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The Garden of Flowers and Weeds: A New Translation and Commentary on The Blue Cliff Record
International Book Awards— Eastern | Top Award
AmericanBookFest's Best Book Awards Winner | Eastern
Nautilus Award | Gold
Benjamin Franklin Award | Silver
Independent Book Publisher's Award | Bronze
Named One of the Best Books of 2021 — Spirituality and Practice Magazine “An intriguing, challenging crash course in Zen Buddhism.” — Kirkus Reviews
"A generation-defining rendering of one of the great Zen Buddhist scriptures." — Spirituality and Practice
For centuries, The Blue Cliff Record has stood as one of the preeminent scriptures of the Zen Buddhist tradition in China, Japan, and Korea. However, until now there has been no published commentary by a contemporary Zen Master to assist readers in understanding its counterintuitive and sometimes baffling teachings.
The Garden of Flowers and Weeds draws on contemporary scholarship and the author’s extensive experience with Zen in order to offer new insights for sophisticated students who are hoping to uncover the secrets of the koan tradition. At the same time, The Garden is jargon-free and uses personal stories to appeal to readers who are new to Buddhism. The theme of the book is Accepting the unenlightened self with all its flaws is the most profound form of enlightenment.
Even with this clarity, finding a path into these old Zen stories is a challenge. They are designed to be roadblocks to intellectual understanding. Using personal memoire, the oral teachings of Zen, and meditation instruction, The Garden assists the reader in approaching the dialogues as spiritual exercises. The Blue Cliff Record contains an explosive power, but you can only access it by integrating its wisdom into your everyday experiences. As Zen Master Nanquan said, “Ordinary mind is the Way.”
AmericanBookFest's Best Book Awards Winner | Eastern
Nautilus Award | Gold
Benjamin Franklin Award | Silver
Independent Book Publisher's Award | Bronze
Named One of the Best Books of 2021 — Spirituality and Practice Magazine “An intriguing, challenging crash course in Zen Buddhism.” — Kirkus Reviews
"A generation-defining rendering of one of the great Zen Buddhist scriptures." — Spirituality and Practice
For centuries, The Blue Cliff Record has stood as one of the preeminent scriptures of the Zen Buddhist tradition in China, Japan, and Korea. However, until now there has been no published commentary by a contemporary Zen Master to assist readers in understanding its counterintuitive and sometimes baffling teachings.
The Garden of Flowers and Weeds draws on contemporary scholarship and the author’s extensive experience with Zen in order to offer new insights for sophisticated students who are hoping to uncover the secrets of the koan tradition. At the same time, The Garden is jargon-free and uses personal stories to appeal to readers who are new to Buddhism. The theme of the book is Accepting the unenlightened self with all its flaws is the most profound form of enlightenment.
Even with this clarity, finding a path into these old Zen stories is a challenge. They are designed to be roadblocks to intellectual understanding. Using personal memoire, the oral teachings of Zen, and meditation instruction, The Garden assists the reader in approaching the dialogues as spiritual exercises. The Blue Cliff Record contains an explosive power, but you can only access it by integrating its wisdom into your everyday experiences. As Zen Master Nanquan said, “Ordinary mind is the Way.”
- GenresBuddhism
580 pages, Hardcover
Published November 16, 2021
18 people are currently reading
43 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
January 18, 2022
Superb. Accessible and anecdotal yet deeply scholarly. It painstakingly examines the koans of the Blue Cliff Record themselves, but also uses them as a jumping off point for a wide ranging exploration of Buddhism in general and Zen in particular.
June 7, 2024
Sullivan unashamedly treats a centuries-old revered text as something that exists to be used in the present rather than venerated for its seniority.
Featuring a hundred quotes, encounters, and other brief stories from the myriad teachings out of which Zen Buddhist grew, the Blue Cliff Record is one of the most respected scriptures within the tradition. In addition to translating these hundred koan into modern English, Sullivan provides commentaries on each that provide both historical context for the texts and his personal experiences of Zen.
The book opens with three histories: Sullivan’s own passage toward Zen mastery, the emergence of Zen from earlier Buddhist and Asian philosophies, and the assembling of the Blue Cliff record itself. Sullivan’s choice to set them forth in this order as a single section rather than the more academically traditional approach of severing why the author chose to create the commentary from the history of the original text sets the scene for his pervasive opinion that Zen exists in the totality of the individual who is experiencing it rather than in their echoing of a seeking disciple.
