Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, by Shunryu Suzuki
Essential reading
(Review posted 3 Jan 2005 18:25:05)

This is a collection of short talks by Shunryu Suzuki, the founder of the San Francisco Zen Center and wildly influential figure in the development of Zen in America. It is some of the simplest and most direct, and in a way some of the most beautiful, Zen talk that I know of.

It's about Zen, and the "just sitting" (shikantaza) kind of Zen in particular, but also about no particular kind of Zen, and about why it's not really possible to talk about it at all. It is quiet and unpretentious; mysterious and parardoxical only because the subject matter requires it, not because the speaker is showing off. It has that feeling of deep clue that I love in the best Zen writing; the words may not always make literal sense, but that's because the job of language is not always to make literal sense.

You should read it.

So Hofuku answered, "Our discussion is over. Let's have a cup of tea!"

That is a very good answer, isn't it? It is the same for my talk -- when my talk is over, your listening is over. There is no need to remember what I say; there is no need to understand what I say. You understand; you have full understanding within yourself. There is no problem.

(And yes it's certainly paradoxical that I'm recommending that you read a book transcribed from a talk in which the speaker says "there is no need to remember what I say"; that's part of the fun...)