A first book by a Zen Buddhist practitioner and leading art critic assesses the influence of Zen Buddhism on the work of composer John Cage, exploring the ways in which Zen transformed Cage's troubled psyche, his relationship with partner Merce Cunningham and his often indefinable music. 20,000 first printing A heroic biography of John Cage and his awakening through Zen Buddhism-a kind of love story about a brilliant American pioneer of the creative arts who transformed himself and his culture (The New York Times)Composer John Cage sought the silence of a mind at peace with itself-and found it in Zen Buddhism, a spiritual path that changed both his music and his view of the universe. Remarkably researched, exquisitely written, Where the Heart Beats weaves together a great many threads of cultural history (Maria Popova, Brain Pickings) to illuminate Cage's struggle to accept himself and his relationship with choreographer Merce Cunningham. Freed to be his own man, Cage originated exciting experiments that set him at the epicenter of a new avant-garde forming in the 1950s. Robert Rauschenberg, Jasper Johns, Andy Warhol, Yoko Ono, Allan Kaprow, Morton Feldman, and Leo Castelli were among those influenced by his 'teaching' and 'preaching.' Where the Heart Beats shows the blossoming of Zen in the very heart of American culture.