Thomas Cleary

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Thomas F. Cleary (born 1949 ) is an American writer and translator of Buddhist , Daoist , Confucian and Muslim classics. He has translated around 80 books from 8 languages. Most famous is his translation of the art of war , one of the most important works on strategy . He lives in Oakland , California .

life and work

Cleary took an interest in Buddhism as a teenager. Since then he has translated because “he wanted to learn”. For the translations, he chose either works that were still untranslated or, as in the case of Sunzi The Art of War , books whose translations were too “limited”. Cleary earned a Ph.D. in East Asian Languages ​​and Civilizations from Harvard University , and a JD from Boalt Hall School of Law at the University of California, Berkeley . Since the end of his PhD, Cleary has had little connection with the academic world. He feels the university environment is far too restrictive and would rather remain independent.

Cleary's brother Jonathon also graduated from Harvard. With him he translated the Koan collection Biyan Lu (Records of the Blue-Green Rock), which was published by Shambhala Publications in 1977. The translation of Gorin no Sho (Five Rings) from Miyamoto Musashi's Book of Five Rings took place as early as 1993 . Thomas Cleary's best-known translation is that of The Art of War (Sunzi Bingfa). Other significant translations are the Avatamsaka Sutra ( Huayan Jing , Flower Garland Sutra) and commentaries on the works of the Daoist sage Liu Yiming from the 18th century, in which the metaphorical coding of the most important Daoist texts is explained by the fact that consciousness begins a transformation and the human mind merges with the mind of the Dao.

In 2000 Shambhala Publications published a collection of Cleary's various translations of Daoist texts in a four volume collection, The Taoist Classics . This was followed by a five-volume collection of translations on Buddhism as the Classics of Buddhism and Zen. published. In addition, Cleary has also translated Living and Dying with Grace from the Muslim tradition.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Staff: Interview with Thomas Cleary . Retrieved July 10, 2009.
  2. ↑ "too limited". sonshi.com.
  3. ↑ Staff: Thomas Cleary . Shambhala Publications . Retrieved January 1, 2011. Short biography and book title.
  4. ^ "There is too much oppression in a university setting." Sonshi.com.
  5. ^ "I want to stay independent and reach those who want to learn directly through my books." Sonshi.com.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Cleary, Thomas
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cleary, Thomas F .; Клири, Томас (Russian)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American writer and translator
DATE OF BIRTH 1949