Although Sullivan titles the work as a translation of the Blue Cliff Record, he confines his translation—for reasons set forth in the introductory segment—to the Hundred Cases at the centre of the Record and a few of the comments upon them rather than all of the additional commentaries that are traditionally considered part of the complete text. Thus, this is not the ideal translation for readers seeking to study The Blue Cliff Record as a defined text.
However, as translation requires choosing between possible meanings for a text in order to tell someone what someone else meant (or might have meant), it is in itself a form of commentary; so by not including the original comments on the Hundred Cases, Sullivan avoids his version becoming a commentary on commentaries on commentaries on experiences. While this focusing back on an earlier point in the chain of transmission is still a commentary, it does bring the reader closer to the original events; therefore, this translation might well suit readers who wish to approach the Blue Cliff Record as something to spark individual experience rather than intellectual understanding.
The bulk of the book—measured by the objective weighting of paragraph count rather than any subjective assessment of relative worth—comprises the essays by Sullivan that follow each translation. These, as Sullivan openly states in his introduction, make no attempt to answer the koan they follow. Instead, they take part or all of the case as a leaping off point and head into discussions of Chinese socio-religious history, Sullivan’s own history and that of his primary Zen teacher, and human nature in general. These sometimes include, or are often followed by, comments on key translation choices Sullivan made.
Sullivan’s provision of historical and terminological explanation is light but well targeted, offering readers enough context for why and how a phrase or behaviour might be meaningful without facing them with a large volume of information they feel obliged to remember. Thus these essays are likely to overcome much if not all of the opaqueness that comes from the original text being written for an audience with very different assumed knowledge, making the book a good entry point for readers who are curious about zen or young in their practice rather than experienced students of ancient Asian theology.
The personal anecdotes and thoughts on human nature are similarly aimed at the layman rather than the scholar or devoted disciple, providing examples of the experience of practicing “Zen” rather than what zen is or what it requires.
While the topics differ, the essays share the same sense of personal experience over broader structure that first appeared in the form of the introduction. This builds an image of Zen as an act of observation rather than a moral code: becoming enlightened doesn’t make someone a better person, it makes them more aware of who they are; the Blue Cliff Record doesn’t tell the reader how to practice Zen, it raises questions of whether or not something is meaningful that might guide the reader to a clearer vision. While the book’s description lists Sullivan’s central thesis as “Accepting the unenlightened self with all its flaws is the most profound form of enlightenment”, it could equally be cast as “the first step to making the right decisions is to see the situation as it is rather than how one wants it to be”.
This antinomian streak, that Zen masters, that the subject of the book itself, are as imperfect as the reader rather than being closer to some purer state might ironically be the book’s greatest weakness when appealing to a broad audience: if the idea that any source, including the current text, has objective authority is cast aside, then only those readers who are already somewhat comfortable with not wanting answers will find answers they seek.
Following the commentaries on the cases, Sullivan gives some thoughts on how a reader might start Zen meditation; unsurprisingly, these—at their most basic—are that sitting, or lying, or standing, and being aware of the body, or counting breaths, consistently might bring benefits, but expecting benefits or dwelling on not having been consistent won’t.
Overall, I enjoyed this book immensely. I recommend it to readers who are not already deeply immersed in Asian culture and history seeking a perspective that ancient Buddhist practices are no more abstruse than any other part of being thoughts piloting a biological vehicle through society.
Featuring a hundred quotes, encounters, and other brief stories from the myriad teachings out of which Zen Buddhist grew, the Blue Cliff Record is one of the most respected scriptures within the tradition. In addition to translating these hundred koan into modern English, Sullivan provides commentaries on each that provide both historical context for the texts and his personal experiences of Zen.
The book opens with three histories: Sullivan’s own passage toward Zen mastery, the emergence of Zen from earlier Buddhist and Asian philosophies, and the assembling of the Blue Cliff record itself. Sullivan’s choice to set them forth in this order as a single section rather than the more academically traditional approach of severing why the author chose to create the commentary from the history of the original text sets the scene for his pervasive opinion that Zen exists in the totality of the individual who is experiencing it rather than in their echoing of a seeking disciple.
