beginner's mind

[firecat]

vito_excalibur posted about "beginner's mind" as it applies to Aikido, and explained very eloquently that "beginner's mind" is overrated. I posted the following comment in response:

I agree.

But here's what I think is good about beginner's mind: the thrill of gaining a completely new skill, feeling what might be called "romantic passion" for the new pursuit, feeling your brain fill up with knowledge, feeling your muscles click into new patterns. Waking up after a frustrating time struggling with a new skill and discovering that a bunch of stuff seeped in while you were asleep and now it's much easier.

Insofar as someone praises beginner's mind, perhaps they are in part praising that enthusiasm.

I feel so much thrill when I am learning something new that I tend to hop from one interest to another rather than settling down and learning the intermediate or advanced aspects, at times.

Comments

[wild-irises.livejournal.com]

The original poster's definition of "beginner's mind" is different from mine, and I have no idea how close mine is to anything traditional. I think of beginner's mind not so much as the blank slate that the original poster (and you) are talking about, but as the ability to leave preconceptions and learned behaviors behind when doing something you already know something about. Is this a completely idiosyncratic-to-me definition?

[firecat]

When I read Suzuki's Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind, I got the impression he was defining beginner's mind as "a mind relatively free of preconceptions and very open to new experience," and I also got the impression that he thought such a mindset might occur in someone who is actually a beginner or in someone who already has some knowledge/practice.

So...I guess my impression is that his definition was somewhere in between mine and yours.

I don't know to what extent Suzuki's definition is traditional.