No Gaining Idea
In Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind (Boulder, 2011), Shunryu Suzuki says, “We say our practice should be without gaining ideas, without any expectations, even of enlightenment” (p. 25). The advice to not have any “gaining ideas” while meditating has become a commonplace in zazen instruction.
Not having gaining ideas while meditating does not mean that a person practices zazen without a purpose. A rational person would not pursue a practice as demanding as zazen without a reason. The reason or purpose, according to Zen Buddhism, is to wake up or become enlightened.
Ironically, however, this purpose cannot even be imagined by an unenlightened zazen practitioner. The core of an enlightenment experience is that the idea of one’s personal self, the “I” of oneself, drops from the mind. This condition can only be experienced. It cannot be imagined. .
It follows that when an unawakened person does zazen, he or she does so out of reliance on the teachings of an 800-year Zen tradition. He does so without being able to envision or imagine the goal at all. Nevertheless, he does progress towards the goal. The zazen practitioner’s “I” becomes less prominent in his life as he continues the practice, and this happens of itself. It is like getting wet in a fog, Suzuki says: “In a fog, you do not know you are getting wet, but as you keep walking you get wet little by little.” Finally, he gives us this advice: “Just to be sincere and make our full effort in each moment is enough” (p. 31).