Beginner's Mind (Japanese 初心 or shoshin) is a concept from Zen Buddhism. It means it's better to have an attitude of openness, eagerness, and lack of expectations or preconceptions when practicing meditation and exploring Dharma. Even at an advanced level, approach Truth as a beginner would.
Beginner's Mind is especially used in the study of Zen Buddhism and Japanese martial arts [1]. It became popular outside Japan because of Shunryū Suzuki's book Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind.
The practice of shoshin acts as a counter to the hubris and closed-mindedness often associated with thinking of oneself as an adept or expert [2].
When we let ourselves think we know everything, we leave no room for surprises, but reality is full of surprises.
For example, in the Einstellung Effect, a person becomes so accustomed to a certain way of doing things that s/he does not consider or acknowledge new ideas or approaches [3], such as thinking outside the box. Like let's say someone asks you, "Who are YOU?"
One more TikTok, hookup, sext, hit of dopamine
"I'm me," you say. Then this exchange takes place:
"You're not who you think you are."
"I'm who other people think I am."
"No, you're not even that."
"But, but, what else is there? If I'm not who I think I am, and I'm not who others think I am, do I just not exist?"
"No, you are who you think others think you are."
"Oh, yeah, because we're social creatures, right? There's always that [performative] factor of being watched, even if we only think we're being watched."
"Something like that."
"Ah, what do you know?"
"Hey, at least I got you to think outside the box, realize it's not binary -- a this or that, thesis or antithesis. There's often a synthesis, an interaction, a third or fourth option not thought of within the confines of the assumptions surrounding the question."
"Oh, yeah, huh?"
"Monkey."
The word shoshin combines sho (Japanese 初, "beginner" or "initial") and shin (Japanese 心, "mind" or "heart") [4], which is not necessarily the brain but the intuition, knowing, heart, or the ability to discern. More
(Project Happiness) In the mystical heart of China, in the legendary Shaolin Buddhist Monastery, the Shaolin kung fu warrior monks train. Shaolin kung fu is a martial art that has become a profound philosophy of life over the centuries, intertwining physical strength, spiritual wisdom, and mental acuity. Under the guidance of the great Shifu [Master] Shi Miao and his top student @Sachka.w, we explores how Shaolin kung fu transforms every aspect of existence, emphasizing strength, inner peace, and wisdom. Observe the daily rituals, challenges, and sacrifices that define the path of a Shaolin warrior. Enjoy watching. 🐉
The first Friday of October is World Smile Day (Oct. 3, 2025), a relatively new holiday with a fascinating story. Created by a commercial artist named Harvey Ball, this day came about as a response to his creation of the smiley face. Harvey worried that the commercialization of the symbol would lessen its impact. We can hardly blame him for his estimation; the symbol has been used in many different ways including clothing, comic books, coffee mugs, pins, and more. These little yellow faces are more than just a symbol, they’re a statement about the power of smiling.
History of World Smile Day
Has this symbol always existed?
In 1963, Harvey Ball, a graphic artist and ad man from Worcester, Massachusetts, created the smiley face symbol [the yellow emoji icon] we’ve all come to know.
Popularity for this symbol exploded into the world of popular culture. It’s every artists’ dream for their work to be respected and recreated and few symbols have had quite the legacy that Harvey’s creation has had. More: nationaltoday.com
Smiling animals brighten our day
If looking for something to brighten an otherwise dreary winter day, look no further than these adorable animals. Looking at their cheery grins will no doubt put a smile on the face that watches them, too. These smiling animals will brighten the day
Buddhism: There is no way to happiness. Why? Happiness is the way
I let go, surrendered, and blissed out on the mat.
This is a tricky truth no one talks about, at least not in the West. We are forever searching and seeking, scheming and striving to get happy, to FIND a way to happiness. But this message turns that sort of thinking on its head.
