"A masterpiece. It will be our inspiration for 10,000 years."

– Robert Aitken, author of Taking the Path of Zen and The Gateless Barrier

"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

"Working with these koans is a challenging and joyous enterprise."

– Ross Bolleter, author of Dongshan's Five Ranks

Zen monk and translator Thomas Yuho Kirchner has drawn on his impressive skill and insight to craft this outstanding translation of the Katto-shu. His lively renderings succeed at conveying the vitality of the koans in this collection. Readers will also benefit from the dynamic foreword by Zen teacher Nelson Foster.

– Christopher Ives, author of Zen on the Trail: Hiking as Pilgrimage