Sun at Midnight

Muso Soseki: Born ten years after Dante, in 1275, Muso Soseki was the most famous Zen monk of his time, and is considered the father of the rock garden. Muso began studying Buddhism at the age of six, and he spent much of his early life practicing Zen in remote temples and hermitages. In spite of this isolation, Muso's reputation grew, and he served as an advisor and teacher to several emperors, as well as to more than 13,000 students, over the course of his lifetime. In his old age, Muso again withdrew from court life and devoted himself to the study of Buddha dharma, spending much of his time cultivating the Zen gardens for which he is best known. Muso died in 1351, leaving behind numerous gardens and an enormous body of poetry and prose. In honor of his influence over Japanese politics and culture, Muso was posthumously renamed Muso Kokushi, or national Zen teacher, by the Japanese Emperor Go-Daigo.

Now back in print: W.S. Merwin's translations of Muso Soseki, the thirteenth-century master of Zen rock gardening