When at a Buddhist monastery or on a Buddhist retreat, it's not uncommon to ask, "How do I attain meditative absorption (jhana)?" Another word for it is "zen" or dhyana and dharana on a yoga retreat. But there's no answer. One is taught a technique but no way to achieve the thing one strives for. Why?
It is reached by letting go, dropping the striving, surrendering up the muscling, giving up the go-getter attitude. It just happens. And teachers will say, "There's no way to [scheme and use force to] do it. Meditators just do it."
I went to the room of the greatest jhana teacher in the world, and I pressed him, "What's the secret?"
He didn't know what I meant, he said. He didn't even know what I was talking about, he claimed. Then I thought, he's given me an opening. Here's my chance. I better ask very carefully:
"How does one meditate...successfully? What I mean is, how does one attainabsorption? How does one get to..." He looked at me like I was kidding and when he saw that I was not, as if by rote, he gave me the basic instructions:
Sit up straight, but not too straight, relax, bring your attention under your nose to the breath, remain aware of each and every in-breath and out-breath that is happening. Don't do anything but give your undivided attention to that breath (composed of an in-portion and out-portion). Just that. [Then what? - Then nothing, just that. - No, but there has to be something more; it can't be just that. - Just do that (in addition to keeping silent, following the Eight Precepts, and always keeping the breath in mind except when asleep) and then report to me what happens during the daily interview sessions. Try it. It's very simple, but there's nothing easy about it. So keep at it.]
Bare awareness (mindfulness/sati) is a start.
"No," I said, "not how does one sit; how does one succeed? How does one get to that state of one-pointedness, samadhi, stillness, rapture, unbroken focus...?"
"Oh, that," he said. "I don't know that." I thought he was joking, a real effort to make an American-style joke, and I didn't know why he wasn't telling me. He knew I was sincere. He knew I had been striving all month long. Then I applied more pressure than probably anyone would ever dare to apply.
I wasn't leaving without an answer: "What do you mean you don't know? Who better than you? If you don't know, who could possibly know?"
Then he stunned me, as he often did with the directness of his insight and his willingness to share his knowledge with me? "I don't know because I do not read minds. People come to me. I give them the instructions. And some of them come tell me what is happening, and I guide them from there."
You asked him what?! Did he throw you out?
"But WHY do some of them have something start happening since not everyone does?"
"That I do not know. I just know they do. And when they do, I can help them, guide them to go deeper. But how they get to it in the first place, that I do not know." [These aren't exact quotes, just the gist of the conversation, which only lasted a few desperate minutes as I pushed and pushed.]
As he said this, I realized I had asked him this before, after sitting with him in Asia at his massive monastery, where it seemed everyone was succeeding and attaining. I asked him and pushed him a little on the matter with someone sitting by me to catch what I might be missing, two Americans sincerely wanting to experience what Buddhist texts write about, what the Buddha taught, what sutras say happens.
At that time he looked at us and perceiving our sincerity said one strange word, his guess as to what it was distilled down to ONE thing as if it could ever be just one thing distinguishing success from just sitting. That word was parami. She smiled next to me, but I grimaced, perplexed. "'Parami?' The Sanskrit word paramita?"
"Yes," he answered, but he was actually talking about the Pali (and therefore Theravada Buddhist) form of the word parami. In either case, it means "perfection," but the Sanskrit is a diluted Mahayana term of six factors, whereas the historical Buddha always taught TEN intentional actions (deeds, karma).
My teacher clarified. What he imagined (from what he heard from many of his successful students reporting to him) was that they remembered doing skillful deeds in the past, and he concluded that those past skillful deeds were coming to fruition as they sat. And that's why some succeeded and not others.
What kinds of questions are these? You are silly.
(What I was really getting at was, WHAT ACTIONS CAN SOMEONE DO NOW OR WHILE ONE IS SITTING IN MEDITATION, ANXIOUS FOR SOMETHING TO HAPPEN, TO MAKE IT HAPPEN?)
