I've read a lot of books on Buddhism and many of them are filled with flowery or "Zenny" language due to the time period of the book or the choices of the modern writer. Sometimes that's useful and sometimes it feels like b••••••• to wade through to get to the kernel of truth it obscures. Brad Warner largely avoids the b••••••• and delivers straightforward teachings based on everyday life while at the same time pointing to the wisdom of Dogen's Shobogenzo (which itself is just pointing) in ways that a Westerner living in the year 2014 can understand.

I practice in a Korean Linji lineage and my practice has been the huatou style of zazen. One thing I found interesting about this book is how Warner often poses questions to the reader that are exactly the kinds of questions one asks in huatou practice even while the practice he teaches in shikantaza. It was a good reminder to me that ultimately they are both fingers pointing to the moon, not the moon itself.