596: Mindset = Mind trap April 18th 26

Mindset can be a mind trap 

In Zen, having your mindset mostly made up of conceptual thinking is seen as the main obstacle to true understanding of concrete reality, genuine self and awakening. Zen places an immense value on flexibility, openness, and seeing reality exactly as it is in the present moment, 

not filtered through our preconceived opinions, beliefs, judgments, and so on or distorded  by

being continuously in past and future.Here is a breakdown of how Zen approaches a fixed mindset:

The Metaphor of the full cup of tea:

There is a classic Zen story about a university professor who went to visit a famous Zen master to inquire about Zen.

• The master served tea.
• He poured his visitor's cup full, and then kept on pouring.
• The professor watched it overflow until he could no longer restrain himself and said, "It is overfull. No more will go in!"
• "Like this cup," the master said, "you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?"

If your mindset is already fixed, your "cup" is full. There is no room for new insights, creativity, learning, spontaneous wisdom, or the reality of the present moment to enter.

The following describes the 3 mental skills to achieve an “Open mind”:

1.  Practicing a "Beginner's Mind" (Shoshin) or “receptive mind”.

One of the most famous concepts in modern Zen comes from Shunryu Suzuki, who wrote:

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

When your mind is already made up, you view the world as an "expert." You stop truly listening, looking, or learning because you assume you already know the answers. Zen encourages Shoshin—approaching every situation, no matter how familiar, with curiosity, wonder, with lack of preconceptual judgments, and ideas that beginners always have.

2- Practicing a "don't know mind" or "Open mind"

Another prominent teaching, especially in Korean Zen (Seon), is the cultivation of "Don't-Know Mind." It is the practice of returning to a state of pure, open awareness of our thoughts and judgments when they arise without, necessarily, accepting all of them as truth. Take them as a grain of salt.

When we are willing to say "I don't know" and let go of the need to be right or have it all figured out,

or trying to understand everyone and everything,  your mind becomes as clear as a mirror, simply reflecting what is in front of it without distortion. It is not the practice of stupidity, it is the practice of serenity. 

3- Practicing "non-attachment" to most of our thoughts/ feelings.

Zen teaches that most of our suffering, and dissatisfaction come from grasping, aversion, delusion and attachment to many things. That  includes our emotional attachment to our own thoughts, labels, rigid beliefs, and judgment because they, supposedly, carry the absolute truth simply since they are coming from your mind.

The physical world is constantly changing and flowing (impermanence). When we make up our minds rigidly, we are trying to freeze a dynamic world into static concepts. 

Zen invites us to hold our beliefs lightly and flow with reality rather than trying to force reality to fit our mental blueprints.