You could call him the first patriarch of Zen in America, and American he is. The beauty of Awakening to Zen is Philip Kapleau's attention to the concerns of a Western seeker. Using examples as diverse as Vladimir Horowitz, the Rocky Mountains, and a common wristwatch, Kapleau answers questions about Zen in a compassionate, readily accessible way. His decades as head of an American Zen monastery, not to mention his broad-reading and sharp intellect, yield an abundance of valuable guidance for a Westerner who struggles with Zen's foreignness.