.

P.99

    Thomas  Clearly  has translated  the Muchu  mondo (lit.
"questions and answers in dreams"),a record of the answers to
 questions  put  to the " national  Zen  teacher"  (Kokushi),
Muso Soseki (1275-1351)by Ashikaga Tadayoshi (1306-1352), the
brother of the Shogun Ashikaga Takauji (1305-1358).  Some say
the questions  came from both brothers.  Muso was a pupil  of
the very famous  Chinese  immigrant, Zen priest  and Teacher,
Yishan  Yining  (1247-1317),  who  served  as  abbot  of  the
Kenchoji, Enga-kuji  and Jochiji in Kamakura, and then of the
Nanzenji    in    Kyoto,    all    large    and    important,
government-supported  temples.  It was at Kenchoji  that Muso
studied with Yishan.
    In  Muso's  Dream  Conversations, there  are  fundamental
Buddhist concerns about topics such as meditation,koan's, and
enlightenment, and there are comments  about tea and the arts
and  gardens.  It  is  a more  religious  fourteenth  century
worldview   than   Yoshida   Kenko's   (1283-1350)   in   his
Tsuredzure-gusa  ("Essays  in Idleness"), for in addition  to
having comments on aesthetics and the beauty of imperfection,
it has much more Chinese Chan/Zen content.
    Cleary  is an excellent  scholar  and  translator  of the
Chinese and Japanese languages  and of Buddhist  content.  He
has just  been featured  by Sam Hamill  in Shambhala's  large
catalogue for Autumn, 1994 (24-25) Hamill relates that Cleary
has  translated   over  fifty  philosophical   and  religious
classics in the past fifteen years! Shambhala publishes seven
of  them.  Hamill  stresses  that  Cleary  is literal, highly
accurate,  and  very   readable.   As  did  Hamill,  I  first
encountered Cleary's work at the beginning of his translation
career in his Blue Cliff Record (1971). The cases (koan's) in
it are from the Southern Song Dynasty and are very famous.


P.100


    The  organization  of  Dream  Conversations  is by  topic
headings  followed  by several paragraphs  or pages of Muso's
answer.  There is some overlap in the topic headings  such as
the use of knowledge as " inherent knowledge(21), " "types of
(25)," " two  kinds  of (39)", and  "priority  of fundamental
knowledge (41) "; or "fundamental" as an
adjective  (41,  71,118  and  122  ).  In  "The  Priority  of
Fundamental Knowledge " in order to realize " the fundamental
knowledge of the enlightened, " one should " transcend the
boundaries of doctrine and mediation (41)."
    In the Rinzai tradition of Muso, one would expect koan to
have a special  place, and he explains  their origin as a way
for  Zen  teachers  to  (call)  "  a  koan  to  mind  without
conceptualization" so that their teachings would not be
figured out intellectually  (102-103).  He stresses that they
are  a tool, and  that"  they  cannot  be judged  by ordinary
feelings (100)."
    Another Zen emphasis  is meditation  (after all Zen means
"meditation  "), and Muso differentiates  four types based on
the Lankavatara  Sutra: that  of " ordinary  cultists, " that
of" examining characteristics  and meaning, " that of a focus
on "reality  as is," and finally  the "pure  form that  comes
from suchness (179-182)."
    As an art historian, I cannot  leave out Muso's  comments
on art.Credited  with the landscape garden design of the Moss
Garden  in Kyoto,Muso's  statement  that those who just write
and recite poetry in natural  settings  are just aesthetes  "
without the will for enlightenment" (112) is interesting.  On
the other  hand, some  take  the " changing  appearances"  of
nature as " work for meditation(113). "
    There are several  criticisms  that should  be made about
the design  of this  volume.  On the negative  side  the book
designer  chose a Korin 18th century  screen painting  as the
cover and included a number of seventeenth through nineteenth
centuries  illustrations.  Muso is very much a late Kamakura,
early Muromachi  person (that is, a fourteenth  century one),
and fourteenth  century  art such as Muto Shui's portrait  of
him, the Kokedera and Tenryuji gardens, contemporary zenga by
Ue  Gukei,  Kao,  Ryozen,  Mincho,  Tesshu  Tokusai   -   all
influenced  by the Chinese style of Mu Qi in Hangzhou, who is
represented  in great  numbers  in Japanese  collections, are
abundant  and available.  The Edo Period  look  of the volume
certainly  does not correspond  to the contents  -  but it is
striking  with the gold-leaf  of the screens, and was used by
Shambhala for the cover of their spring, 1994, catalogue.
    The reader  may ask what other  types of books  are to be
found in this popular  Shambhala  series.  Several are: Look!
This is Love: Poems by Rumi (translated by Annemarie Schimmel
) and Narrow Road to the Interior by Matsuo Basho( translated
by Sam Hamill).
    On the positive  side, it is almost small enough to carry
in a jacket  pocket, but it is not as small  as the Shambhala
Pocket  Classics  (each  about  3  x 4 1/2"  ),such  as  Cold
Mountain, 101 Poems by Han-Shan (translated  by Burton Watson
) which can be put in a purse or shirt pocket.  Also there is
a good introduction  by Cleary  (vi-xiv), but it is not quite
as informative as his introduction  for The Blue Cliff Record
published by Shambhala  in 1992 as a hardback, more scholarly
piece.  The closest  comparison  might  best be made  to W.S.
Merin's and Soiku Shigematsu's  translation of some of Muso's
poems  and sermons  in the  Sun of Midnight  (San  Francisco.
North  Point  Press, 1989) in  a  slim  hardback  volume.  In
fact,the two books are possibly  the only ones that one could
have by Muso in English! Otherwie, one would  have to turn to
descriptions  and anthologies  that include him such as those
on Japanese  culture, history,or religion, by such well-known
scholars  as William  Theodore  de Bary, Martin Collcutt, and
Sir George Sansom.
    Cleary  has done  yet another  service  for the  academic
world by translating  Muso's best-known  work in an extremely
readable manner.  This would be an excellent  auxiliary  text
for  a course  in Chan  Buddhism, and  introduction  to world
religions, or even an Asian civilization class.