The Way of Zen
by Alan Watts | 
Mystics and Zen Masters
by Thomas Merton | 
The Three Pillars of Zen
by Philip Kapleau | 
An Introduction to Zen Buddhism
by D. T. Suzuki |
Everyday Zen
by Charlotte Joko Beck | 
Zen Mind, Beginner's Mind
by Shunryu Suzuki |
Zen Buddhism
by D. T. Suzuki |
Nothing Special
by Charlotte Joko Beck |
This Is It
by Alan Watts |
Taking the Path of Zen
by Robert Aitken | 
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Zen Living
by Gary R. McClain |
Zen Keys
by Thich Nhat Hanh | 
Hardcore Zen
by Brad Warner |
Living Buddha, Living Christ
by Thich Nhat Hanh |
Zen to Go
by Jon Winokur | 
The Wisdom of the Desert
by Thomas Merton | 
Life and Holiness
by Thomas Merton | 
The Abolition of Man
by C. S. Lewis | 
Miracles
by C. S. Lewis |
Total Truth
by Nancy Pearcey |
"Zen enriches no one," Thomas Merton provocatively writes in his opening statement to Zen and the Birds of Appetite--one of the last books to be published before his death in 1968. "There is no body to be found. The birds may come and circle for a while... but they soon go elsewhere. When they are gone, the 'nothing,' the 'no-body' that was there, suddenly appears. That is Zen. It was there all the time but the scavengers missed it, because it was not their kind of prey." This gets at the humor, paradox, and joy that one feels in Merton's discoveries of Zen during the last years of his life, a joy very much present in this collection of essays. Exploring the relationship between Christianity and Zen, especially through his dialogue with the great Zen teacher D.T. Suzuki, the book makes an excellent introduction to a comparative study of these two traditions, as well as giving the reader a strong taste of the mature Merton. Never does one feel him losing his own faith in these pages; rather one feels that faith getting deeply clarified and affirmed. Just as the body of "Zen" cannot be found by the scavengers, so too, Merton suggests, with the eternal truth of Christ.