The greatest meditation teachers advise that the best attitude to take toward meditation is an open mind, completely free from all preconceptions and expectations. The goal of meditation is not to accumulate knowledge, learn something new, or achieve some special state of mind, but simply to maintain this fresh, uncluttered perspective.
"If your mind is empty, it is always ready for anything; it is open to everything," Zen master Shunryu Suzuki writes in his book called Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind. "In the beginner's mind, there are many possibilities; in the expert's mind, there are few." As the title of his book suggests, Suzuki teaches that beginner's mind and Zen mind - the awake, clear, unfettered mind of the enlightened Zen master - are essentially the same. Or, as another teacher puts it, "The seeker is the sought; the looker is what he or she is looking for!"
No matter which meditation technique you choose, try to practice it with the innocent, open, "don't know" spirit of beginner's mind. In a sense, beginner's mind is the non-attitude underlying all attitudes, the non-technique at the heart of all successful techniques.
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