That he didn't know, so I had to undertake a lifelong journey of trying to figure it out. Of course, it will have something to do with the Factors of Absorption (jhananga, "limbs of jhana"). Leigh Brasington figured this much out, having had the insight that happiness is the way:
Right Concentration: Practical Guide to the Jhanas
Brasington teaches a technique of focusing on one of these factors, happiness (piti, joy, pleasure, rapture, bliss) as it arises in the body in serenity meditation. By focusing on it, it increases based on the principle that, "Where attention goes, energy flows." This is true enough, but how does one get the initial happiness/bliss to pay attention to and make increase?
Now it makes sense that what I had always been looking for was a carrot or apple in front of the horse (mule, donkey, jackass). I could only neigh in realizing it: THE GOAL is not this happiness because THIS HAPPINESS is the way to relaxing, letting go, unstriving, surrendering, unclutching, dropping hangups, persisting without grasping or clinging, shikantaza ("just sitting"), not setting up a goal and striving for it. Why? It's because those blissful states of meditation and their attendant stillness, mindfulness, and progress towards insight are NATURAL. They arise. We don't "do" them. We can't do them. We don't know how and do not have that power.
But if we relax and just watch with vigilance, stillness, steadiness, persistence, we are cultivating the Factors of Absorption and other factors of the 37 Requisites of Enlightenment, which are categorized into seven groupings.
One is reminded of a very important thing the Buddha once explained to someone. When talking about the Bodhisatta, himself at the stage of still being a seeker of enlightenment, he once realized that he could neither strive too hard or be negligent. Doing either, he sank as if in a great ocean (samsara), but not striving and not being negligent, he made progress. What could this mean either than the Middle Way of avoiding extremes, of persisting but not pushing, of cultivating but not disturbing the peace or giving in to apathy, listlessness, or despair?
Thai Forest Tradition arahant Ajahn Maha Boowa seems to be suggesting the same thing here (translated by the American intellect Ven. Thanissaro): "The tactics [techniques] given by each of the Buddhas to the world are called the Dhamma [Truth] of the doctrine. These aren't the genuine Dhamma. They're tactics [methods] — different offshoots — actions and modes displayed by the genuine Dhamma, means for letting go and striving, teaching us to let go, teaching us to strive using various methods, saying that the results will be like this or that. As for the genuine Dhamma of results in the principles of nature, that's something to be known exclusively in the heart of the person who practices. This Dhamma can't really be described correctly in line with its truth. We can only talk around it. And particularly with release [nirvana, liberation, freedom]: This can't be correctly described at all, because it's beyond all conventions and speculations. It can't be described. Even though we may know it with our full heart, we can't describe it. Like describing the flavor [of a soup using only words to someone who has yet to simply taste it]." From Things As They Are.
Smile, be happy. Don't overdo it; just let it be.
So happiness IS the way. Be happy. Right now. Choose it. It's a choice. Smile. After all, it's World Smile Day. Reflect, "Why is the Buddha ALWAYS smiling slightly?" There are no statues of him yelling or throwing things, losing his temper or his poise. Why? It's because once one uproots the defilements, there is nothing more tat can upset. One knows-and-sees directly.
Like that, Lisa, just like that. Hold it.
And to the extent that that knowing-and-seeing is the goal, one has reached it. Things have become clear, and nothing can any longer upset us. What was in the way, aside from the defilements (of which there are many subtle ones) and lack of parami-karma (ten skillful deeds performed with the ambition of nirvana being the result)? What is the direct path to bodhi (enlightenment, awakening, realization, liberating-insight)?
What is the way to bodhi? The Seven Factors of Enlightenment. What is the way to those factors? The preceding factors of the 37 Requisites of Enlightenment. How does one do any factor? It's probably a good idea to be happy. How does one even begin to dream to do that? Smile.
When the Buddha-to-be (the Bodhisatta) was born, his father, King Suddhodana, and all the other Scythian (Shakyian) princes were educated by a very wise and virtuous Brahmin named Asita.
