Mind Waves

Shunryu Suzuki Transcript

Thursday, January 12, 1967

Los Altos

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Don’t try to stop the thinking when you are practicing zazen. Let it stop. If something comes into your mind let it come and let it go out. It will not stay long. But if you try to stop it, it means you are bothered by it. Don’t be bothered by anything. Actually we say something comes from outside, but it is -- actually it is the waves of your mind, so wave cannot be -- will stay -- will become more and more calm. So in five minutes or at most ten minutes your mind will be completely serene and calm. At that time your breathing becomes pretty slow, while your pulse of your hand becomes a little bit faster. We don’t know why, but if you will check your pulse (you, yourself cannot do it but it appears in that way). It takes pretty long time before you get calm, serene mind in your practice, but even though you have waves in your mind that is waves in your own mind. Nothing comes out from out here. Nothing can bother -- nothing can cause any trouble for your mind. You make your mind disturbed -- bothered by -- you make waves of your mind. So if you don’t -- if you let it as it is your mind will be calm. Usually our mind expects something from outside -- our mind is ready to accept something from outside, but that is not true understanding of our mind. According to our understanding, mind includes everything. Nothing comes from outside. Our mind has everything, and when you think something comes from outside it means your mind -- in your mind something appears. In this way you accept things. If your mind is related to some other things, that mind is small mind, limited mind.

If your mind is not related to anything else and with the understanding of mind, something which you feel is just the waves of your mind, there is no dualistic understanding in your activity of your mind. That mind is the big mind which is not related to anything else. Everything is included within your mind. That is essence of mind. So essence of mind -- that is the religious feeling. That mind is pure, even though you have waves in your mind, that is pure mind, clear water with some waves. And that is the actual -- you have some security in your feeling when you understand your mind in that way. And your mind do not expect anything from outside, so your mind is always filled, or -- and even though your mind has waves it is not disturbed mind, it is actually more amplified mind. Whatever you experience it means amplifying your mind. You find various meanings of you own mind. It is not disturbance. Do you understand the difference between the two understandings of your mind? Mind which includes everything, mind which is related to something else. Actually maybe the same thing, you know, but understanding is different, or attitude toward your life if different. This is Buddhist understanding of your mind. So that is why our mind is called cosmic mind. The mind which is ready to accept things -- not even ready for -- because the activity of our mind is just to amplify or, feeling good, through various experiences, through the activity of your mind. You know when you feel something. That is you feeling. So that is called enlightenment. If you have something good in your breakfast you will say ‘this is good’. Your mind -- something good will be supplied as an experience of your which you experience… not now, but sometime before. Even though you do not know when you have experience, but you feel as if you have know it… you have experienced it long before. That is how we accept things. So this mind is not different from the mind which is related to something. In this… with this mind we sit, so our mind is always… we can sit with the big mind. This practice is called practice with original enlightenment, or wondrous enlightenment.

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File name: 67-01-12: Mind Waves Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, p. 34, (Not Verbatim) Remove "(transcript ends here --- pages missing from packet sent--Missing text added 5-01-13)" at end 8-29-2016 DC.

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