MD and GEB?

[David Casseres]

>Hmmm. I also find Alan Watts funny (not to mention hard-drinking), but the
>fact is the man knew nothing about Zen firsthand. Mostly, I believe, he
>read DT Suzuki and other sources.

I must differ.  We are talking here about Western Zen, and Watts was 
pretty deeply into it.

>For a (somewhat) Americanized version of strict Japanese Zen practice how
>about Roshi Phillip Kapleau's _Three Pillars of Zen_ (where Kapleau has
>more  than one bone to pick with Watts) or the less strict/more notional
>Shunryu (no relation to DT) Suzuki-Roshi's _Zen Mind, Begginer's Mind_?

I like both of those, but again, I was talking about an *introduction* to 
*Western* Zen, something that is not yet well defined at all.  I've 
gotten many worthwhile insights from Watts, and others from Kapleau and 
from S. Suzuki.  That Watts didn't study in Japan or directly with 
Japanese teachers doesn't signify much to me, when I am not in search of 
strict scholarship.


Cheers,
David