Q & A | zenwaterloo

Is there any recommended literature on Zen?

The literature about Zen is vast. As well, different people look for different things. Here there are 3 books that appropriately will not make your head bang against the wall (I hope) yet they will still offer a range of insight from the most pragmatic to the most philosophical.
a. Suggest you begin with roshi Nishijima’s "To meet the Real Dragon". A PDF file can be easily be found in the internet.
b. Continue with roshi Taisen Deshimaru’s "The Practice of Zen". This book is in French. I read it in Spanish, and I have never seen it in English, but I have not sought it either. I presume his book "Za-Zen, the practice of the Zen" may be the English translation, but I have not read it so I don't know. If not, it is strange that this book, being common place among the practitioners associated to the lineage of Deshimaru Sensei which are thousands, still is not in English.
c. And finish with "Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind". Writen by roshi Shunryu Suzuki, this book is a classic of Soto Zen Buddhism. It is of immense depth. If you like audiobooks, you can listen to it in the link below (the voice and recording are great).

d. If you are looking for deep waters, dive into the potent "Studies in Zen" of Daisetz Suzuki. You can download a PDF versionof it in this link: http://asi.nic.in/asi_books/2942.pdf.

How often do I have to practice Zazen?

To answer that question, you have to ask yourself "How far do I want to go?" How often do you think an Olympian athlete has to train to excel? Our body is incredibly fast in adapting to new conditionings. Even fundamental bodily functions like sleeping and eating can be changed, and the body will adapt to the new regime imposed. Breaking the inertia may be hard for the first one or two weeks, but then the body will sink in the new habit. We can think of the mind as another body part, for the sake of the argument. Thus, the mind will take for habit whatever we train it to do. It just may take longer… The more you train the mind to stay still, the more your mind will get used to the new conditioning of staying still, until staying still becomes a habit for the mind.

Do I have to stop thinking?

Thinking is a natural action as much as it is growing your finger nails or producing gastric juices. You cannot stop them. Do not repress your thoughts; watch them pass by, and avoid engaging with them.