In recent years much has been written about Zen for Western audiences, but here, at last, are the original Zen texts themselves. In this single comprehensive volume, D. T. Suzuki has compiled a much needed anthology from Zen Buddhism's most important original sources.

Here are the famous sutras or sermons of the Buddha; the gathas or hymns; the intriguing philosophical puzzles known as koan: and the dharanis, or invocations to expel evil spirits. And here also are the recorded conversations of the great Buddhist monks intimate dialogues on subjects ot momentous importance.

In addition to the written selections, all of them translated by Dr. Suzuki, there are reproductions of many Buddhist drawings and paintings, including religious statues found in Zen temples, each with an explanation of its significance; and the great series of allegorical paintings, the Ten Oxherding Pictures.

Daisetz Teitaro Suzuki is the world's leading authority on Zen Buddhism. Born in Japan in 1870, he received his training as a Buddhist disciple at the great Zen monastery at Kamakura. He is the author of more than one hundred works on Zen and Buddhism in both Japanese and English.