Zen mind, beginner's mind: informal talks on zen meditation and practice - shunryu suzuki

In the beginners mind there are many possibilities, but in the experts 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 Suzukis 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 its all about.

An instant teaching on the first page.

And thats just the beginning.

In the thirty years since its original publication, Zen Mind, Beginners 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.

Its a book to come back to time and time again as an inspiration to practice.