Published in 1970 by Weatherhill, the book is not academic, but contains frank and direct transcriptions of Suzuki's talks recorded by his student Marian Derby.[1] Trudy Dixon and Richard Baker (Baker was Suzuki's successor) edited the talks by choosing those most relevant, arranging them into chapters.[1] According to some, it has become a spiritual classic,[1][2][3] helping readers to steer clear from the trap of intellectualism.[4] Bodhin Kjolhede, Abbot of the Rochester Zen Center, writes that, together with Philip Kapleau's The Three Pillars of Zen (1965), it is one of the two most influential books on Zen in the west.[5]