I have absolutely no recollection of when or where I obtained this book. After finishing my previous book I was unsure what to pick next but I had a leaning towards something non-fiction and philosophical. I keep my Religious and Spiritual books all on one shelf and my eye was instantly drawn to this book.

I first came across Alan Watts many years ago on the internet in the way of audio lectures and talks. Watts has a very interesting past in that he studied Buddhist, specifically Zen Buddhist and then trained and became a Christian priest for a number of years. The result of this is that Watts has an outlook on life which is a blend of Christian theology, Asian philosophy, and the history of both. Due to the level of his training and studying his philosophy can be a little impenetrable at times but he also has a great knack of explaining things in a simple to understand manner. What is Zen? is quite a small book, about 120 pages and is a collection of some talks he gave later in his life while living in Sausalito, California.

I enjoyed the book and as usual with this kind of writing there were certain passages which I found really illuminating. This is a decent introduction to Zen but probably not the best place for someone with no prior knowledge of Buddhist to start. There are places where it gets very intellectual and at these points it can get a little hard to follow which I found a little disappointing, I don't know if that says something about me or not. For someone wanting a good place to start I would heartily recommend Buddhism Without Beliefs by Stephen Batchelor. Overall I liked this book and I found it a worthwhile read. ( )