Everyone, everywhere, is talking about Zen. Everything published on Zen at once finds eager readers. All of this may be partly true-but the fascination really comes from something else.
People today are aware that there is something basically wrong with current social values.
With no beliefs left to sustain them, they run from themselves, from this growing inner emptiness, and seek refuge in outside distractions. They lose contact with themselves, and their inner breathing falters. Feelings of guilt and fear take over. Bewildered and rudderless, they look around desperately for a way out. If, at this point, they happen on a text by one of the Zen masters, something deeper speaks to them immediately.