Beginner’s Mind
“In times of change learners inherit the earth; while the learned find themselves beautifully equipped to deal with a world that no longer exists.” —Eric Hoffer
I was sitting at a meditation retreat at the beginning of this year listening to my teacher Robert Brumet give a dharma talk when I first heard this quote above. At that time, right around January 1st, a group of 25 of us sat together closely in a room, exchanging breath silently and mindfully for the duration of a weekend. We stayed at a retreat center which was also the campus of a college. Life was happening as usual.
Today, just 4 1/2 short months later, I find myself in a different world. A world without social gatherings at retreat centers on college campuses. A world with a global pandemic. A new reality shaken up and not quite settled.
I strive to figure out what to do. How to respond. How to survive. In what new ways to make a living. And how to obtain accurate information in a world also plagued with conflicting opinions, half-truths and misinformation spreading faster than the virus.
Eventually, out of frustration, I turn within. I close my eyes to the outer chaos and sink my awareness deep into my own being. In that space, there are no answers. But there is spaciousness. And the spaciousness and not-knowing becomes the answer.
I remember hearing about beginner’s mind as a Zen concept referred to as shoshin, spoken on frequently by the Zen master Suzuki Roshi. Shoshin refers to having an attitude of openness, eagerness, and lack of preconceptions when approaching a subject, even at an advanced level, just as a beginner would do.
A beginner’s mind is a skillful way to approach life—and not just right now as we find ourselves in a new global reality. It is a way to meet our own creativity. This perspective sees things fresh, blank and boundless without prejudgement. Rather than thinking we already know the answers, we take things in patiently and then ask with a curious nature, What is this?
Curiosity is a hallmark of a beginner’s mind and an important quality to cultivate because it counteracts fear and simply says, What if…? and I wonder… It might even ask, in this moment what is mine to do?
I find before me a blank canvas.
The canvas is not a literal one. It is life itself. How do I wish to approach it? What is calling my energy? What do I desire? What is asking for expression?
Releasing preconceptions along with any idea of how I thought things should look, or how I believed them to be, I open myself to experience this new world. And to see what wants to be created through me.
I am open, blank and boundless. ✧
Painting in my make-shift home studio
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