Timeless Spring: A Soto Zen Anthology

by Thomas Cleary (Translator), Zentatsu Baker (Foreword)

Soto Zen has sometimes been called "the other Zen" because it was Rinzai Zen that first came to the attention of the West. The present anthology, then, is important not only in its own right, but doubly so because it provides an introduction to this lesser known but exceedingly vital branch of Zen Buddhism.

A timeless spring is the lineage of Zen masters whose lives unite history into a single moment. In the transmission of Zen, the lineage resides in each person. Now it is possible to meet these masters personally, through their lectures and stories, biographies and informal talks, poems, anecdotes, and witty conversations. Together these works demonstrate the linking, the continuous immediacy, of this school of the enlightened mind.

"Dr. Cleary has exposed the embers, please fan them yourselves." from the Foreword by Zentatsu Baker, Abbot, San Francisco Zen Center

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1980

About the author

Dr. Thomas Francis Cleary, Ph.D. (East Asian Languages and Civilizations, Harvard University; J.D., Boalt Hall School of Law, University of California, Berkeley), was a prolific translator of Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian, and Muslim classics, with a particular emphasis on popular translations of Mahāyāna works relevant to the Chan, Zen, and Soen systems.