Chan Heart, Chan Art Book

This book is an insightful and pointed read. Suzuki is successful at directly portraying the core essence of Zen, including its relation to Chinese and Indian philosophy, without overly mystifying the subject at hand, which is the fault of most western authors. Zen is a rather difficult subject to speak upon, as it's said "that those who know do not speak, and those who speak do not know". Zen isn't as much as a philosophy as it is an experience. And being an experience, it's not accurately portrayed when western academia logically categorizes it's tenets. This is the anti-thesis of Zen. Suzuki adequately takes the middle ground, between that of a western scholarly outsider, and that of the practitioner who is instilled within the institutional-hierarchy of Zen. Overall, an enjoyable, insightful read for the beginner or advanced student of Zen practice.