Beginner's Mind

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

 Several years ago I had the honor of spending some precious time at The San Francisco Zen Center.  I began with a two week guest/student program, living right in the Zen Center and then moved a few blocks away and continued to take classes and practice meditation daily.  In many ways that time in my life felt like a continuous beginning.  Everyday really was brand new--living in such an amazing city provided new possibilities for discovery at every turn.  Often I'd leave my apartment without any plan and simply choose a direction in which to walk.  I'd find a cafe, bookstore, museum, or park and investigate for, sometimes, an entire day.  Even after two years in the Bay Area I'm sure I didn't see half of what was there. 

Now, my life is quite different and I admittedly have fallen into a routine with two small children that often feels a bit like groundhog day. . . making lunches, changing diapers, reading the same book (again!), doing laundry (again!!), and seeing the very same people everyday dropping off and picking up from school. . . . It seems to go on like this for a while until I intentionally pause and actually practice a different perspective.  Beginner's Mind is a wonderful way to practice being where we are (perhaps for the gazillionth time) with an attitude that is open, curious, and willing to show up in a new way.  Our lives get so crowded with expectations and assumptions that we actually think we know something! And while this may provide a certain level of comfort and security, it also has a narcoleptic effect that causes us to miss big chunks of what is actually happening around us and we lose that sweet sense of innocence and simplicity that we came into this life with.  Very often when I am reading the same book to my children and I am reciting from memory the words, I will look at their faces, intent and thrilled by what they are experiencing seemingly for the first time!  And through them, I attempt to make myself a bit more available to the wonder of what is before me.  Simple, but not easy.

I love teaching yoga to beginner's because it reminds me of what it is to learn something new! And for the same reason, I love to practice challenging poses that throw me flat on my face and keep me in the fertile territory of student.  Once we think we've "mastered" or "achieved" something, this potential within us is limited to that particular place or experieince leaving little room for much else.  So the yoga practice, like zazen, is a way into this landscape of "original mind."

Suzuki Roshi says in his book, Zen Mind, Beginners Mind: "So the most difficult thing is always to keep your beginner's mind.  There is no need to have a deep understanding of Zen. . . . This is also the real secret of the arts: always be a beginner.  Be very careful about this point.  If you start to practice zazen, you will begin to appreciate your beginner's mind.  It is the secret of Zen practice."

So here's to beginning. Again. 

What task, practice or relationship can you use to practice beginner's mind this week?