Zen Buddhism - Where to start?

Reading The Temple of the Golden Pavilion and having read up on Taoism has gotten me interested in Zen Buddhism.
Does anyone have a chart on what to read (or can anyone recommend a path)?
I checked the wiki and tried googling but couldn't find anything.

Zen Mind Beginners Mind

Another question: I assume I have to start with OG Buddhism first, right?

I would suggest studying Buddhism in general first.

I hope you're not thinking of becoming a Buddhist. Nothing worse than White Buddhism.

As I thought. Any pointers on where to start there?

No. But I still would like to learn about it. Just as I am not a Christian, not a Jew, not a Pagan, not a Hindu, etc., yet I still find it interesting to learn about their beliefs.

Why?

>go to beach
>see local white gal
>she tells me she is now a Buddhist
>I ask if she is Theravada, Mahayana or Vajrayana
>She says she just believes that everyone is one and that she is striving for inner peace
>I scoff and tell her that the Lord Amida will never accept her into the pure land.

the gateless gate mumonkan, will give you a short ruler to measure anything with.

if it's not written by zen masters (not the new age cucks) then it's not zen.

zen masters inc yun men, joshu, huang bo

but start with joshu

buddhism is not zen anyone who tells you otherwise hasn't read anything by zen masters.

dont expect to find anything useful there either.

fuck zen taoism goat

I can think of a few things worse.

The only Zen Buddhism open to westerners is Thai Forest Buddhism; which was heavily influenced by Christian Rationalism, and Korean Seon which is State-sponsored hybridization of different Buddhist traditions.

There was an a.non who was knowledgeable about Bhuddism and had good recomendations.
None of the a.nons in this thread are that a.non

Thai Forest is Theraveda not Zen.
It allows Westerners to become monks.
Implying there is sime formalized, enforceable system of what race/nationality can practice a religion.

Not OP, but is the biography of Siddharta Gautama a good place to start?

Thai Forest is regraded as !Zen in Thailand.

If by practising you mean merit making sure, anybody can do that.

But not ordaining westerners is how they keep control and every time they've done it it fucking bites them in the ass, see Ajahn Brahm who was essentially defrocked and now poses as a monk and shits all over the Buddhism scene in australia.

You are talking about the monastic tradition in Thailand a category within Zen.
OP is talking about the broader category of Zen as practiced in mostly in Japan, but also in other places Japan .
Being clergy is not the same as practicing a religion.
I would live to get into a whole thing about race, origin myths of first humans, cultural imperialism through missionaries and churches and cultural identity, xenophobia and whether one can quantifiably determine if a person of a certain socially constructed race or legally determined nationality can or cannot use a faith based belief system but... I've gotta go sit under a Banyan tree in the deer park. Later!

Read pic related: Original Buddhist Sources by Carl Olsen and as much as you can about Buddhism in general, then books on Zen in specific

>I ask if she is Theravada, Mahayana or Vajrayana

how do you know these things without being a white buddhist yourself?

...faggot

If there can be Korean, Chinese, Xtians, there can be white Bhuddists. Siddarta Gutama was from India anyway.

>Being clergy is not the same as practicing a religion.

In Buddhism there isn't any progress that can be made as a householder, you can practice merit making, but Buddhism? That's for monks only.

I really don't intend on practicing anything, I just want to read up on it.

>The Gateless Gate
This is also where "Nansen Kills the Cat" comes from, which is a large part of what peaked my interest.
>buddhism is not zen anyone who tells you otherwise hasn't read anything by zen masters.
But I still need to understand Buddhism to understand Zen, no? At least that's the impression I got when reading up on the koan I mentioned.
Do you think is good advice?

In Theraveda tradition, which Thai people a few others, and you, apparently believe.
I am certain that followers of other Bhuddist traditions would be shocked to learn they are not Bhuddist. You seem to have a hard time with cetegorical thinking and can't discern Thai Theraveda from the larger Bhuddist tradition.
Are you a farang who had a bad experience with a Thai wat? Or what? No pun intended.