Although Sullivan titles the work as a translation of the Blue Cliff Record, he confines his translation—for reasons set forth in the introductory segment—to the Hundred Cases at the centre of the Record and a few of the comments upon them rather than all of the additional commentaries that are traditionally considered part of the complete text. Thus, this is not the ideal translation for readers seeking to study The Blue Cliff Record as a defined text.
However, as translation requires choosing between possible meanings for a text in order to tell someone what someone else meant (or might have meant), it is in itself a form of commentary; so by not including the original comments on the Hundred Cases, Sullivan avoids his version becoming a commentary on commentaries on commentaries on experiences. While this focusing back on an earlier point in the chain of transmission is still a commentary, it does bring the reader closer to the original events; therefore, this translation might well suit readers who wish to approach the Blue Cliff Record as something to spark individual experience rather than intellectual understanding.
The bulk of the book—measured by the objective weighting of paragraph count rather than any subjective assessment of relative worth—comprises the essays by Sullivan that follow each translation. These, as Sullivan openly states in his introduction, make no attempt to answer the koan they follow. Instead, they take part or all of the case as a leaping off point and head into discussions of Chinese socio-religious history, Sullivan’s own history and that of his primary Zen teacher, and human nature in general. These sometimes include, or are often followed by, comments on key translation choices Sullivan made.
Sullivan’s provision of historical and terminological explanation is light but well targeted, offering readers enough context for why and how a phrase or behaviour might be meaningful without facing them with a large volume of information they feel obliged to remember. Thus these essays are likely to overcome much if not all of the opaqueness that comes from the original text being written for an audience with very different assumed knowledge, making the book a good entry point for readers who are curious about zen or young in their practice rather than experienced students of ancient Asian theology.
The personal anecdotes and thoughts on human nature are similarly aimed at the layman rather than the scholar or devoted disciple, providing examples of the experience of practicing “Zen” rather than what zen is or what it requires.
While the topics differ, the essays share the same sense of personal experience over broader structure that first appeared in the form of the introduction. This builds an image of Zen as an act of observation rather than a moral code: becoming enlightened doesn’t make someone a better person, it makes them more aware of who they are; the Blue Cliff Record doesn’t tell the reader how to practice Zen, it raises questions of whether or not something is meaningful that might guide the reader to a clearer vision. While the book’s description lists Sullivan’s central thesis as “Accepting the unenlightened self with all its flaws is the most profound form of enlightenment”, it could equally be cast as “the first step to making the right decisions is to see the situation as it is rather than how one wants it to be”.
This antinomian streak, that Zen masters, that the subject of the book itself, are as imperfect as the reader rather than being closer to some purer state might ironically be the book’s greatest weakness when appealing to a broad audience: if the idea that any source, including the current text, has objective authority is cast aside, then only those readers who are already somewhat comfortable with not wanting answers will find answers they seek.
Following the commentaries on the cases, Sullivan gives some thoughts on how a reader might start Zen meditation; unsurprisingly, these—at their most basic—are that sitting, or lying, or standing, and being aware of the body, or counting breaths, consistently might bring benefits, but expecting benefits or dwelling on not having been consistent won’t.
Overall, I enjoyed this book immensely. I recommend it to readers who are not already deeply immersed in Asian culture and history seeking a perspective that ancient Buddhist practices are no more abstruse than any other part of being thoughts piloting a biological vehicle through society.
September 3, 2024
this is not a book, it's a full living being with a mind of its own that reveals itself as i try to read him, and it's him reading me instead. i have deep, precious feelings for this creature: love, gratitude, respect, a playful itch for teasing him, an affectionate desire to prove him uncomplete, defective, like we were brothers. but he's the smart one, looking back at me with a patient, elegant, timeless little smile, whispering suggestions that feels ancient and new at the same time, carved in rock but also aleatory, elusive. i feel loved, understood, cared for, not something that can come from a book, right?
August 23, 2023
In this new translation and commentary of the Blue Cliff Record, Matthew Juksan Sullivan is the reader’s constant and trustworthy companion. His koan commentaries demystify what would be baffling to the beginning reader, clarifies the background and context of each koan, and (in endnotes) comments on the idiosyncrasies of the Chinese language. Most importantly, he shows how these koans can illuminate our practice and lives.
