#Shunryū Suzuki

[nousrose]

Not to be attached to something is to be aware of its absolute value. Everything you do should be based on such an awareness, and not on material or self-centered ideas of value.

Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind

Shunryū Suzuki

[japanwords]

初心 (sho-shin) "Beginner’s mind"

Approach every task as if you were doing it for the first time.

"Sho-shin" is the zen attitude that by looking at every task with the eyes of a beginner, you can keep your mind sharp and open.

When engaging in something in which we consider ourselves an expert, there is the danger of becoming bored, jaded and cynical.

However, if we approach even mundane tasks from a position of playfulness and humble naivety we can rediscover our spark of interest, and perhaps think of new and creative ways to live.

This concept was popularised outside of Japan by the famous Zen priest Shunryū Suzuki's 1970 book Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. 

[lunamagicablu]

Come definire la meditazione? Come la saggezza alla ricerca della saggezza . Shunryū Suzuki art by_xcrapazores_ ************************** How to define meditation? Like wisdom in search of wisdom. Shunryū Suzuki art by_xcrapazores_

[concupiscience]

“If we try to listen to something wonderful, it moves us to ignore the birds which we are listening to now. When we think, ‘Buddha said something wonderful’ and I must find out what he meant. Then your mind is directed towards Buddha’s words, so you don’t hear the birds. So always we sacrifice various actual reality.” - Shunryū Suzuki

[om--namah-shivaya]

The true purpose of Zen is to see things as they are, to observe things as they are, and to let everything go as it goes.

Shunryū Suzuki

[milesbutterball]

There are, strictly speaking, no enlightened people, there is only enlightened activity.

Shunryū Suzuki

[farwestfonzi]

In the Lotus Sutra, Buddha says to light up one corner—not the whole world. Just make it clear where you are.

— Shunryū Suzuki

[cajon-desastre]

The true purpose of Zen is to see things as they are, to observe things as they are, and to let everything go as it goes.

Shunryū Suzuki

[infinitedonut]

Nothing we see or hear is perfect. But right there in the imperfection is perfect reality.

Shunryū Suzuki

[nousrose]

Pleasure is not different from difficulty. Good is not different from bad. Bad is good; good is bad. They are two sides of one coin. So enlightenment should be in practice. That is the right understanding of practice, and the right understanding of our life. So to find pleasure in suffering is the only way to accept the truth of transiency.

Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind

Shunryū Suzuki

[radical-revolution]

Shunryū Suzuki

[ginzyblog]

Allen with Shunryū Suzuki, Roshi,  founder of San Francisco Zen Center, & Tassajara Zen Mountain Center,  here at “A Gathering of the Tribes for a Human Be-In" at the Polo Fields in Golden Gate Park, January 14, 1967,  54 years ago and a day. Photo: Paul Kagan, courtesy Allen Ginsberg Estate / Stanford University Libraries

[panatmansam]

The most important point is to accept yourself and stand on your two feet.

Shunryū Suzuki, (1904 - 1971) Japanese-American Zen Master

[rllibrary]

Japanese Literature, and More

Above: Yasunari Kawabata, 1946

Above: Yukio Mishima

Above: Mieko Kawakami, 2014

*

Japanese Literature, 20th Century to Present

* Below are just some books that I either have enjoyed or expect to enjoy (mostly the latter), all from Japanese authors or, in a few cases, scholars of Japan. Note: I have not listed every book by these authors, but only the ones that I want to read/reread the most. * Natsume Sōseki (1867-1916) - Botchan (1906) / Cohn translation, Penguin Classics, 9780141391885 - Sanshirō (1908) / Rubin translation with introduction by Haruki Murakami, Penguin Classics, 9780140455625 - Kokoro (1914) / McKinney translation, Penguin Classics, 9780143106036 * Ryūnosuke Akutagawa (1892-1927) - Rashomon and Seventeen Other Stories (1914-27) / Jay Rubin translation with introduction by Haruki Murakami, Penguin Classics, 9780140449709 * Jun'ichirō Tanizaki (1886-1965) - Seven Japanese Tales (1910-59)

