Taoist inner alchemy is a collection of theories and practices for transforming the mind and refining the self. The Inner Teachings of Taoism includes a classic of Chinese alchemy known as Four Hundred Words on the Gold Elixir. Written in the eleventh century by a founder of the Complete Reality School, this text is accompanied by the lucid commentary of the nineteenth-century adept Lui I-ming.

The Wisdom of the Prophet contains a rich selection of hadith, or traditional teaching stories based on the words and deeds of Muhammad, that have brought inspiration and guidance to spiritual seekers for centuries. The passages in this collection, chosen for their universal appeal, reveal both Muhammad's profound worldly wisdom and his lofty spiritual vision. The Wisdom of the Prophet contains more than two hundred authentic stories and sayings of Muhammad translated by Thomas Cleary, the translator of The Essential Koran.

This collection of Taoist texts includes:
The Taoist I Ching: The classic "Book of Change" illuminated by the commentary of the eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Taoist adept Liu I-ming. The first part of the book is the text of I Ching proper with Liu's commentary. The second part is Liu's commentary on two additional sections known as the Overall Image and the Mixed Hexagrams added to the I Ching by earlier commentators, believed to be members of the original Confucian school. In total, the book illuminates the Taoist inner teachings as practiced in the School...

The Blue Cliff Record is a classic text of Zen Buddhism, designed to assist in the activation of dormant human potential. The core of this extraordinary work is a collection of one hundred traditional citations and stories, selected for their ability to bring about insight and enlightenment. These vignettes are known as gongan in Chinese and koan in Japanese.
Secrets of the Blue Cliff Record is a fresh translation featuring newly translated commentary from two of the greatest Zen masters of early modern Japan, Hakuin Ekaku (1685-1768) of the Rinzai sect...

A translation of the classic Denkoroku by one of the premier translators of Buddhist and Taoist texts illustrates how to arrive at the epiphanic Zen awakening known as satori.
The essential initiatory experience of Zen, satori is believed to open up the direct perception of things as they are. -Even if you sit until your seat breaks through, even if you persevere mindless of fatigue, even if you are a person of lofty deeds and pure behavior, if you haven't reached this realm of satori, you still can't get out of the prison of the world.- Deliberately cultivated and employed...

Composed in 1899 when Rilke was only twenty-three, the interconnected tales of "Stories of God " were inspired by a trip to Russia the young poet had made the year previously. It is said that the vastness of the Russian landscape and the profound spirituality he perceived in the simple people he met led him to an experience of finding God in all things, and to the conviction that God seeks to be known by us as passionately as we might seek to know God.
All the great themes of Rilke's later powerful and complex poetry can be found in the "Stories of God ," yet their charming, folktale-like...

Sun Tzu's Art of War, compiled more than two thousand years ago, is a study of the anatomy of organizations in conflict. It is perhaps the most prestigious and influential book of strategy in the world today. Now, this unique volume brings together the essential versions of Sun Tzu's text, along with illuminating commentaries and auxiliary texts written by distinguished strategists. The translations, by the renowned translator Thomas Cleary, have all been published previously in book form, except for The Silver Sparrow Art of War, which is available here for the first time. This...

Volume One of Classics of Buddhism and Zen contains teachings predominantly from the Chinese Zen (Chan) tradition, including the writings of revered Chinese masters such as Pai-chang, founder of the Chan monastic tradition; Huang-po, one of the forefathers of the Lin-chi-tsung or Rinzai school; Foyan, the great master of the twelfth-century Chinese Zen -renaissance-; and many others.

The volume includes:
Zen Lessons: The Art of Leadership
This guide to enlightened conduct for people in positions of authority is based on the teachings of several great Zen...

Volume Three of Classics of Buddhism and Zen contains translations of works by the key figures of Zen, including the Japanese master Dogen; Chinul, the twelfth-century Korean master; and Hakuin, founder of the Rinzai school. Also included are selections from the Prajnaparamita, or -Perfection of Wisdom- sutras, a key source of the Zen tradition.

The volume includes:
The Sutra of Hui-neng: Grand Master of Zen
Hui-neng was the sixth patriarch of Chinese Zen. His teachings are characterized by their striking immediacy and by their concern with direct...

Military rule and the martial tradition of the samurai dominated Japanese culture for more than eight hundred years. According to Thomas Cleary--translator of more than thirty-five classics of Asian philosophy--the Japanese people have been so steeped in the way of the warrior that some of the manners and mentality of this outlook remain embedded in their individual and collective consciousness. Cleary shows how well-known attributes such as the reserve and mystery of formal Japanese behavior are deeply rooted in the ancient strategies of the traditional arts of war. Citing original Japanese...