Shunryu Suzuki's "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind"

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that Shunryu Suzuki's book, "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind" is divided into three parts: right practice; right attitude; and right understanding.. The author of the paper then relates that a lot of Zen Buddhism is non-intellectual and hard to grasp. Therefore, she set out clinging to these basic concepts like a drowning person clinging to a life jacket. The author also claims that the book is challenging and resulted in the biggest, most significant shift in her thinking. The paper concludes with a creative dialogue, based on the book, which is a debate about the different religions of an American, Republican, born-again Christian (Andy) and an American Zen Buddhist (Mike).

Table of Contents:
Book Review
Creative Dialogue

From the Paper:

"This all sounds very attractive - and makes more sense to me than suchness, thusness, or emptiness! The condition of being a roshi sounds so attractive that I can understand why people would pursue it. It offers, it seems, the possibility of living happily in the reality of the present. I therefore set out to learn the mysteries of Zen, through the answers of the great teacher Suzuki.
"In the first part of the book, I learned that according to Suzuki (1997), posture and breathing are essential in order to practice Zen. Suzuki believes that these are vital for right practice."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Suzuki, Shunryu. (1997). Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. New York and Tokyo: Weatherhill.

More papers on Shunryu Suzuki's "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind":

• Book Review # 104763 : "Shunryu Suzuki's "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind"
• Book Review # 134167 : "Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind"
• Book Review # 134172 : "Zen Mind and Zen Dialogue"

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