The literature on Zen is vast and hundreds of books contain its precious heritage in both intimate and formal ways. For me, no book has been more astonishingly beautiful and profound than the above. It penetrates the complex issue of how Indian Buddhism was transformed into Chinese Zen. In 8 brilliant sections Entitled The Hua-Yen School, The Indian Background of Hua-Yen, Identity, Intercausality, The Part and the Whole, Vairocana, and Living in the Net of Indra we are given the essence of what Chinese Buddhist philosophy accomplished in the 7th. century. The book culminates in an, for me, inspiring discussion of what Bodhisattvahood really is.

A passage from the book:
"The interrelationships described by Hua-yen are not simply those among human beings, or simply among living things. Whether the individual is a human being, a birch tree, or a stone, that individual exists only in dependence on all other things. But the human being is faced with a problem not shared by a stone; he must adopt an ethical stance toward all things, including water, soil, stone, and even human artifacts, which is consonant with this interdependence. First, whenever it is in my power, I must promote their destinies in the same way in which they indubitably promote mine. Second, looked at from the negative side, I must abstain from actions which interfere in their destinies, which detract from their integrity, and which degrade and nullify them. But I depend on these things in a number of ways, one of which is to use them for my own benefit. For I could not exist for a day if I did not use them. Therefore, in a world in which I must destroy and consume in order to continue to exist, I must use what is necessary with gratitude and respect."

Hua-yen buddhism, the Jewel Net of Indra
by Francis H. Cook
The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1977
Isbn 0-271-01245-5