Do you burn like a good bonfire?
#5 Zen mind, Beginner's mind by Shunryū Suzuki. The weirdest good book I ever read; on listening, control and practice.
To get more out of what you read it helps to write. This is my 5th book summary with my concrete takeaways that can inspire you as well. Previously: Positioning, a marketing classic. Help me to more readers by sharing or liking this post. 🙏
Shunryū Suzuki (1904-1971) did not write this one (Goodreads: 4.20, 41k ratings); we are reading edited transcripts of his talks. When he first saw a published copy, he looked it over for a minute and commented, “Good book. I didn’t write it, but it looks like a good book.” And it is.
First published in 1970, it’s considered as one of the most influential books on Zen Buddhism in English.
Who should read it?
Everyone who wants to be exposed to completely different ideas.
Top ideas
It started with The Last Dance, documentary about Chicago Bulls. Phil Jackson explained some of the management methods used at Bulls. Afterwards I read his autobiography Eleven Rings (4/5), where he often quotes Suzuki. So, people, here we are.
Mindfulness became a massive business. We have apps, coaches, workshops, you name it. Ka-ching and stress management everywhere. You should meditate to be cool and up to date; the coolest people even go on retreats and pay good money too. Mindful everything.
Well, I tried an app myself, I sometimes do yoga and sit. But after reading this book and listening to this German documentary I take it… more mindful. Hehe.
Anyway, this is the weirdest good book I ever read. It is impossible to summarise it well; I can only present a couple of ideas that I found interesting. Let’s go.
On beginner’s mind
We start with the most famous quote:
"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few."
It relates to the practice of Zen, and I find it counterintuitive; I mean, how should I look at my PowerPoint slides as a beginner?
Your mind needs to be empty, so that it is always ready for anything, open to everything. Basically, you should know that you do not know.
“In the beginner's mind there is no thought, "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. The beginner's mind is the mind of compassion. When our mind is compassionate, it is boundless. Dogen-zenji, the founder of our school, 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.
On trying to control people
Have you ever tried to draw dots on paper randomly? It is hard, because we like patterns (or order). We have an illusion of control by thinking, “I can place them randomly.” It is, however, almost impossible to arrange the dots in artistic disorder. The same is with people; we are under the illusion that we can control others.
“Even though you try to put people under some control, it is impossible. You cannot do it. The best way to control people is to encourage them to be mischievous. Then they will be in control in its wider sense. To give your sheep or cow a large, spacious meadow is the way to control him. So it is with people: first let them do what they want, and watch them. This is the best policy. To ignore them is not good; that is the worst policy. The second worst is trying to control them. The best one is to watch them, just to watch them, without trying to control them.
And of course you will need rules (=a meadow, but not a cage), because only when you are aware of the rules you have a chance for real freedom.
On practice and progress
Practice makes perfect; we all know it, yet often give up too fast. The only thing with sudden results is burning bridges to other people.
“Even though you try very hard, the progress you make is always little by little. It is not like going out in a shower in which you know when you get wet. In a fog, you do not know you are getting wet, but as you keep walking you get wet little by little. If your mind has ideas of progress, you you may say, "Oh, this pace is terrible!" But actually it is not. When you get wet in a fog it is difficult to dry yourself. So there is no need to worry about progress. It is like studying a foreign language; you cannot do it all of a sudden, but by repeating it over and over you will master it.
Think about the fog if you are ever close to giving up, even if the above metaphor refers to o the practice of zazen, sitting meditation.
On burning like a good bonfire
We get distracted. Checking our phone, do something for 10 min, get disturbed by a notification, go to the kitchen for a snack, reading Reddit while eating, looking at our stock portfolio too often. Ok, that’s me. You have your own distractions, but:
“In order not to leave any traces, when you do some thing, you should do it with your whole body and mind; you should be concentrated on what you do. You should do it completely, like a good bonfire. You should not be a smoky fire. You should burn yourself completely. If you do not burn yourself completely, a trace of yourself will be left in what you do. You will have something remaining which is not completely burned out.
Do you feel the heat, the fire? Are you focused on doing this and this thing only, so that there is nothing left at the end, only ash? Burn, because smoky fire will make you cough and cry.
“Zen activity is activity which is completely burned out, with nothing remaining but ashes. This is the goal of our practice. That is what Dogen meant when he said, "Ashes do not come back to firewood." Ash is ash. Ash should be completely ash. The firewood should be firewood. When this kind of activity takes place, one activity covers everything.
On listening to others
What does listening to others really mean? Do we listen only to be able to give our opinion afterwards? I often do it, and I like to think I am a good listener. But:
“When you listen to someone, you should give up all your preconceived ideas and your subjective opinions; you should just listen to him, just observe what his way is. We put very little emphasis on right and wrong or good and bad. We just see things as they are with him, and accept them. This is how we communicate with each other.
Now go to your recent meeting; your colleague was suggesting a different approach. Was it like this:
“Usually when you listen to some statement, you hear it as a you you kind of echo of yourself. You are actually listening to your own opinion. If it agrees with your opinion you may accept it, but if it does not, you will reject it or you may not even really hear it. That is one danger when you listen to someone.
It’s true; we wait for the echo, and if it differs from our message we probably won’t like it. In discussions with with our perceived equals, a different echo hits our ego particularly strongly. How many times do you think, “do they even listen to what I said?”
“Dogen-zenji said, "When you say something to someone, he may not accept it, but do not try to make him understand it intellectually. Do not argue with him; just listen to his objections until he himself finds something wrong with them." This is very interesting. Try not to force your idea on someone, but rather think about it with him. If you feel you have won the discussion, that also is the wrong attitude. Try not to win in the argument; just listen to it; but it is also wrong to behave as if you had lost.
Now this would really require special effort and it can probably only work if we are on the same meadow (or planet), where we both agree on a set of rules. In this case: ask your questions away!
My personal experience / How did it change me?
This was not an easy read, mostly because some ideas sound foreign when you first read them. As chapters are short, I read them twice, but would totally need more explanation on some of the sections. It also has to do with his language.
Nevertheless this book really changed the way I think:
about listening to others: am I really listening or only waiting for an echo of myself?
about doing things; a good bonfire 🔥 reminds me that I should not be getting distracted by the random shit so much. When I cook, I cook; I do not need to listen to a podcast. When I eat, I eat; I do not need to read or watch a Youtube video.
about accepting that not much is under our control; often you can only let go.
This is hard, and writing these down reminded me of how often I am back to my old self. Practice matters.
Closing remarks
An easy 5/5 for me. I remember telling many people about it because it was so different. I misunderstood half of it and it did not turn me into a disciple of Zen Buddhism, but still a warm recommendation and a must read for everyone who would like to look out of the Western/European box.
Burn like a good bonfire.
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