Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice

The Introduction is written by Suzuki’s spiritual successor, Richard Baker. He explains that Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind was conceived by Marian Derby, a disciple of Suzuki’s. Recording his informal talks at the San Francisco Zen Center, she transcribed them, and another disciple, Trudy Dixon, became the primary editor of the manuscript. Significant cultural differences between Japanese and Western thought and expression complicated this editing process. Dixon aimed to preserve the “flavor” and meaning of Suzuki’s often paradoxical or elliptical words while making them comprehensible to Western readers. Dixon also structured Suzuki’s teachings into thematic sections that separately focus on “body, feeling, and mind” (xv). Baker completed this editing process after Dixon died.

Baker alludes to Shunryu Suzuki as “Suzuki-roshi.” The term roshi refers to an individual who has attained and embodies Zen enlightenment. Suzuki was the disciple of Gyokujun So-on-roshi from the age of 12 and studied at a Buddhist university. He took on the responsibilities of both his father’s and Gyokujun’s temples when they died. In 1959, at the age of 55, Suzuki travelled to America and remained there until he died. Suzuki believed that, as Americans knew little about Zen, they were well-placed to approach practice with a “beginner’s mind” and benefit from its teachings.

Baker’s description of the editing process highlights the benefits of transforming Suzuki’s oral teachings into a form accessible to Western readers while also touching on its tensions. With too little editing, Zen would remain opaque and incomprehensible to its target audience. However, significant amendments risk imposing order on teachings that were originally cyclical, repetitive, and designed to undermine logical analysis.