[Growing old post]

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

– Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind

Beginner’s mind is one of the most important concepts in our practice. When we come to a martial arts class as a beginner, everything is new and exciting. Instead of thinking, I know this already, we approach everything with a sense of awe. 

When we sit to meditate as a beginner, we have a similar experience. Though we may have difficulty focusing, we are still interested in the new experience and the process of improvement.

When I say as a beginner, I don’t mean that we can only feel this way at the start of our practice. I mean that we can choose to show up to class, meditation or anything we do in life as if we were a beginner. This can and should happen at any stage and experience level. If we show up to Tai Chi and begin class by repeating commencement or stroke bird’s tail, we may find ourselves getting bored or complacent. After all, we likely have done these postures hundreds or even thousands of times. Yet if we can treat these simple opening movements as if it is our first time seeing them, we are pulled fully into the present moment. We become fully alive.

Beginner’s Mind inspiration

If we spend time with an infant, we may be entertained by how interested they are in every little thing. Give the child a simple wooden block and their face lights up with excitement. After all, to an infant, everything is new. That block in a tiny hand is as interesting as aliens landing in our street might be to us.

In our practice, we strive to be as awake and in awe of the mundane as a child with a toy. In meditation, we focus on the breath to calm and discipline our minds, but also to recognize the fullness of life that is present in that ever present action. We breathe all day long, so we rarely pay attention to it. Yet if we are unable to breathe for even a moment, it becomes the most intensely interesting thing in the universe. This is one of the reasons learning chokes in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu can be so fun.

Live fully now

To cook is not just to prepare for someone or for yourself; it is to express your sincerity. So when you cook you should express yourself in the activity in the kitchen. You should allow plenty of time; you should work on it with nothing in your mind, and without expecting anything. You should just cook! That is also an expression of our sincerity, a part of our practice. It is necessary to sit in zazen, in this way, but sitting is not our only way. Whatever you do, it should be an expression of the same deep activity. We should appreciate what we are doing. There is no preparation for something else.

– Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind

A powerful realization is that nothing we do needs to be in service of some future goal. Just as cooking can be an expression of sincerity where we can appreciate what we do rather than just rushing through it in preparation for the next moment, so can everything we do in life. I remember one day years ago speeding down the freeway to get to a Tai Chi class in time. I had the obvious realization that what I was doing was silly. Instead of waiting until I got to class to practice slowing down and being in the present, I could practice as I drove. Thus, driving became my practice of mindfulness. From then on, whenever I find myself speeding to get to the next place, I remind myself that I have an opportunity to fully live in that moment. 

After all, what is life other than a sequence of moments that we can either experience or rush through?