Author Guide · Zen Buddhism
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In 2000 Shunmyō Masuno became the chief priest of Kenkō-ji, the Sōtō Zen temple in Yokohama where he was born in 1953 as the eldest child of the temple’s 17th chief priest. By then he had already studied agriculture at Tamagawa University, trained in garden design under Katsuo Saitō, trained as a monk at Sōji-ji and, in 1982, founded his own firm, Japan Landscape Consultants. His gardens include the dry-landscape garden at the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo and the Japanese garden in Berlin’s Erholungspark Marzahn. In 2019 a short book of 100 daily practices, The Art of Simple Living, appeared in English. This guide covers his 6 key books, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 6 key books · 1999–2024 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
In English, Shunmyō Masuno’s books fall into two groups: books on his gardens, such as Ten Landscapes (1999) and Inside Japanese Gardens (2003), plus Mira Locher’s survey Zen Gardens (2013); and three short Zen books translated by Allison Markin Powell, The Art of Simple Living (2019), Don’t Worry (2022) and How to Let Things Go (2024). This guide follows 6 key books. Start with The Art of Simple Living; the order below shows where each one fits.
Where to Start with Shunmyō Masuno
If you want a first book of daily Zen practices
→ The Art of Simple Living (2019) — 100 short lessons, one per day.
If you want help with worry and anxiety
→ Don’t Worry (2022).
If you want to see his gardens
→ Zen Gardens (2013) — the illustrated survey of his work.
If you want to practise letting go
→ How to Let Things Go (2024).
6 Key Shunmyō Masuno Books, in Order
Ten Landscapes
A book on Masuno’s landscape work, published by Rockport in 1999, when he was running Japan Landscape Consultants, the firm he founded in 1982.
Inside Japanese Gardens
A practical book on the Japanese garden, published in 2003 by Kokusai Hana to Midori no Hakurankai Kinenkyōkai. As the subtitle says, it runs from the basic elements of a garden to how one is planned, maintained and improved.
Zen Gardens
Not written by Masuno but about him: Mira Locher’s survey of his gardens, published by Tuttle in 2013. Its subtitle calls him “Japan’s leading garden designer”, and it gathers in one volume the garden work that sits behind his books on Zen.
The Art of Simple Living
One hundred short practices, one for each day, translated from the Japanese by Allison Markin Powell and published in April 2019 by Penguin Life in the US; in Britain it appeared as Zen: The Art of Simple Living. The lessons are concrete — line up your shoes, put down your fork after every bite, go outside to watch the sunset — and the US edition is illustrated by Harriet Lee-Merrion. Publishers Weekly wrote that it “does for mental clutter what Marie Kondo has done for household clutter”, and its publisher calls it an international bestseller.
Don’t Worry
Forty-eight lessons on worry, again translated by Allison Markin Powell and published by Penguin Life in April 2022. The key, the book says, is to focus only on the here and now; lessons include stopping comparing yourself to others and removing unnecessary things from your life, and nearly 30 Zen sayings (zengo) are quoted throughout. Publishers Weekly found some advice familiar but praised its direct, spare writing.
How to Let Things Go
The third of his short Zen books from Penguin, published in 2024 and once more translated by Allison Markin Powell. As the subtitle says, it gathers 99 tips on giving up control and dropping what does not matter, in the same brief, one-lesson-at-a-time form as the earlier two.
In What Order to Read Shunmyō Masuno
The list follows English publication, which splits Masuno’s work in two. The first three books are about gardens: what he builds, how a Japanese garden works, and a survey of his projects. The last three are short books of daily Zen practice for general readers, all translated by Allison Markin Powell, and they can be read in any order.
Start with The Art of Simple Living, then pick Don’t Worry or How to Let Things Go depending on what they need. Readers who want to see the practice in physical form should go on to Zen Gardens, where the same ideas become stone, gravel and planting.
A reading path
1. The Art of Simple Living (2019)
2. Don’t Worry (2022)
3. How to Let Things Go (2024)
4. Zen Gardens (2013)
Books in Japanese
Beyond the 6 key books: 4 more, grouped by kind.
Open a group with the + to see every book in it.
Garden and Zen books in Japanese (selection)
4
4 books · 2003–2010
- 2003Zen no niwa: Masuno Shunmyō no sekai“Zen Gardens: The World of Shunmyō Masuno”, Mainichi Shimbun
- 2005Musō Soseki: Nihon teien o kiwameta zensōon Musō Soseki, the Zen priest who shaped the Japanese garden; NHK Books
- 2008Zen to zen geijutsu to shite no niwa“Gardens as Zen and Zen Art”, Mainichi Shimbun
- 2010Zen no niwa II: Masuno Shunmyō sakuhinshū 2004–2009his garden works from 2004 to 2009, Mainichi Shimbun
The years · 1953–2024
Quick facts about Shunmyō Masuno
- Known for
- Being both a Sōtō Zen priest and an internationally commissioned garden designer, and writing short, practical books that turn Zen into everyday habits.
