This book is also included in our Reader's Guide on The Works of the Song Dynasty where you will find other important Zen classics.
This guide to enlightened conduct for people in positions of authority is based on the teachings of several great Chinese Zen masters. Drawing on private records, letters, and long-lost documents of the Song dynasty (tenth to thirteenth centuries), Zen Lessons consists of short excerpts written in language that is accessible to the reader without any background in Eastern philosophy. This book serves as a guide to recognizing the qualities of a genuine Zen teacher; it also serves as a study of the character and conduct necessary for the mastery of any position of power and authority—whether religious, social, political, or organizational.
Dr. Thomas Cleary (1949–2021), one of the most celebrated translators of spiritual classics into English, earned a PhD in East Asian Languages and Civilizations from Harvard University and a JD from the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law. He is the translator of over seventy volumes of Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian, and Islamic texts from Sanskrit, Chinese, Japanese, Pali, and Arabic.
