Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind - applied to model railroading
Jun 14, 2016 Filed in: Ruminations
"In the beginner's mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert's there are few."
So begins one of the most beloved American Zen books, and one I devoured during my quest for enlightenment in the early ‘80s. That was back before I got into model railroading.
Seldom has such a small handful of words provided a teaching as rich as has this famous opening line of Shunryu Suzuki's classic. In a single stroke, the simple sentence cuts through the tendency that students have of getting so close to Zen as to completely miss what it's all about. When recently rereading this passage, I was struck by its application also to model railroading.
“We should not hoard knowledge; we should be free from our knowledge.”
― Shunryu Suzuki, Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind: Informal Talks on Zen Meditation and Practice
When he spoke of "beginner's mind," I think Suzuki Roshi was pointing to that kind of mind that's not already made up. The mind that's just investigating, open to whatever occurs, curious. Seeking, but not with expectation or grasping. Just being there and observing and seeing what occurs. Being ready for whatever experience arises in this moment.
I can think of many times that I have observed this behavior, frequently at layout tours. The new modeler will ask a million questions (What is that? How did you do that? Why is this thing the way it is?), but the old hand will briskly walk around the room, give a curt nod, and be on his way.
Why is that? Does the old hand know all the answers? Does this layout offer nothing new to him? Maybe it’s not his scale, or his gage or his prototype or his era. Does that mean the layout has nothing new to offer him? Or has he moved from “learning by observing” to judging?
It's often the case that when people begin sitting zazen (zen meditation), first they'll be curious about all of these forms we have. Then they'll get kind of interested in practice, and they'll really get into it. They'll start to learn the forms, and then they're experts. They know the forms, and they're looking around: "He didn't do it right...She didn't do it right!" The Form Police. Suzuki Roshi used to say that you should just take care of your own practice; don't concern yourself with other people's practice.
So it is with some people in our hobby. We call them rivet counters. Or elitists - those who know all (or think they know all) but are unwiiling to share or teach others. Those people are maddening because you know that they have SO much to offer, but seem to hoard their knowledge, dishing out wisdom to a select few deemed worthy.
Fortunately, the vast majority of modelers are not like that, and freely share what they have learned about their chosen prototype or area of special expertise. To those people, I say BRAVO!
So please, cultivate your beginner's mind. Be willing to not be an expert. Be willing to not know. Not knowing is nearest. Not knowing is most intimate.