Sullivan provides a helpful introduction as well as helpful material in the back of the book including meditation instructions, a lineage chart, glossary, and bibliography. While Sullivan does not provide the complete record of Xuedou’s and Yuangwu’s prose commentaries on the koans, if you want a thoughtful introduction written in clear, direct, and fresh English, accompanied by someone knowledgeable about both Zen practice and the Zen historical tradition, this book is an excellent choice. It constitutes a significant contribution to the English-language koan literature, and one that Zen students will continue to treasure.
Sullivan provides a helpful introduction as well as helpful material in the back of the book including meditation instructions, a lineage chart, glossary, and bibliography. While Sullivan does not provide the complete record of Xuedou’s and Yuangwu’s prose commentaries on the koans, if you want a thoughtful introduction written in clear, direct, and fresh English, accompanied by someone knowledgeable about both Zen practice and the Zen historical tradition, this book is an excellent choice. It constitutes a significant contribution to the English-language koan literature, and one that Zen students will continue to treasure.
June 10, 2022
[from the Introduction]
Jiashan Shanhui (805-881):
A monkey embracing her son
returns home to the green peak.
A bird with a flower in its beak
drops it in front of the blue cliff.
This poem, and the name it gives to The Record, help to orient us as we approach the text.
Zen is a return to a place of natural beauty and ease.
That's all the book is about.
[end quote]
The Blue Cliff Record is a collection of 100 koans compiled by Xuedou Chongxian and published by Yuanwu Keqin in the 12th century.
Matthew Juksan Sullivan is thorough and rich in his commentaries.
He is much more than a translator.
He fills out each case as a kind of guide so the reader can travel to meet the people in the koan.
Appendix A is How to Meditate. (Oh, do I have to?)
Also a twelve page bibliography is included.
I recommend The Garden.
Jiashan Shanhui (805-881):
A monkey embracing her son
returns home to the green peak.
A bird with a flower in its beak
drops it in front of the blue cliff.
This poem, and the name it gives to The Record, help to orient us as we approach the text.
Zen is a return to a place of natural beauty and ease.
That's all the book is about.
[end quote]
The Blue Cliff Record is a collection of 100 koans compiled by Xuedou Chongxian and published by Yuanwu Keqin in the 12th century.
Matthew Juksan Sullivan is thorough and rich in his commentaries.
He is much more than a translator.
He fills out each case as a kind of guide so the reader can travel to meet the people in the koan.
Appendix A is How to Meditate. (Oh, do I have to?)
Also a twelve page bibliography is included.
I recommend The Garden.
November 25, 2025
This is an excellent exposition of the Blue Cliff Record. I wish that I could say that it was enlightening!
Sullivan does an outstanding job at elaborating on the koans within. For many of these, my initial thought was that there wasn't enough in the text to elaborate on, but he consistently manages to find a way to portray the history behind the people and the expressions in a way that explains the dynamics of what (might) have been intended. The parenthetical I just used is not critical of what Sullivan presents - it is just my sense that there may be multiple ways to catch the sense of the koan.
This is a long book, and not at all a quick read, but is worthy of another attempt someday.
Sullivan does an outstanding job at elaborating on the koans within. For many of these, my initial thought was that there wasn't enough in the text to elaborate on, but he consistently manages to find a way to portray the history behind the people and the expressions in a way that explains the dynamics of what (might) have been intended. The parenthetical I just used is not critical of what Sullivan presents - it is just my sense that there may be multiple ways to catch the sense of the koan.
This is a long book, and not at all a quick read, but is worthy of another attempt someday.
January 17, 2025
A really enjoyable translation and commentary of the Blue Cliff Record, a seminal text of Chan Buddhism.
This book is accessible, and very complete with good translation notes and excellent commentary.. One hundred carefully selected Koans of Tang Dynasty Zen. Would recommend without hesitation to those who would find it interesting.
This book is accessible, and very complete with good translation notes and excellent commentary.. One hundred carefully selected Koans of Tang Dynasty Zen. Would recommend without hesitation to those who would find it interesting.
June 14, 2025
Why am I giving this five stars: I think the Blue Cliff Record is a fascinating and rich collection of koans. I've read the classic English translation by Cleary. This one, however, is many times better, more accessible, and impactful.
September 21, 2022
Smart, funny and accessible!
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews