Zen and the birds of appetite

the long version

Collection of essays about complex Asian concepts with a Western directness. Merton believed that there must be a little of Zen in all authentic creative and spiritual experience and the Study of Zen, then, is not a study of doctrine, still less a polemic about ultimate religious principles, it is simply an attempt to reach the ground of pure, direct experience which underlies all creative thought and activity. His essays approach this experience through Japanese art and philosophy (Kataro Nishida), through the Zen of Suzuki, and through the Classic Zen Masters themselves. Dialogue between Merton and Suzuki explores the many congruencies of Christian mysticism and Zen.