Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind (Shambhala Library)

by Shunryu Suzuki

3.5 of 5 stars 2 ratings • 1 review • 4 shelved
Book cover for Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind

Bookhype may earn a small commission from qualifying purchases. Full disclosure.

"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few." 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 of Shunryu Suzuki's classic. 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.

In the thirty years since its original publication, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind has become one of the great modern Zen classics, much beloved, much re-read, and much recommended as the best first book to read on Zen. Suzuki Roshi presents the basics—from the details of posture and breathing in zazen to the perception of nonduality—in a way that is not only remarkably clear, but that also resonates with the joy of insight from the first to the last page. It's a book to come back to time and time again as an inspiration to practice.
  • ISBN10 0834800799
  • ISBN13 9780834800793
  • Publish Date 1 April 1973 (first published 1 June 1970)
  • Publish Status Out of Print
  • Out of Print 14 June 2021
  • Publish Country US
  • Publisher Shambhala Publications Inc
  • Imprint Weatherhill Inc
  • Edition New edition
  • Format Paperback (UK Trade)
  • Pages 144
  • Language English