Thomas Cleary

Thomas Cleary (b. 1949) is a prolific author and translator of Buddhist, Taoist, Confucian and Muslim religious literature, and of the Chinese Art of War tradition of strategy and statecraft. He received a PhD in East Asian Languages and Civilizations from Harvard University, but has had minimal involvement with the academic world.

His first publication, with his brother J.C. Cleary (also an accomplished scholar) was the translation of the massive Zen koan collection, The Blue Cliff Record (ISBN 1-59030-232-X). Cleary also translated the monumental Avatamsaka Sutra (Huayan Jing / Flower Ornament Scripture). Cleary's most widely disseminated translation has been of the Chinese classic The Art of War (Sunzi Bingfa) by Sun Tzu. Another major translation is of the commentaries of the 18th century Taoist sage Liu Yiming, who clearly explains the often impenetrable metaphoric coding of the main Taoist texts dealing with the transformation of consciousness and the fusion of the human mind with the Mind of the Tao. In 2000, Cleary's various translations of Taoist scriptures were collected into 4 volumes by Shambhala Publications as The Taoist Classics. Cleary's recent translation of the Qur'an has been praised by Muslims who know English and Arabic. Another outstanding translation from the Muslim wisdom tradition is Living and Dying with Grace.

External links

• Interview with Thomas Cleary