“The clarity and sincerity in the voice of this Chinese woman living a Dharma-inspired life make this book impossible to put down. Exceptional translations. What’s surprising is that Zhang didn’t live a thousand years ago but just around the corner in 1930s China!”

“Zhang Ruzhao, a talented writer, budding official, and avid student of western thought, initially embraced the modern, secular lifestyle that was transforming early twentieth-century China. Then, finding it empty of substance and rife with suffering, she walked away. She devoted herself to farming, meditation, poetry, and the pursuit of a deeper purpose. Eventually ordaining as a Buddhist nun, Zhang went on to become a leading figure in the Buddhist revival, attracting thousands of disciples and devotees. In this remarkable book, Beata Grant translates Zhang’s poetry and prose, which remain as vivid and relevant today as they were a century ago.”

“A remarkable book. Beata Grant’s translations of Zhang Ruzhao’s twentieth-century earthy wisdom and care beautifully bring across the poet’s subtle yet profound spirit and understanding, extending Chan’s ancestral poetic tradition into modern times. In reading Zhang’s descriptions of her daily life, and the poems her secluded years as meditator, farmer, and forest dweller inspired, I felt a true companion had been found.”

“In the Shade of the Green Willow has artfully captured how Zhang Ruzhao, a Buddhist woman master, navigated the tumultuous years that sandwiched the Second World War. Reading it, I found myself repeatedly moved by the master’s spirit conveyed through her own writings and by how respectfully and skillfully Beata Grant, being a renowned scholar of Chinese Buddhism and Chinese women, renders the nuances of those pivotal moments in the nation’s long thought and cultural history. The intimacy and authenticity conveyed through first-person voices and firsthand material are themselves precious teachings. I have no doubt this collection will become a classic and contribute to the English-language understanding of Chinese spiritual women and masters. It is a work whose wisdom belongs not only to its era, but to our own.”

“Reading this lovely book refreshes one’s very being. It draws the reader into the dream—no, the reality —of escaping the busyness and turmoil of city life and finding for oneself that ‘the unhurried life gives birth to a special awareness’ and that ‘right there in front of you is the Buddha body . . . ever still and luminous.’ It should be kept on a bedside table, where reading one or two poems can induce the quiet joy that infuses this poetry.”