Structure

This 20th year edition is divided into many sections. The Preface is written by Huston Smith and the Introduction is written by Richard Baker. Suzuki writes a Prologue introducing the book. The introduction and prologue were included in the original hardback publication of the book in 1970. Smith’s preface was added to the first paperback edition published in 1973.

The heart of the book, transcribed from talks Suzuki gave to the Los Altos Zen group, is divided into three sections for a total of 36 chapters. Each chapter is short, averaging around four pages. The original talks were recorded by Marian Derby in the mid-60s. Derby transcribed the talks into a first draft. Trudy Dixon then edited and shaped the draft into a manuscript. When editing the book, Dixon arranged the talks thematically, added titles and pulled out quotes for the epigraphs. The epigraphs were not necessarily the...