Zen Flesh, Zen Bones
Compiled by Paul Reps
1957, Doubleday Anchor, 175p

For a time, this was one of the best known Zen texts published in English. It's a collection of famous Zen and pre-Zen writings. For those to whom it would mean something, it collects 101 Zen Stories, The Gateless Gate, Ten Bulls, and Centering (the Vigyan Bhairav Tantra) in one relatively slim book.

Amusingly, while I can say I've read the book, I cannot say I've understood it. In the manner of a Zen koan, the book presents stories that make no sense when looked at with traditional logic, and some of the stories appear to contradict the thought processes in some of the others. But this doesn't concern Zen practitioners, as the stories aren't meant to be logical, they're meant to bring enlightenment by causing your mind to escape the constraints of logic.

I like many things about Zen Buddhism, most of which can be encompassed in a single quote from a monk in a Japanese Zen monastery (during a meditation class I attended): "This isn't mysticism. It's not even religion. It's mind training." That was a brilliant lesson. But this book ... not so much, not for me.