Asita was a sage who lived in the jungles close to the Himalayan foothills. He spent his days meditating in a hut there, when one morning he saw and heard the woodland fairies (devas) rejoicing by singing and dancing.
Inquiring, he learned that a baby boy had been born to King Suddhodana and Queen Maya and that this prince would one day become a supremely enlightened teacher surpassing all other beings. Hearing this, the sage Asita was delighted and hurried to Kapilavatthu to see the king.
When King Suddhodana saw Asita, he was very happy that his old teacher had come to see his baby, even before a message was sent informing him of the birth of his firstborn son. The king brought the prince to show him to the wise old sage so the sage could examine him and make a prediction about the little one’s future.
However, when he held the baby, his little feet touched the Brahmin’s head dress (jathah). Surprised at this, the sage took hold of his tiny feet and saw by the lines of his soles that this baby will definitely become a supremely enlightened one.
I am sure he will choose his Quest.
He was so happy at this that he got up from his seat and, holding his hands in front of his heart (anjali mudra), he paid respects to the baby. When the king saw this teacher venerating the baby, he too held his hands together and venerated his son. (This was the first time the king, the father of the Buddha-to-be, paid homage to his son).
However, Asita’s delight quickly changed into sadness when he realized that by the time this baby would become fully awakened, he himself would have passed away from the human realm to an Immaterial Sphere world known as the “realm of neither perception nor perception” or neva-sagna na-sagna yathana.*
*The mind is so subtle at this stage of absorption (jhana) that the karma of attaining it leads to rebirth in this realm. See the 31 Planes of Existence. Consciousness here is so subtle that it can hardly be said to be perception at all, but it is certainly not non-perception. The meditative practice of jhana, later classified by the Buddha as "right concentration" or samma-samadhi (extreme stillness of mind) brings this rebirth about. However long lasting such a rebirth is, it is not permanent and is not nirvana.
Nevertheless, the prediction was made that this baby would one day become a supremely enlightened teacher, a buddha. The prince was named Siddhattha (Sanskrit Siddhartha, which literally means “Doing good to the world” or “Wish fulfilled”).
On the seventh day after Prince Siddhattha’s birth, his mother Queen Maya passed away.
Thereafter, her younger sister and second wife of the king, Queen Pajapati, adopted the prince and looked after him like her own son. (She eventually had two children of her own, Nanda and Sundari Nanda, but always gave Prince Siddhattha the most attention over his siblings).
Other soothsayers told the king that his son might become a world monarch (cakkhavati), but if he saw the downside of life, he would likely turn away and renounce the world.
So to ensure that he went on to exercise rule over the whole known world (at least Jambudipa), it was advisable to protect the prince from hardship.
The father so loved his son and so wanted him to be a great king that he decided to shelter him and dote on him and give him everything he could want, spoiling him for 29 years.
At 29, Prince Siddhartha left it all behind.
But all of this had the reverse effect because, eventually, when the prince saw how the world really was -- beset by old age, sickness, and death -- it made such an impact that he had to go in search of a solution. This led him on spiritual quest. He abandoned the good life and went in search of the pure life of yoga (with first one yogi named Alara Kalama then another named Uddaka Ramaputta), meditation, and yogic austerities (tapas) to win complete enlightenment. These all failed him to win him the ultimate goal.
So he settled down, cared for his body, and undertook the Middle Way, avoiding extremes of hedonism as he had pursued in the palace and self-mortification as he had pursued on his own in the forest. Instead of rejecting the pleasure and rapture of the initial meditative absorptions, he pursued them to ever more refined states of stillness, practicing all eight jhanas.
Now his mind was temporarily released from the defilement, purified, and ready to practice clear seeing (vipassana) through mindfulness of the body, feelings, mind, and mind-objects. He took of his initial question that led him on this quest, "Why is the cause of suffering?" Practicing Dependent Origination, he traced back present suffering to its causes and conditions in previous lives, on account of karma and its results, all the way back to ignorance.
