Beginner’s Mind

Soon after my wife and I moved to Knoxville, TN my good friend Ben suggested that we take in the Zen exhibit at the McClung Museum on the campus of the University of Tennessee. Having more than a passing interest in the subject I readily took him up on it. The beautiful simplicity of design struck me immediately. The middle of the hall was graced with a long, raised, rectangular, wooden frame full of small grey stones “raked” in the form of flowing water.  Mountains, represented by larger grey boulders, provided something for the “water” to flow around. Given just a few “mindful” moments and one could become calmer quickly.  I noticed my typically hurried mind and body wanting to move through hurriedly and reflected, disappointedly, that the exhibit was relatively small. I worked to slow myself down against the normal tide.  Why the hurry? Well, no reason really.  It seems I don’t need a “reason”.

Around the walls were displays of Japanese calligraphy moving left to right from early to later periods and from primitive to more detailed and developed in form all spotlighted tastefully. I had always wondered about the fascination with the more primitive style and, frankly, had never appreciated it…until I read some of the descriptions. 

There is an “attitude” or mindset characteristic of Zen and which indeed can be found in other spiritual traditions that emphasizes what is called the “beginner’s mind”.  In the words of Shinryu Suzuki:

“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, in the expert’s mind there are few.”

So, it seems, these primitive forms of calligraphy and art were an exercise in beginner’s mind meaning that the artist attempted to approach his task like a child doing the art as if for the first time.  

It is possible to see this in other spiritual practices and mindsets. For instance the great Jewish Rabbi Abraham Heschel referred to his spirituality as one of “amazement”, of seeing things with wonder, as if for the first time.

“Our goal should be to live life in radical amazement...get up in the morning and look at the world in a way that takes nothing for granted. Everything is phenomenal; everything is incredible; never treat life casually. To be spiritual is to be amazed.”

Another example may be found in the Sufi poet Rumi who wrote:

"Make peace with the universe. Take joy in it. It will turn to gold. Resurrection will be now. Every moment, a new beauty."

And yet another example from the Christian tradition:

“At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, ‘Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?’ And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them,and said, "Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

What then are the benefits of beginner’s mind? Why is it so prized by these spiritual traditions? And what benefit is there to those with no spiritual tradition or religious interest? Normally we perceive that the more complex the thoughts the more rich and valuable they are but is this really the case generally?  

The fact is our brains create stories about everything in order to make sense out of them.  Nature abhors a vacuum we are told and the human brain abhors loose ends. Order, meaning, resolution drive us. One might argue that this is where religion comes from in the first place. But another fact of human perception and memory makes this quest for certainty impossible to attain.  

We are told that even the eyes do not see very clearly what is right in front of them.  Rick Hanson in Buddha’s Brain explained that the eyes really see clearly only a small area about the size of your pinky finger’s nail at the distance of your stretched out arm. The rest of the scene we perceive is filled in by the brain’s activity. We don’t see the blurs we see what the brain thinks we should see. It is even more unclear in our memories and even more our in predictions of the future. How are we filling in the blanks?  Well, if you remember from my previous article, “Put It All down”, the human brain is predisposed to negative thinking out of the need to protect us. It is more dangerous to miss the car speeding at us in the road than to approach the puppy on the other side of the road. Puppies are everywhere. They can wait.  A speeding car can kill us. So more often than not the human brain fills in the blanks with negatives. 

How can we be certain that what we are seeing is actually what is there? How can we be certain that the stories we use or create is an accurate representation of what is “true”? In most cases, even in the case of science, which has more certainty than most pursuits, it usually boils down to some kind of belief that what I observe and believe makes the most sense…to me. Perhaps you espouse a philosophy or system that has ancient roots and a well developed set of ideas and practices, say, a religion. Perhaps you align yourself with something more “modern” and less attached to ancient interpretations of what is “true”, say, science.  That is your business and I’ll leave you to it.  But in the realm of therapeutic work seeing what is there or attempting to do so can have remarkably salutary effects. 

The ideas in our minds and the stories we develop to make sense of the disparate data entering our senses constantly affect the whole of us, that is, neurologically and physiologically and relationally, if the sense data, ideas, and stories are strong. Sometimes the effects become divorced from our conscious awareness and mental control and become encoded, as it were, in the body itself. Physical sensations occur often throughout the day without a clear storyline driving them. This is perhaps the reason that we often feel things and do things that we don’t understand. The impulses drive us rather than the other way around. And then, more often than not, we spin in logical and illogical circles trying desperately to make sense of the experience as if making sense of it will resolve it. We work to create new stories to adjust or replace the old stories and sometimes this helps but. sometimes it only creates more conflict and more conflict produces more suffering and  more suffering creates the perceived need for greater “understanding” (i.e. more stories), and on and on. 

Beginner’s mind can offer a radically new approach to addressing these “loops” by shelving the stories or dropping out of the storyline and focusing on the physical sensations instead. And, with a purposefully adopted sense of “wonder”, acceptance and curiosity. We approach the experience as if it was the first time we have ever experienced it and consider it as it rises, intensifies, diminishes, changes. The knowledge that it is a flow of process rather then a “thing” and that it is replaced by other experiences, within seconds of each other usually, helps to give a sense of freedom. This perspective also gives us ability to sit back and observe the stories our minds produce. Some of them may even be worth keeping. We do not have to react impulsively. We do not need to fight or avoid or control anything. We are free to direct attention, and actions, and decisions in response to whatever comes. We become free to choose out highest virtues…with practice, that is. 

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