This quote from Abraham Maslow describes the creative spirit of the self-actualizer. As I see it, anyone one who is doing something they love, or even something the don’t, but who does it in present time is a creative person and in those moments, he or she is self-actualized. For example, when you “wash the […]
Wash the Dishes to Wash the Dishes
Shunryu Suzuki Roshi is famous for his quote from Zen Mind, Beginners Mind, “Wash the dishes to wash the dishes” – see 6 Mindfulness Practices For The Holidays. Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh says the same thing: “If while washing dishes we think only of the cup of tea that awaits us… then we are […]
The Perfection Of Wisdom
You might think that all of the paramitas that we have studied so far lead to this one, the perfection of wisdom. While we have studied them in the order of generosity, ethics, patience, diligence, concentration, and now, wisdom, it is true that the can be studied and practiced in any order. Not only that, […]
Can We Avoid Becoming Complete Robots
D. T. Suzuki was one of the seminal figures in bringing Zen to the West. He noted that our modern civilization is dehumanizing us at a rapid rate, even back then when he wrote in the ’50s and ’60s, he could see this was already becoming true. Now it is worse than ever. Can we […]
Your True Nature
Yada So to be a human being is to be a Buddha. Buddha nature is just another name for human nature, our true human nature. Thus, even though you do not do anything, you are actually doing something. You are expressing yourself. You are expressing your true nature. Your eyes will express; your voice will […]
The Secret of Zen
The Secret of Zen | September 17, 2014 “The secret of Zen is just two words: not always so.” – Shunryu Suzuki, “Mindfulness at Moonshine Hollow”
Gratitude as a Daily Practice
I first met Zenju Earthlyn Manuel at an event sponsored by the Buddhist Peace Fellowship around 2006 or 2007. I was impressed with her lovely demeanor, and want to get to know here better. She is no longer the director of the Buddhist Peace Fellowship, and I keep encountering writings from her from time to […]
What We Should Teach Our Children
Alan Watts was and amazingly gifted philosopher, lecturer and writer. He is famous bringing the philosophies of Eastern religions to Western Audiences. He was especially fond of Shunyru Suzuki Roshi and Zen practice. In the 1960’s and 1970’s, he lived in a houseboat in Sausalito and in a cabin on Mount Tamalpais, both near my […]
Beginner’s Mind
Shunryu Suzuki Roshi was the founding teacher of the San Francisco Zen Center. His simple teachings have inspired many new dharma teachers such as Myogen Steve Stucky, Zoketsu Norman Fischer, Wendy Johnson, and many others. My first experience at the San Francisco Zen Center was in 1972. I did a seven day sesshin there with […]
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