Forward and back, he went until he made a breakthrough in understanding, in knowledge and vision, directly knowing-and-seeing for himself. He awakened to the utmost under his bodhi ("enlightenment") tree and eventually agreed to teach after doubting if anyone would understand or put in the effort to purify their knowledge and vision and thereby gain the same liberation he had won.
Sex is a sticky subject. Uh, mmm, icky finicky touchy (not touchy) sticky subject -- ooh, it's nasty. Don't talk about it! What's brown and sticky? A tree. We aim to unstick it.
See her weekly (Wednesday night) Peace Class at prs.org. The subject this warm month? A theme of passion, romance, getting down and dirty, and summer love with an OPEN MIC segment running throughout the reading. That means YOU can come and read, too.
What is the sound of one hand... Uh, mmm, no, what is the sound of 1,000 jaws dropping?
Just say "no," Adults. No one should have sex. Better those energies were expended following something far more useful. But what could possibly be more useful, or more enjoyable, than sex?
Once the Bodhisattva (Buddha-to-be) reflected, "Why do I, being subject to aging and death, also seek things that are subject to aging and death? What now if I were to seek out that which is beyond aging and death?"
But if everyone dies and everything eventually passes away, what is not subject to aging and death? What is beyond impermanence?
There is one element that has overcome aging and death and that transcends all suffering, that has overcome sorrow, lamentation, and disappointment. And that is the unconditioned element called nirvana.
Nirvana is better than sex? Nirvana is better than anything. Everything else is ultimately disappointing. Why? Everything else is subject to incessant arising and passing away. We cling. It fades. We hurt. We are left empty and dissatisfied. Things reveal themselves to be impersonal, unable to stand independently.
As close as nirvana is, realization of it is a long way away from those who do not practice, who do not apply themselves, who do not determine to realize it in this very life.
Even for such people, there is serenity or samatha meditation, which gives access to amazing levels of bliss, serenity, and -- by adding vipassana on top of right samadhi -- degrees of liberating-insight.
As close as calm-and-insight meditation are, realization serenity or wisdom are a long way away for those who do not practice, who do not determine to realize them in this very life.
There's a reason to sit, a better form of pleasure?
Even for such people, there is virtue, which is a more sublime form of joy (piti, rapture, pleasure, bliss) beyond reproach, beyond blame, worry, or any remorse.
As close as virtue is, it is a long way away for those who do not practice, who do not determine to realize it in this very life.
For such people, endowed with virtue, they may enjoy sex that harms no one and does not involve anyone dependent on others. For those who are independent, self-supporting, who are capable of consenting and making their own decisions. Let's talk about sex between them.
Hey, did you ever consider Tantra?
One need not imagine that sex brings one closer to enlightenment -- as Great Vehicle (Mahayana and esoteric Vajrayana) practitioners following the pre-Buddhist Indian path of yogic Tantra may imagine.
As ordinary householders living in the world -- interested in wealth, prosperity, and personal satisfaction through gain, fame, and endless distractions -- sex may serve that purpose.
It of necessity will be disappointing (dukkha). If it were not, the Buddha would never have pointed out a better path to pursue, a way thing to strive for, a superior form of pleasure. There is another way that goes against the stream (the current, the flow), does not pull one by the floods, does not entangle one in the revolving wheel of rebirth and redeath (samsara).
Is anyone going against the stream?