/ Vintage International, 9780679761075 - Naomi (1924) / Vintage International, 9780375724749 - Quicksand (1928-30)

/ Vintage Classics, 9780099485612 - Some Prefer Nettles (1929)

/ Vintage Classics, 9780099283379 - The Makioka Sisters (1943-48)

/ Vintage Classics, 9780749397104 * Yasunari Kawabata (1899-1972) - Snow Country (1935-37, 1947)

/ Vintage International, 9780679761044 - The Master of Go (1951)

/ Vintage, 9780679761068 - The Sound of the Mountain (1954)

/ Seidensticker translation, Vintage International, 9780679762645 - House of the Sleeping Beauties and Other Stories

/ Vintage International, 9780525434139

- Beauty and Sadness (1964)

/ Vintage, 9780679761051

- Palm-of-the-Hand Stories (1923-64)

/ FSG Classics, 9780374530495

* Osamu Dazai (1909-48) - No Longer Human (1948)

/ Keene translation, New Directions, 9780811204811 * Yasushi Inoue (1907-91) - Life of a Counterfeiter (1965)

/ Emmerich translation, Pushkin Press, 9781782270027 * Kōbō Abe (1924-93) - The Woman in the Dunes (1962)

/ Saunders translation, Vintage International, 9780679733782 - The Face of Another (1964)

/ Saunders translation, Vintage International, 9780375726538 - The Ruined Map (1967)

/ Saunders translation, Vintage International, 9780375726521 - The Box Man (1973)

/ Saunders translation, Vintage International, 9780375726514 * Yukio Mishima (1925-70) - Death in Midsummer: And Other Stories (1953)

/ New Directions, 9780811201179 - The Temple of the Golden Pavilion (1956)

/ Morris translation, Vintage Classics, 9780099285670

- After the Banquet (1960)

/ Keene translation, 9780099282785 - The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea (1963)

/ Nathan translation, Vintage Classics, 9780099284796 - The Sea of Fertility tetralogy (written 1965-70): 1. Spring Snow (1965)

/ Gallagher translation, Vintage International, 9780679722410 2. Runaway Horses (1969)

/ Gallagher translation, Vintage International, 9780679722403 3. The Temple of Dawn (1970)

/ Saunders and Segawa Seigle translation, Vintage International, 9780679722427 4. The Decay of the Angel (1971)

/ Seidensticker translation, Vintage International, 9780679722434 See also: Persona: A Biography of Yukio Mishima, by Naoki Inose

/ Stone Bridge Press, 9781611720082 * Kenzaburō Ōe (1935- ) - A Personal Matter (1965)

/ Nathan translation, Grove Press, 9780802150615 - The Silent Cry (1967)

/ Bester translation, Serpent's Tail Classics, 9781781255650 * Haruki Murakami (1949- ) Novels: - Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World (1985)

/ Birnbaum translation, Vintage, 9780099448785 - Norwegian Wood (1987)

/ Rubin translation, Vintage, 9780099448822 - The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle (1994-5)

/ Rubin translation, Vintage International, 9780679775430 - Kafka on the Shore (2002)

/ Gabriel translation, Vintage International, 9781400079278 - After Dark (2004)

/ Rubin translation, Vintage, 9780099520863 - 1Q84 (2009-10)

/ Rubin and Gabriel translation, Vintage, 9780099578079 - Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Endless Pilgrimage (2013) / Gabriel translation, Vintage, 9780099590378 Short story collections: - The Elephant Vanishes (17 stories, 1980-91)

/ Vintage, 9780099448754 - Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman (24 stories, 1980-2005)

/ Vintage, Gabriel and Rubin translation, 9780099512820 - Birthday Stories (2002) (an anthology of stories featuring birthdays, by various authors including Raymond Carver, David Foster Wallace, and Murakami himself)

/ Vintage, 9780099481553 - Men Without Women (7 stories, 2013-14)

/ Gabriel and Goossen translation, Vintage, 9781101974520 See also: 

Haruki Murakami: A Long, Long Interview, by Mieko Kawakami [coming soon]

* Ryū Murakami (1952- ) - Almost Transparent Blue (1976)

/ out of print?

