"Excess of sorrow laughs. Excess of joy weeps."(William Blake) A cooly impassioned, and "pathward" adventurous series of poems joining two modes of enlightenment, Buddhist and Sufi, that may in many ways be parallel-from my sitting with saintly Shunryu Suzuki of the San Francisco Zen Center in the early 60s, and my blessed time with Qutb Shaykh ibn al-Habib of Fez in Meknes, Morocco, in the 1970s, may Allah be pleased with both of them. Are the two protagonists of these poems the main characters in Waiting for Godot, now no longer waiting, but there? Exalted humor lightens our spiritual endeavors.

This unique, funny and inspiring book of poems documents the poet's journey into greater and greater joy as she spends more time with her statue of the Laughing Buddha. "She practically dares the universe to bring her down, and it cannot do so. In poem after poem, laughter triumphs over whatever comes her way. It is a literate, knowing laughter," that will set the reader "smiling, then laughing, then seeing, then smiling a deeper kind of smile." Jane Marla Robbins is a National Endowment of the Arts Poetry Grant finalist.

Poetry. Asian Studies. Translated by Larry Smith and Mei Hui Liu Huang. One hundred poems by Japan's great poet Taigu Ryokan (1758-1831) included in English, original Chinese, and in Japanese, translated by poets Mei Hui Liu Huang and Larry Smith. With an introduction, "Taigu Ryokan: Great Fool," by Larry Smith. "These poems, wise and direct, have been rightly treasured for centuries because of the way they expand the mind and refresh the spirit. That is their nature in their original language, and Smith and Huang have managed, with great care and affection, to recreate that nature in English"--David Young, poet and translator.

Fine contemporary translations of one of the great poets of the T'ang dynasty.

An Ancient Collection Reimagined Composed around the Buddha’s lifetime, the Therigatha (“Verses of the Elder Nuns”) contains the poems of the first Buddhist women: princesses and courtesans, tired wives of arranged marriages and the desperately in love, those born into limitless wealth and those born with nothing at all. The original authors of the Therigatha were women from every kind of background, but they all shared a deep-seated desire for awakening and liberation. In The First Free Women, Matty Weingast has reimagined this ancient collection and created a contemporary and radical adaptation that takes the essence of each poem and highlights the struggles and doubts, as well as the strength, perseverance, and profound compassion, embodied by these courageous women.

The appreciation of Zen philosophy and art has become universal, and Zen poetry, with its simple expression of direct, intuitive insight and sudden enlightenment, appeals to lovers of poetry, spirituality, and beauty everywhere. This collection of translations of the classical Zen poets of China, Japan, and Korea includes the work of Zen practitioners and monks as well as scholars, artists, travelers, and recluses, ranging from Wang Wei, Hanshan, and Yang Wanli, to Shinkei, Basho, and Ryokan.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER • PEN/FAULKER AWARD WINNER • The acclaimed author of The Swimmers and When the Emperor Was Divine tells the story of a group of young women brought from Japan to San Francisco as “picture brides” a century ago in this "understated masterpiece ... that unfolds with great emotional power" (San Francisco Chronicle). In eight unforgettable sections, The Buddha in the Attic traces the extraordinary lives of these women, from their arduous journeys by boat, to their arrival in San Francisco and their tremulous first nights as new wives; from their experiences raising children who would later reject their culture and language, to the deracinating arrival of war. Julie Otsuka has written a spellbinding novel about identity and loyalty, and what it means to be an American in uncertain times.