Quotes About Openness

When we do not expect anything we can be ourselves.

A mind full of preconceived ideas, subjective intentions, or habits is not open to things as they are. That is why we practice zazen: to clear our mind of what is related to something else.

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

Do not be too interested in Zen.

A mind full of preconceived ideas, subjective intentions, or habits is not open to things as they are. That

The practice of Zen mind is beginner's mind. The innocence of the first inquiry—what am I?—is needed throughout Zen practice. The mind of the beginner is empty, free of the habits of the expert, ready to accept, to doubt, and open to all the possibilities. It is the kind of mind which can see things as they are, which step by step and in a flash can realize the original nature of everything.

Our mind should be soft and and open enough to understand things as they are. When our thinking is soft, it is called imperturbable thinking. This kind of thinking is always stable. It is called mindfulness.

If you receive things just as an echo of yourself, you do not really see them, you do not fully accept them as they are.

This is also the real secret of the arts: always be a beginner. Be very very careful about this point. If you start to practice zazen, you will begin to appreciate your beginner's mind. It is the secret of Zen practice.

that Americans have a beginner's mind, that they have few preconceptions about Zen, are quite open to it, and confidently believe that it can help their lives. He found they question Zen in a way that gives Zen life.

You should not be surprised at whatever you see or hear...If you are ready to accept things as they are, you will receive them as old friends.

But as long as you have some fixed idea or are caught by some habitual way of doing things, you cannot appreciate things in their true sense.

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

When we practice zazen we just practice zazen, without any gaining idea. When we talk about something we just talk about something, ...without trying to express some intellectual, one-sided idea. And we listen without trying to figure or some intellectual understanding, without trying to understand from just a one-sided view.

If you discriminate too much, you limit yourself.

We emphasize straightforwardness. You should be true to your feelings, and to your mind, expressing yourself without any reservations. This helps the listener to understand more easily.

In the beginner's mind, there are unlimited possibilities. In the expert's mind, there are few.

Acceptance is the slow poison plaguing today's society

The world around you starts changing, the moment you allow the world to change you.

It has to do with being open, with a willingness to share information about safety problems without the fear of being nailed for them.

Living consciously involves being genuine; it involves listening and responding to others honestly and openly; it involves being in the moment.

Perhaps the only remaining attitude is one of waiting. By committing oneself to waiting, one neither blocks one's path toward faith (like those who defiantly affirm the void) nor besieges this faith (like those whose yearning is so strong, it makes them lose all restraint). One waits, and one's waiting is a hesitant openness, albeit of a sort that is difficult to explain.

To truly learn from someone or something, one must first learn to love them.

If I were a tree I would be the tree you're seeing with its open crown, which will keep on growing.