The Blue-Cliff Record

“Another translation of The Blue-Cliff Record? The text has been admirably translated already, several times. But David Hinton adds something rare: a deeply informed and radically different take on Ch’an. As developed here and in earlier books, Hinton sees Ch’an not so much a school of Buddhism as a uniquely indigenous Taoist mysticism in which awakening is radical embeddedness in the natural world rather than transcendence of it—an important perspective in our time of planetary crisis. Readers familiar with The Blue-Cliff Record will be disoriented by the thoroughness of Hinton’s re-Englishing, which is, for me, the pleasure, the puzzle, and the wonder of this book.”—Norman Fischer, Roshi, author of The World Could Be Otherwise

David Hinton has published numerous books of poetry and essays and many translations of ancient Chinese poetry and philosophy. This widely acclaimed work has earned Hinton a Guggenheim Fellowship, numerous fellowships from NEA and NEH, and both of the major awards given for poetry translation in the United States- the Landon Translation Award (Academy of American Poets) and the PEN American Translation Award. Most recently, Hinton received a lifetime achievement award by the American Academy of Arts and Letters.