Noah Levine, scandalized founder of Dharma Punx, Against the Stream, Refuge Recovery
A path to go against the stream
The path of the spiritual revolutionary is a long-term and gradual journey toward awakening (enlightenment, bodhi). If we want a quick fix or easy salvation, this is not it. Turn back now, plug back into The Matrix, and enjoy that delusional existence. The Buddha's Dharma is a path for real rebels, malcontents, and truth seekers. The wisdom and compassion of the Buddha is available to all, but the journey to personal freedom is arduous. It takes a steadfast commitment to Truth and, at times, counterintuitive (against instinct) action. We have at our disposal everything we need to undertake this journey. There is only one prerequisite -- the willingness to play, to do the practice, to follow the path through the darkest recesses of our minds and hearts, to stand in the face of great resistance and fear and continue in the direction of freedom. For those who are willing, the ability is a given. The Buddha isn’t a god or deity to be worshipped. He was a rebel and ford finder (who rediscovered the way crossing over), an overthrower, destroyer of ignorance, the Master Physician who re-found the path to complete freedom from suffering. The Buddha left a legacy of Truth for us to experience for ourselves, not to believe in him. The practices and principles of these Teachings, the Dharma, lead to our direct experience of knowledge, wisdom, compassion, and full liberation. This is not a faith-based philosophy, but an experiential one. The point of the spiritual revolution is not to become a "good Buddhist," but to become a wise and compassionate being, to awaken from our life of complacency and delusion and ignorance and to be a buddha, an awakened being. In order to do this, it is helpful to study the life and teachings of the original rebel, the Wandering Ascetic Sid — the Buddha.
What about love and relationships? That is different. We are talking about sex.
Love is grand. Most people have nothing higher to live for. And as an English word we confound it with all kinds of loves, when it only refers in this context to romantic love, which feels great but is not what people really mean. It is like referring to the prestigious and selfless faculty when one really means the greedy and despised administration or the mishmash of students. "School" means all three, but we put the best face on it.
The same with relationships. They can be great educators, harder to endure than a monastic life. But most are not. We pretend they are because they can be. But most of them, most of the time are not. Yet everyone claps and says "Awww" when anyone gets engaged. Awww, what? Awww, they're going to be so unhappy, and then the world can say to them, "Welcome to the club."
So let's stick to the subject and talk about sex.
Men want sex, it is said.
Yes, so do women -- even though it is said that they do not.
Well, if they repeatedly indulge and stress about it, they will be caught up in stress and disappointment. But that stress is the only happiness they know.
Right! It's like the Buddha comparing sexual craving to a leper's itch. The itch gets so bad, the sores so itchy, that placing an arm over an open fire can feel like a downright relief. Fire cauterizes the wound and so soothes the itch. It keeps one from going crazy, even at the cost of great pain or disfigurement.
If only there were a way not to feel crazy yet not get burned.
We don't have to have wait for heartbreak to feel "burned."
Oh, totally. Good sex, great sex, unreal sex is still disappointing, to say nothing of the mediocre sex we mostly all settle for.
Should independent people have sex?
If they want to. They're free to. They can even do it while practicing virtue (sila). There is no reason for guilt, self-recrimination, or holding wrong views about it. Abstain, it's better, but indulge with a clear conscience that we are not "forbidden" to do it. One day, some days, meditate, too.
They might succeed in meditation.
Successful meditation (jhana, absorption) is better than sex -- full of rapture, joy, and supersensual bliss called piti.
I've heard. But how could bliss be supersensual?
There's a higher bliss, a better form of pleasure that is not dependent on the body or bodily feelings and pleasant sensations.
You think?
I know.
Then why would anyone go back to sex as a source of relief or attempted-happiness?
Those blissful states aren't always available to everyone; they take practice, which takes persistence and a little commitment. They are not permanent or reliable all the time. I mean, they are always there but not always available to everyone. We have base cravings and very strong habits.
Restraint is good.
Yes, it is great. But that's not always what the mind wants. And the mind usually gets what the mind wants.
That's for sure. The body is weak compared to the mind even when the spirit is willing.
How To (video); Amber Larson, Dhr. Seven, Ashley Wells (ed.), Wisdom Quarterly, orig. 12/15/11-4/23/24; Noah Levine on going against the stream (edited by Wisdom Quarterly)
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