Mind the Beginner

Nan-in, a Japanese master during the Meiji era (1868-1912), received a university professor who came to inquire about Zen.

Nan-in served tea. He poured his visitor’s cup full, and then kept on pouring.

The professor watched the overflow until he no longer could restrain himself. “It is overfull. No more will go in!”

“Like this cup,” Nan-in said, “you are full of your own opinions and speculations. How can I show you Zen unless you first empty your cup?”

Have you ever heard of value rigidity or conceptual rigidity? You encounter them either in yourself or in others every day of your life. It’s where your opinions and perspectives preclude you from seeing things in a new light or appreciate something new. Incapable of letting go of your cherished view of the world or some part of it you reject anything that does not fit in according to how you look upon things. Like the professor, your cup is full and you’re not inclined in the least to empty it so something new can fit in. Preconceptions rule your view, you’re stuck.

Does this sound like you? It might not, maybe it reminds you of somebody you know. Value rigidity and conceptual rigidity are the products of a closed mind. Keeping an open mind helps prevent or perhaps overcome these issues. That is, if you’re bothered by them at least. It might be that the closed mind has become a refuge, a safe haven where you feel (or that person you know feels) comfortable and getting out of that safety into an uncertain world would be terrifying.

In Pirsig’s “Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance” The story is presented of the old South Indian monkey trap as an illustration of value rigidity. The trap consists of a coconut or small box with a hole that is bog enough for the monkey’s open flexible hand to fit through, but to small for his clenched fist. The trap is baited with whatever food it is the monkey would find appealing and the trap is fastened to a tree or stake. Of course the monkey has no problems with getting his furry little hand into the hole and grab the food, but getting that clenched fist out, well, let’s just say we now have a very confused and frustrated monkey with his hand stuck in a hole. The obvious solution to the Homo Sapiens monkeybrain would be to let go of the food for the moment and find another way. Evolution wasn’t to kind on our little furry friend though and he just can’t wrap is head around it. The food in his hand is to important to let go, no matter the cost. Enter our South Indian friend, exit monkey and enter monkey stew…

Now this story might seem silly but it’s something that happens in a daily basis. Have you ever attended a class where beforehand you “knew” that it would be boring? Perhaps even an entire course that has you feeling depressed beforehand just because what you’ve been told by students who have already taken that course. In a few weeks the new semester will begin at my university and we (my fellow students and me) have already started to size up the courses, trying to figure out what to expect. Combine this with my rigid idea that I’m allergic to math and things get ugly. Especially when it turned out that there are not one, but two courses labeled “math” that I will be taking. Panic is slowly flowing into my thoughts as the semester closes in for the kill. But still I can’t let go of the old idea that math is evil. For over ten years now, my math-cup has been full. Letting go of what you think you know will allow you to experience what’s really going on. How do you know something is no good if you haven’t experienced it first hand without preconceptions?

The first step in dealing with rigidity is awareness. I hope you saw that one coming a mile away as it’s the first step in solving just about any problem out there. You can’t solve a problem if you don’t know it’s there, obviously. To expand solutions to these issues, you have to expand conceptual boundaries. Sometimes the expansion of conceptual boundaries requires reducing value rigidity. Narrow-mindedness might stop you from seeing the solution because it’s outside of your current views. You know value rigidity or conceptual rigidity is present when you hear something or read something that sets off a mental alarm and you feel your mind racing, picking up arms and getting ready to brawl. Now you actually have a choice right at that moment – if you are aware of your mind getting ready – either you let your mind run wild, or you let yourself relax and examine what it is that set off the alarm. Examine it without prejudging.

No expectations, no preconceptions, no rigidity. The open mind is supple and alert, ready for anything because anything can happen. The closed mind is rigid, tense and brittle refusing to acknowledge things that can happen that are outside the box.