Beginner’s Mind: Zen and Design Thinking
Zen Buddhists have long recognized the benefits that come with approaching tasks and experiences, regardless of one’s degree of familiarity or expertise, with the mindset of a beginner. A beginner’s mind, which is characterized by openness, eagerness, and the absence of preconceived notions, is unfettered by bias and habit. As such, the beginner’s mind is fertile ground for the experience of satori, or enlightenment. Cultivating a ‘beginner’s mind,’ is the central preoccupation of Zen Buddhism; specific practices, such as haiku, koan study, and meditation are undertaken in order to develop one’s beginner’s mind.
These centuries old concepts—that a beginner’s mind is capable of breakthroughs and insights unavailable to someone entrenched in habit and bias, and that a beginner’s mind can be cultivated through specific exercises and practices — are, interestingly, central to design thinking. And while design thinkers aren’t seeking spiritual enlightenment, in some ways, their aims are not dissimilar from Zen practitioners. Both Zen practitioners and design thinkers are hoping to come to understand whatever it is they are grappling with in a fundamentally new way, and both intend on taking action based on their new understanding.
Design thinking advocates frequently make the claim that design thinking is an ideal approach to address the many complex problems we are now faced with. They maintain that bringing to bear the processes and methodologies employed by artists and designers, namely creativity, empathy, action and iteration, on problems outside the designer’s purview, such as managerial, organizational, and policy problems, is likely to engender more radical and innovative solutions. The key insight implicit in this assertion is that, collectively, we operate within structures and paradigms that inhibit and constrain creativity. Design thinking’s power resides in its capacity to stimulate creativity and to expand our conception of what is possible. To expand our conception of what is possible or feasible, we have to free ourselves from entrenched ways of thinking. Both Zen and design thinking teachings provide proven tools for reducing biased and habituated thinking. Next time, I will take a look at some of these proven tools.
