A distinctive feature of Entangling Vines is that, unlike the Gateless Gate and Blue Cliff Record, it presents the koans “bare,” with no introductions, commentaries, or verses. The straightforward structure of its presentation lends the koans added force and immediacy, emphasizing the Great Matter, the essential point to be interrogated, and providing ample material for the rigors of examining and refining Zen experience.

Containing 272 cases and extensive note material, the collection is indispensable for serious koan training and will also be of interest for anyone drawn to Zen literature. The present translation had its origins in the discussions between three forward-looking modern Japanese Zen masters and Thomas Kirchner, an experienced Zen monk from America. And Kirchner's careful annotation of each koan makes this a brilliant introduction to Buddhist philosophy.

Praise & Reviews “A wonderful book, a book to take if you are planning to be shipwrecked on a desert island; it is the book I open every day, and teach from every day. It is surprising, lucid, scholarly, alive, unassuming, and it goes deep.” —John Tarrant, author of Bring Me the Rhinoceros and Other Koans That Will Save Your Life “This book summon us into a dynamic immediacy with life itself.” —Wendy Egyoku Nakao, Abbot of the Zen Center of Los Angeles “An excellent translation of an important collection.” —Japanese Journal of Religious Studies “Anyone who plays in the fields of koan introspection will welcome this book.” —Melissa Myozen Blacker, coeditor of The Book of Mu

Thomas Yuho Kirchner, Translator Thomas Yuho Kirchner, a native of Connecticut who has resided in Japan since 1969, is an ordained Rinzai Zen monk and a graduate of Otani University in Kyoto with an M.A. in Buddhist Studies. He presently serves as priest at the temple Rinsen-ji in the Arashiyama area of Kyoto, and is a researcher at the International Research Institute for Zen Buddhism at Hanazono University. Nelson Foster, Foreword NELSON FOSTER a Dharma heir of Diamond Sangha founder Robert Aitken and succeeded him at its Honolulu temple. He now teaches mainly at Ring of Bone Zendo in the California foothills, making periodic visits to the East Rock Sangha in New England. He is the coauthor of The Roaring Stream: A New Zen Reader.