- 1953
- Born in Yokohama
- 1975
- Graduates from Tamagawa University
- 1982
- Founds Japan Landscape Consultants
- 2000
- Becomes chief priest of Kenkō-ji
- 2019
- Publishes The Art of Simple Living
- 2024
- How to Let Things Go
- Born
- 28 February 1953, Yokohama, eldest child of the 17th chief priest of Kenkō-ji
- Temple
- Chief priest of Kenkō-ji, a Sōtō Zen temple in Yokohama, since 2000
- Training
- Agriculture at Tamagawa University (1975); garden design under Katsuo Saitō; Zen training at Sōji-ji from 1979
- Garden firm
- Founded Japan Landscape Consultants in 1982
- Teaching
- Professor of environmental design at Tama Art University since 1998
- Gardens
- Canadian Embassy, Tokyo; Erholungspark Marzahn, Berlin
The red mark is 2019: the year The Art of Simple Living was published in English.
How Shunmyō Masuno Writes: One Small Practice at a Time
Masuno’s English books are built from very short units: 100 practices in The Art of Simple Living, 48 lessons in Don’t Worry, 99 tips in How to Let Things Go. Each one names a concrete action — lining up your shoes, putting down your fork after every bite, watching the sunset, removing unnecessary things — and explains it briefly, rather than building an argument across chapters.
His link to non-duality runs through the Sōtō Zen tradition he serves as a priest, and through his gardens rather than through doctrine. He treats garden-making as a Zen practice in its own right: one of his Japanese books is titled Gardens as Zen and Zen Art, and another is about Musō Soseki, the medieval Zen priest who shaped the Japanese garden. The popular books do not argue a philosophy of oneness; they ask the reader to attend fully to the ordinary thing in front of them.
The prose, in Allison Markin Powell’s translations, is plain; reviewing Don’t Worry, Publishers Weekly praised its direct, spare writing and noted that some advice will feel familiar. For the Sōtō teacher who carried the same tradition to America, see Shunryu Suzuki.
Watch
Shunmyo Masuno on Zen Garden Design
Shunmyo Masuno, Zen priest of Kenkoji Temple in Yokohama and garden designer, speaks at Brown University on 26 June 2018 about the art and philosophy of Zen garden design. From the official Brown University channel.
Frequently asked questions about Shunmyō Masuno’s books
How many books has Shunmyō Masuno written?
He has written many books in Japanese; in English the main ones are Ten Landscapes (1999), Inside Japanese Gardens (2003), The Art of Simple Living (2019), Don’t Worry (2022) and How to Let Things Go (2024). This page lists 6 key books, including Mira Locher’s survey of his gardens, Zen Gardens (2013), and 4 of his Japanese books.
What are Shunmyō Masuno’s books in order?
Ten Landscapes (1999), Inside Japanese Gardens (2003), Zen Gardens by Mira Locher (2013), The Art of Simple Living (2019), Don’t Worry (2022) and How to Let Things Go (2024).
Where should I start with Shunmyō Masuno?
The Art of Simple Living (2019): 100 short daily practices, one for each day. Its publisher, Penguin Life, calls it an internationally bestselling guide.
What is Shunmyō Masuno’s most famous book?
The Art of Simple Living, published in April 2019 by Penguin Life and in Britain as Zen: The Art of Simple Living. Penguin Random House describes it as an international bestseller.
Are The Art of Simple Living and Zen: The Art of Simple Living the same book?
Yes. The Art of Simple Living is the US title from Penguin Life; Zen: The Art of Simple Living is the British edition from Michael Joseph, published in April 2019. Both are presented as 100 lessons, one a day.
Who translates Shunmyō Masuno into English?
Allison Markin Powell translated all three of his Penguin books: The Art of Simple Living, Don’t Worry and How to Let Things Go.
Is Shunmyō Masuno a real Zen monk?
Yes. He began Zen training at Sōji-ji in 1979 and has been chief priest of Kenkō-ji, a Sōtō Zen temple in Yokohama, since 2000. He is the eldest child of the temple’s 17th chief priest.
Where can I see Shunmyō Masuno’s gardens?
Among his works are the dry-landscape garden at the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo and the Japanese garden at Erholungspark Marzahn in Berlin. Mira Locher’s Zen Gardens (2013) surveys his work.
Is Shunmyō Masuno still alive?
Yes, as far as the sources used here show. He was born on 28 February 1953, and no death has been reported; his most recent English book on this page, How to Let Things Go, appeared in 2024.
Footnotes
- Shunmyō Masuno — Wikipedia
- The Art of Simple Living — Penguin Random House
- Review of Don’t Worry — Publishers Weekly
- Shunmyo Masuno — Penguin UK
- Masuno, Shunmyō — Dakota County Library catalogue
Bibliography last verified 9 October 2026. Where sources give different first-publication years, this page uses the year in library catalogues or the publisher’s own record.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all his.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
“Zen is about habits, ideas, and hints for living a happy life.”
— Shunmyō Masuno, foreword to The Art of Simple Living (2019), as quoted by Pen magazine
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