Sharing the Feeling: Zen Teacher Shunryu Suzuki on Becoming Ourselves

---

Shunryu Suzuki’s bright, simple, humorous approach to teaching Zen Buddhism might be what has contributed to his continuing popularity as a voice of the tradition, five decades after his death. Many people familiar with the seminal Zen Mind Beginners Mind, will be delighted to know that a new book has recently been released, based on more of Suzuki’s teachings to his American students in the 1960s and early 70s. Becoming Yourself is a wonderful new collection edited by Jiryu Rutschman-Byler and the late Sojun Mel Weitsman that features the following excerpt about the importance of an empty mind for truly savoring the present moment and expressing ourselves in our most authentic way.

---

Sharing the feeling we have right here, right now is the fundamental thing for Zen practice. Zen is, in a word, to share our feeling with  people, with trees, and with mountains, wherever we are. That is Zen practice.  

Usually our mind is filled with something like ice cream or bananas or how much the soap costs in one store compared to another, or by looking at the newspaper and seeing an ad for a sale. So it is almost impossible to share the actual feeling we have where we are right now.  

Our life is going on and on, endlessly filled with rubbish. It is not rubbish at first. At some moment it is important for you, but it is not necessary to hold on to it past that point. It is the same with our everyday life. Because we have so much useless rubbish in our mind,  it is hard to share our feeling with people, with things, with trees, or with mountains. Even though we are right in the middle of the woods, it is still hard to appreciate the feeling of the woods. When we can really appreciate the feeling of the woods, that is zazen.  

Before attaining enlightenment, Buddha practiced under many  teachers, studying many things and becoming caught up in various  philosophies or religions. When he realized he was caught by this, he lost interest in such things. He got tired of that kind of effort, and he gave up everything.  

Finally, he sat under the Bodhi tree, where he attained enlightenment. We say, “he attained enlightenment,” but it may be better to  say, “he completely forgot everything!” He had nothing in his mind  at that moment. When he saw the morning star rising up from the  east, it was the first thing he saw coming out of his empty mind.  That is why he had such joy at the sight of the morning star. In other words, he shared his feeling with the morning star’s feeling. It is difficult to analyze whether it was Buddha’s feeling or the morning star’s feeling. Anyway, he shared his feeling with the morning star.  That was his enlightenment.  

That he was Buddha meant that he was being himself, being  completely with everyone and with everything. To be Buddha it is necessary to give up the various bits of rubbish in the mind.  

Buddhist teaching is the teaching that arises from emptiness of  mind. In other words, it is what arises from pure mind, or, you may  say, “holy mind.” If your words come from pure emptiness, whatever they are, I think they are Buddha’s words. And if you do things  with purity of mind, that is Buddha’s activity. It is possible for us to  do that. We meditate, recite Buddha’s name, or read scriptures on the one hand in order to empty our mind, and on the other hand in order to appreciate Buddha’s words that arise from empty mind.  

“You should clear your table every day. Even if you feel that you are clearing everything from your table, it must be done with the spirit of continuing  to do so forever.”

To sit in zazen posture with an empty mind, some technique or explanation is needed. The purpose of our practice is to open up our  mind. You must open it like you open a tin can. You must cut hard  and open the tin so that you can eat what’s in it.  

But just to open is not enough; the spirit of repetition is also necessary. If you do not have this kind of spirit— if your everyday life is  not based on this kind of spirit—you cannot cope with the problems you have day after day. As long as you live, you must eat something. After you eat, you may have a big rubbish pile of cans and wrappers. So, you should continuously work on it. You should clear your table every day. Even if you feel that you are clearing everything from your table, it must be done with the spirit of continuing  to do so forever.  

If your practice lacks this continuous spirit, it will be just like the experience you may have after taking LSD or drinking alcohol. The  big difference between a psychedelic experience and an enlightenment experience is that one is based on the Bodhisattva vow and the other is an accidental experience that happens with the aid of some substance. One is the experience that you can have always, over and  over, continuously; the other is the experience that you have only  with the help of some aid. I’m only comparing these things in order  to make our practice clear. I easily become critical, and I don’t feel  so good after criticizing things, so I shouldn’t go too far! 

We should clear our table every day, and even when it is clear, we should continue to make the effort to keep it clear. This is another important point. If you are cleaning your table because you think it  is dirty, that mind is dirty. To think something is dirty means your  mind is dirty. So we should let go of this kind of mind that discriminates “dirty” or “clean,” “right” or “wrong.” The point is to let go of  discrimination. The point is to clean things, not because they are  dirty, but just because this is something we should do as long as we  are alive.  

There is no reason why we should practice zazen. When I came  to America, I was very interested in why so many people wanted to  practice zazen, crossing their legs, sitting upright, and keeping their  backs straight. I couldn’t understand why. I would ask them, “Why did you come here to this zendo?” and they would say, “Oh! I don’t know.” Some people felt that they should give me some reason, so they gave me some reason, but it didn’t make much sense, and I still wondered why. But “I don’t know” is right, I think. Even if you don’t know what it is or why you do it, if you understand this point and  practice zazen and the associated activities, you will have the fundamental religious attitude of our Buddhist practice. 

---