from cover

This guide to enlightened conduct for people in positions of authority is based on the teachings of several great Zen masters of China. Drawing on private records, letters, and long-lost documents of the Song dynasty (tenth to thirteenth century), the book consists of short excerpts written in language that is accessible to readers without any background in eastern philosophy. In part, the teachings are a guide to recoginizing genuine spiritual authority in a Zen teacher-guidance that has been much needed throuughout the history of Zen, owing to the prevalance of imitators and false teachers. The book may also be read as a study of the personal qualities and conduct necessary for the mastery ofany position of power and authority, whether religious, social, political, or organizational.

Thomas Cleary holds a doctorate in East Asian languages and civilizations form Harvard University. He is the translator and editor of numerous texts of Buddhism, Taoism, and I Ching studies, including The Buddhist I Ching, The Art of War, and Awakening to the Tao.

Contents

Translator's Notes; Notes on Sources
Enlightened Virtue; Study and learning; Great and Small Evil; Honesty; A Vessel of Enlightenment; Modesty; Rules; Worry and Trouble; A Swift Bird; Work and the Way; Hot and cold; Safety and Danger; Three Essentials of Leadership; Incompatibility; Leadership and the Community; Vermilion Outhouses; Masterin Mind; Mistrust; The House of Homeleavers; Chan Adepts; Chan Communities; Knowing People; Virtue and Benevolence; Mastery in Both Worlds; 25. An Inscrutable Buddha; Great Light; Essentials of Leadership; Worry; The Self-Pointer; Defeatism; Speech and Action; Seeing Through; Study without Tkurning Away from People; Actiong too Early; Contnuing Education; Decisions; Personnel Problems; Braduate Studies; Sages and Ordinary People; ABAeintg in the World withoiut Misery; Communication of Hearts; Make the Way Wide; No Deception; The chief Elder; Passing the Test; farther and Farther; Will; Adding Dirt to a Mountain; Loss of Integrity; Mind and Traces; 50. Don't Rush; The Call of Duty; Hypocrisy; Genuine Care; The Use of finery; Advice to a King; The Just; Adaptation; Selecting Associates; Knowing People; Insects; Loftiness of Spirit; Sincere Liking for Learning; Timing; Too Late; Back to Basics; Gradual Development; Narrowmindedness and Indulgence; Gain and Loss; Overreaching Oneself; Be Careful; Good Leadership; Two Winds; The Obvious and the Unknown; 75. Beyond the Renage of Arrows; Commitment; An Inimitable Teacher; Self-Examination; Storage and Development; Sincerity and Truthfulness; Correctiong Faults; The Phoenix and the Wolf; Wining People; The community Mind; Leadership and Pride; Beginning and End; Precedents; Election; The Best People; Mind and Environment; Frugality; Deep and Shallow; Lasting Peace; Conduct; The Air of the Ancients; Considered Action; Culture; Rules ; Slogans; 100. See Yourself; Recognizing a Teacher; Balance; Habit; The Bequest of Extravagance; The State of the Community; What Are You Doing?; The Influence of Conduct; Retirement Home; Education; Great teaching; Expectations; Nothing to Be Ashamed Of; Beyond the Reach of Monks; Signs of Good Government; Insidious Destruction; Iron Face Bing; Inner Mastery, Outer Rectitude; Someone of Perception; reflection; A Weareer of the Patchwork Robe; Energay and Will; Persecution; Human Figures; A Life of Freedom; 125. Rich and Noble; Learners and Dilettantes; Self and Others; Not in the Fokrefront; The Quickest Shortcut; Sincerity and Trustwortihiness; Materialism and tahe Way; Impartiality; Nature; Feelings; Discerning Feeling; Natural Selection; Controlling Bias; Objectivity; Heart-to-Heart Communication; Government; The Mean; Peace amid Violence; Whom to Elect; Impartiality; Examples; Nominees; Common Sense; Misrepresentation; A Memorial 150. The Qualitiy of Candidates; Division of Responsibilities; Exile of a Master; Criticism; Safety in the Community; Making a Community Flourish; Troubles; Charades; Grandees and Chan Teachers; Authoritarianism; Chan History; Some Bad Habits; A False Teaching; Gifts of Teaching; A Chan Master; Buddhahood in this Life; Casual Attire; Skhowbaoats; Personal Responsibility; Uniforms; The Discipline of Awareness; Four Limbs of Leadership; Thinking of Trouble; A Direct Shortcut; Nipping in the Bud; 175. A Thousand Days of Effort; Trading Off; Moving People; A Retirement; The Derelict Aage; Watering Melons at Midday; A Testimonial; A Demonstration; A Diagnosis; The Blue Cliff Record; No Fixed Classes; Leadership Training; Penetrating Obstruction by reason; Teaching Government Officials; The Peril of Leadership; Killed but Not Shamed; Ckhoosing Assistants; Superficiality and Depth; The Mind of Saints and Sages; History Review; The Revival of the Linji School of Chan; Custom; The Good and the Corrupt; Three Don'ts; Wolves in Sheep's Clothing; 200. The Revealing Mirror of Truth; Making Choices; Loss of Order; Making Distinctions; Selecting Buddhas; Recognition; Fulfillment of Conditions; An Impromptu Talk; Govenring Wild Foxes; Balancing; Talent and Capacity; A Moment in History; Sharing; Growth; A Successor to the Ancients; The Ordinary Condition of Human Beings; A Chan Master

There are some nuggets of wisdom here, but there are also a lot of superfluous passages. This is a book on leadership, or so it claims given that many passages seem to have little to do with the topic (or maybe it was just not as evident to me when I read it). While I did jot down a couple of good ideas, overall, this is a book to just skim. There may be other better books related to Zen and leadership. The book is basically a collection of sayings by various Zen masters. ( )

Drawing on private records, letters, and long-lost documents of the Song dynasty (tenth to thirteenth centuries), this book consists of short excerpts written in a language that is accessible to readers without any background in Eastern philosophy. It serves as a study of the personal qualities and conduct necessary for the mastery of any position of power and authority, whether religious, social, political, or organizational.

Zen Lessons is a selection of over 200 excerpts of Song Dynasty documents. The author selects, translates and I guess adapts the texts so that they carry some understandable Zen lesson regarding leadership. Most of thee texts come from great Zen masters, usually monks who sometime in their lives had to take care of Zen communes. Out of the 216 excerpts I found interesting (or understood) only about 10% of them. It's also worth mentioning how Zen masters kept on idealizing the past and complaining about the present (10-13th century) situation of monkhood and communes. One wonders about the state of Zen monks today... This constant nagging about the present versus the past becomes a little bit tired pretty soon. ( )