The three pillars of Zen : teaching, practice, and enlightenment

by Philip Kapleau.
New York : Doubleday, c.1989. Anchor Books, 25th anniversary edition 1989.

“An introduction to Japanese Zen Buddhism for westerners. The focus is on the practice of Zen (ie; meditation – or “zazen”) rather than on religious or philosophical theorising…   Kapleau spent several years in Japan after world war two as a student of zen under several masters, most notably Yasutani Roshi. In the 60’s he returned to the United States, established a Zen centre and wrote this book, which was first published in 1965 and has been in print constantly since then. The Three Pillars Of Zen is a collection of writings including translations of lectures (mostly by Yasutani Roshi), recounts by zen students, some older writings and a couple of more modern essays by Kapleau himself. Kapleau has edited these various works together with the intention of presenting zen to western readers who may have very little foreknowledge of the subject.”  From GoodReads