The premise of The Tao of Zen is that Zen is really Taoism in the disguise of Buddhism - an assumption being made by more and more Zen scholars.

This is the first book that links the long-noted philosophical similarities of Taoism and Zen. The author traces the evolution of Ch'an(Zen) in China and later in Japan, where the Way was a term used interchangeably to describe the essence of both Taoism and Zen. The author points out that Taoist literature also formed a part of both Ch'an and Zen teaching and that the etymology of the Japanese word roshi evolved directly from a Chinese expression for Lao Tzu. These and other points are argued both historically and philosophically in a manner that will engage the reader.