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

Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. Even if you're not looking to get into Buddhism or meditation, it's incredibly thought-provoking. I read it and I immediately started it over again and the second read is proving even more fruitful than the first.

Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind.

The problem (for me) with reading books like these is that you can drink them down like water, then you ask yourself to summarized what you've just read...and have to go back and read the whole thing again...ad infinitum.

I'm not against therapy at all, but might I suggest another angle? Meditation.

If you really want to get better as you say you do, find a zen practice center and learn to sit. Meditation is all about opening up space in your mind and learning to observe it. It's a long process, but very enlightening since the beggining.

If you'd like to start by reading a book, I'd like to suggest this one. It's very simple and straightforward. You don't have to be a buddhist to read it.

This video is incredible too. Watch it right now. It goes straight to the point. Alan Wallace is a very wise dude.

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If you don't mind me saying, by your description it seems like you just might suffer from Borderline personality disorder. Get yourself a professional opinion on this.

Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind is frequently mentioned as a good introduction to Zen.

Zen mind, beginners mind

Nice, man. I wish for you to persevere in your practice. Just like you I've studied and now practice Zen, Buddhism, and some of the Taoism.

I should look into the set of authors you've written. If you have time look into it, some of the books I found most inspiring in my practice are:

Zen mind, Beginner's Mind
Not always so
The two above are for inspiration and breathtaking take on the spirit of practice, the once below are for the practical and daily aspects of the practice:
Mastering the Core Teachings of the Buddha - Supremely useful!
Mindfulness in Plain English - Of course "Beyond Mindfulness" is equally as impressive, just goes into a greater detail on what to expect, and how to achieve higher jhanas.

I agree wholeheartedly with this. Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind is a great book on meditation.

Yeah, but then some days I wonder if I'm such a nihilist that I would never even consider myself a nihilist. A potentially terrifying prospect! What can you do.

If you wanted, Zen Mind Beginner's Mind is a good, quick, accessible read. Basically its about knowing enough to know that you know nothing. I'm not sure how Jehovah's Witnesses feel about cross-pollination, but a lot of Christian sects, particularly those crazy Jesuits, integrate Zen into their practice since, as I've said, it's more of a practice than a belief system. I've even meditated with a Muslim friend, although I'm pretty sure any Imam would have considered that a no-no. I like your style.

If you have the patience for it, listening to the current Dalai Lama can be interesting. Here are some recordings of his appearance in Mountain View, CA in 2001 (the "Heart Sutra" mp3 files). The only problem is he speaks slowly and with an accent, so if you have a short attention span or aren't really that interested, it probably isn't for you. You can probably get similar material in book form, but I don't have a reference handy. (edit: duh, the link to [Essence of the Heart Sutra](
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0861713184/ref=lamrimcom) on that page is probably the way to go.)

The interesting thing about the Dalai Lama is that he's totally into accepting and integrating scientific results, and his interpretation of Buddhism reflects that, being more metaphorical in cases where something would obviously be in conflict with reality if taken literally. This doesn't usually appear forced, because much of Buddhism is expressed metaphorically, so it's really those who take it too literally who are probably missing the point a bit.

Re Alan Watts, first of all it's important to note that he focused on Zen Buddhism, which is one of the most distinct branches of Buddhism, quite different from most of the others. Second, you have to keep in mind that he was one of the earliest popularizers of Zen in the West, and as such his personal perspective perhaps had a greater influence on his approach than those who came later, once there was a more established Western Zen tradition. Part of that personal perspective was a somewhat Californian proto-New Age ethic which used Buddhism as a prop for ideas that didn't themselves come from Buddhism, and combined them with Western ideas about psychology and cosmology. The ones you mention, like "we are all one" etc., certainly fit that mold. If you look at the sources in Buddhism for such positions, they are never quite as literal as Watts tends to imply.

For a no-nonsense intro book to Zen, you could try something like Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. It focuses on teaching how and why to do Zen meditation, along with plenty of psychology and philosophy, but very little by way of Watts-style mysticism.

Honestly a lot Eastern religions are non-theist, like Buddhism or Taoism (I realize they certainly have mystic elements). But I would recommend checking out those religions. Here's a good book on Zen: http://www.amazon.com/Zen-Mind-Beginners-Informal-Meditation/dp/0834800799

Depends what you mean by questioning your religion and heck what your religion is currently.

I bought an audiobook from Audible; turns out they're full of shit about everything and my players weren't supported, so I torrented the mp3. Bought the e-book off of Amazon I think. Can't remember specifically but it's available online if you look around a bit.

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Zen-Mind-Beginners-Informal-Meditation/dp/0834800799

Google Books: http://books.google.co.za/books/about/Zen_Mind_Beginner_s_Mind.html?id=syLKN1q19NgC&redir_esc=y