The central teaching presented is the cultivation of *shoshin*, or “beginner’s mind,” as the heart of Zen practice. This beginner’s mind is an attitude of openness, eagerness, and freedom from fixed ideas, in which each moment is approached as fresh and unrepeatable. In contrast to the “expert’s mind,” which is crowded with conclusions and judgments, beginner’s mind allows “many possibilities” because it is not confined by rigid views. Such a mind does not cling to opinions or spiritual ambitions, and therefore can meet experience directly, without the distortion of preconception.

Within this perspective, zazen—simple, seated meditation with attention to posture and breathing—is not treated as a technique for acquiring some special state in the future. Rather, the very act of sitting wholeheartedly, without striving for attainment, is regarded as the authentic expression of practice itself. This is often described as “nothing to attain”: the less the mind is preoccupied with gaining enlightenment or becoming a special kind of person, the more practice reveals its own depth. Non-attachment to results, states, or achievements becomes essential, because grasping after them only narrows awareness and reinforces the sense of a separate, striving self.

The same spirit extends beyond formal meditation into the most ordinary activities of daily life. Bowing, working, cooking, or any simple task can embody the path when performed with this fresh, unselfconscious attention. In this way, what might appear ordinary discloses an extraordinary dimension, not because anything exotic is added, but because habitual filters and expectations are set aside. The beginner’s mind thus functions both as the means of practice and as its mature expression: a way of living in which each moment is received openly, without dogma, without clinging, and without the need to stand on any fixed ground.