"Zen enriches no one," provocatively writes Thomas Merton in his introductory statement in Zen and the Birds of Appetite—one of the last books published before his death in 1968. "There is no body to be found. The birds may come and circle for a while... but soon they fly elsewhere. When they leave, the 'nothing,' the 'no one' that was there suddenly appears. This is Zen. It has been there all along, but the undertakers missed it because it was not their treasure."

This reflects the humor, absurdity, and joy one feels in Merton's discoveries about Zen during the last years of his life, a joy that is very much present in this collection of essays. Exploring the relationship between Christianity and Zen, especially through his dialogue with the great Zen master, D.T. Suzuki, the book serves as an excellent introduction to a comparative study of these two traditions, as well as a strong taste of the mature Merton.

One never feels that they lose their faith on these pages; on the contrary, one feels that this faith is deeply clarified and reaffirmed. Just as the body of "Zen" cannot be found by the undertakers, so Merton suggests, the eternal truth of Christ.