This is Audible. Audio literature presents Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, read by
 Peter Coyote.
 Beginner's Mind. People say that practicing Zen is difficult, but there's
 a misunderstanding as to why. It's not difficult because it is hard to sit in
 the cross-legged position or to attain enlightenment. It is difficult because it
 is hard to keep our mind pure and our practice pure in its fundamental sense.
 The Zen school developed in many ways after it was established in China, but at
 the same time it became more and more impure. But I do not want to talk about
 Chinese Zen or the history of Zen. I'm interested in helping you keep your
 practice from becoming impure. In Japan we have the phrase "shoshin" which means
 "beginner's mind." The goal of practice is always to keep our beginner's mind.
 Suppose you recite the Prajnaparamita Sutra only once. It might be a very good
 recitation, but what would happen to you if you recited it twice, three times, four
 times, or more? You might easily lose your original attitude towards it. The same
 thing will happen in your other Zen practices. For a while you will keep your
 beginner's mind, but if you continue to practice one, two, three years or more,
 although you may improve some, you're liable to lose the limitless meaning of
 original mind. For Zen students the most important thing is not to be dualistic.
 Our original mind includes everything within itself. It is always rich and
 sufficient within itself. You should not lose your self-sufficient state of mind.
 This does not mean a closed mind, but actually an empty mind and a ready mind.
 If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything. It is open to everything. In
 the beginner's mind there are many possibilities. In the expert's mind there
 are few. If you discriminate too much, you limit yourself. If you are too demanding
 or too greedy, your mind is not rich and self-sufficient. If we lose our original
 self-sufficient mind, we will lose all precepts. When your mind becomes
 demanding, when you long for something, you will end up violating your own
 precepts, not to tell lies, not to steal, not to kill, not to be immoral, and so
 forth. If you keep your original mind, the precepts will keep themselves. 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. So the most
 difficult thing is always to keep your beginner's mind. There's no need to have
 a deep understanding of Zen. Even though you read much Zen literature, you must
 read each sentence with a fresh mind. You should not say "I know what Zen is" or "I
 have attained enlightenment." This is also the real secret of the arts. Always be a
 beginner. Be very, 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.
 Right Practice. Posture. Now I would like to talk about our Zazen posture. When you
 sit in the full lotus position, your left foot is on your right thigh, and your
 right foot is on your left thigh. When we cross our legs like this, even though we
 have a right leg and a left leg, they have become one. The position expresses
 the oneness of duality. Not two, and not one. This is the most important teaching.
 Not two, and not one. Our body and mind are not two, and not one. If you think your
 body and mind are two, that is wrong. If you think that they are one, that is also
 wrong. Our body and mind are both two and one. We usually think that if something
 is not one, it is more than one. If it is not singular, it is plural, but in actual
 experience, our life is not only plural, but also singular. Each one of us is both
 dependent and independent. After some years, we will die. If we just think that
 it is the end of our life, this will be the wrong understanding. But on the other
 hand, if we think that we do not die, this is also wrong. We die, and we do not die.
 This is the right understanding. Some people may say that our mind or soul
 exists forever, and it is only our physical body which dies. But this is not
 exactly right, because both mind and body have their end. But at the same time, it
 is also true that they exist eternally. And even though we say mind and body,
 they are actually two sides of one coin. This is the right understanding. So when
 we take this posture, it symbolizes this truth. When I have the left foot on the
 right side of my body and the right foot on the left side of my body, I do not
 know which is which. So either may be the left or the right side. The most
 important thing in taking the Zazen posture is to keep your spine straight.
 Your ears and your shoulders should be on one line. Relax your shoulders and
 push up toward the ceiling with the back of your head. And you should pull your
 chin in. When your chin is tilted up, you have no strength in your posture. You are
 probably dreaming. Also, to gain strength in your posture, press your diaphragm
 down toward your Hara, or lower abdomen. This will help you maintain your
 physical and mental balance. When you try to keep this posture, at first you may
 find some difficulty breathing naturally. But when you get accustomed to it, you
 will be able to breathe naturally and deeply. Your hands should form the cosmic
 mudra. If you put your left hand on top of your right, middle joints of your
 middle fingers together, and touch your thumbs lightly together, as if you held a
 piece of paper between them, your hands will make a beautiful oval. You should
 keep this universal mudra with great care, as if you were holding something
 very precious in your hand. Your hands should be held against your body, with
 your thumbs at about the height of your navel. Hold your arms freely and easily,
 and slightly away from your body, as if you held an egg under each arm without
 breaking it. You should not be tilted sideways, backwards, or forwards. You
 should be sitting straight up, as if you were supporting the sky with your head.
 This is not just form or breathing. It expresses the key point of Buddhism. It
 is a perfect expression of your Buddha nature. If you want true understanding of
 Buddhism, you should practice this way. These forms are not a means of obtaining
 the right state of mind. To take this posture itself is the purpose of our
 practice. When you have this posture, you have the right state of mind, so there's
 no need to try to attain some special state. When you try to attain something,
 your mind starts to wander about somewhere else. When you do not try to
 attain anything, you have your own body and mind right here. A Zen master would
 say, "Kill the Buddha. Kill the Buddha if the Buddha exists somewhere else. Kill the
 Buddha because you should resume your own Buddha nature." Doing something is
 expressing your own nature. We do not exist for the sake of something else. We
 exist for the sake of ourselves. This is the fundamental teaching expressed in
 the forms we observe. Just as for sitting, when we stand in the Zen Do, we have some
 rules. But the purpose of these rules is not to make everyone the same, but to
 allow each to express his own self most freely.


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