Named one of the 100 Best Spiritual Books of the Twentieth Century (Spirituality & Practice)

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

So begins this most beloved of all American Zen books. Seldom has such a small handful of words provided a teaching as rich as has this famous opening line. In a single stroke, the simple sentence cuts through the pervasive tendency students have of getting so close to Zen as to completely miss what it's all about. An instant teaching on the first page. And that's just the beginning.

In the fifty years since its original publication, Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind has become one of the great modern spiritual classics, much beloved, much reread, and much recommended as the best first book to read on Zen. Suzuki Roshi presents the basics—from the details of posture and breathing in zazen to the perception of nonduality—in a way that is not only remarkably clear, but that also resonates with the joy of insight from the first to the last page.

Featuring a preface by religious historian Huston Smith, an introduction by Suzuki's dharma heir, Richard Baker, and an afterword by Suzuki's biographer, David Chadwick, this fiftieth anniversary edition will preserve Suzuki Roshi's teachings for years to come.