Reddit reviews The Tao of Zen

If you are interested in Zen, you might enjoy the Tao Te Ching and Chuang Tsu "Inner Chapters". Just as the Zen tradition has roots in Buddhism, it also has cultural and philosophical roots in "philosophical" Taoism. The Tao of Zen goes into great detail on this, and many of Red Pine's translations of Zen works include occasional Taoist and other cultural references in the commentary. The Zen tradition was not born in a vacuum. The Tao Te Ching reads a lot like the Trust in Mind poem and Chuang Tsu has encounter stories like the early Zen works. Yes, there is also some "magic" and "immortality" here and there, but in the works of Lao Tsu and Chuang Tsu, there isn't much and it could be considered mostly metaphorical anyway. Zen and philosophical Taoism share some basic foundations. Tao (the "Way") is like the "unborn" (Mind), for example. (The Chinese word for mind, hsin, also means heart or essence.) The interplay of duality is also a major topic. Zen adepts are sometimes referred to as "followers of the Way" in Zen works. But whereas Taoists aim to "balance" and "harmonize" with the Tao, Zen practitioners (and maybe even Buddhists) may be said to "abide in the unborn", perhaps by "neither abiding nor not abiding". Both make heavy use of paradox and contradiction, though there seems to be more negation in Zen writings, at least as far as I can tell. The same goes for the Buddhist writings that pre-date the historical Zen foundation of Zen in China, such as the Diamond Sutra and Lankavatara Sutra. Hope that helps.

The Tao of Zen, 1999.

Let zen, be zen. Historical and analytical views are interesting, but often a distraction.

Zen wasn't interested in Taoism. Yet the word Dao/Tao is frequently used in zen. One of my favorite books is the Tao of Zen, by Ray Grigg. https://www.amazon.com/Tao-Zen-Ray-Grigg/dp/0785811257

Its based heavily on The Way of Zen.