- Coin Locker Babies (1980)

/ Pushkin Press, 9781908968470 - 69 (1987)

/ Pushkin Press, 9781908968463 - Audition (1997)

/ Bloomsbury, 9781408800720 * Banana Yoshimoto (1964- ) - Kitchen (1988)

/ Backus translation, Faber & Faber, 9780571342723 - Goodbye Tsugumi (1989)

/ Emmerich translation, Faber & Faber, 9780571212842 - Asleep (1989)

/ Emmerich translation, Faber & Faber, 9780571205370 - Lizard (1993)

/ Sherif translation, Simon & Schuster, 9780671532765 - Amrita (1994) / Faber & Faber, 9780571193745 - Moshi-Moshi (2010)

/ Asa Yoneda translation, Counterpoint, 9781640090156

* Hiromi Kawakami (1958- ) - Strange Weather in Tokyo (2001)

/ Powell translation, Counterpoint, 9781640090163 - The Ten Loves of Nishino (2003)

/ Powell translation, Granta, 9781846276972 * Yōko Ogawa (1962- ) - The Diving Pool: Three Novellas (1990) 

/ Vintage, 9780099521358

- Revenge: Eleven Dark Tales (1998) 

/ Vintage, 9780099553939

- The Housekeeper and the Professor (2008)

/ Vintage, 9780099521341 * Mieko Kawakami (1976- ) - Ms. Ice Sandwich (2018)

/ Pushkin Press, 9781782273301 * Sayaka Murata (1979- ) - Convenience Store Woman (2018)

/ Granta, 9781846276842 * Yukiko Motoya (1979- ) - The Lonesome Bodybuilder (2018) 

/ Asa Yoneda translation, Soft Skull Press, 9781593766788

* - The Penguin Book of Japanese Short Stories (2018) / Edited by Jay Rubin, Penguin Classics, 9780241311905 * * Possible contexts for some of the works listed above: * * Murasaki Shikibu (Lady Murasaki) (c. 973 or 978-1014 or 1031) - The Tale of Genji (<1021) / Waley translation, Tuttle, 9784805310816 See also: - The Tale of Genji: A Reader’s Guide, by William J. Puette

/ Tuttle, 9784805310847 * Miyamoto Musashi (1584-1645) - The Book of Five Rings (1645) / Bennett translation, Tuttle, [paperback coming soon] * Yamamoto Tsunetomo (1659-1719) - Hagakure (1716) / Bennett translation, Tuttle, 9784805311981

* Nitobe Inazō (1862-1933) - Bushido: The Soul of Japan (1900) / Bennett translation, Tuttle, [paperback coming soon] * Lafcadio Hearn (1850-1904) - Japanese Ghost Stories

/ Penguin Classics, 9780241381274 * D. T. Suzuki (1870-1966) - An Introduction to Zen Buddhism (1934)

/ Grove Press, 9780802130556 * Eugene Herrigel (1884-1955) - Zen in the Art of Archery (1948) / Vintage, 9780375705090 * Shunryū Suzuki (1904-71) - Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind (1970)

/ Shambhala, 9781590308493 * Boye Lafayette De Mente - Etiquette Guide to Japan: Know the Rules that Make the Difference!

/ Tuttle, 9784805313619 - Japan: A Guide to Traditions, Customs and Etiquette: Kata as the Key to Understanding the Japanese

/ Tuttle, 9784805314425 * Roger J. Davies - The Japanese Mind: Understanding Contemporary Japanese Culture

/ Tuttle, 9780804832953 - Japanese Culture: The Religious and Philosophical Foundations

/ Tuttle, 9784805311639

*

Have you read any of these titles? What did you think?

- RL

*

[finewindclearmorning-blog]

There is no need to intellectualize about what our pure original nature is, because it is beyond our intellectual understanding. And there is no need to appreciate it, because it is beyond our appreciation

Shunryū Suzuki, founder of San Francisco Zen Center.

[constantinlevine]

"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few." —Shunryū Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind