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On 11 May 1930, at 63 West 70th Street in Manhattan, a Japanese Zen teacher who had trained as an artist in Tokyo opened the Buddhist Society of America. Sokei-an Sasaki had come to California in 1906 with his teacher’s small group, spent years in California and Greenwich Village, and been certified as a Rinzai Zen teacher in 1928. For fifteen years he gave talks in New York to a handful of students, interrupted only when the FBI held him as an “enemy alien” in 1942 and 1943. He died in 1945, and almost all of his books were assembled afterwards from transcripts of those talks. This guide covers all six, in order, and where to begin.
By Lisanne Swart · 6 key books · 1947–2013 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Sokei-an’s English books number six, from Cat’s Yawn (1947) to Three-Hundred-Mile Tiger (2013), nearly all compiled after his death from his New York talks. Start with The Zen Eye (1993), then read his autobiography, Holding the Lotus to the Rock.
Where to Start with Sokei-an
If you want one book to begin with
→ The Zen Eye (1993).
If you want his life, in his own words
→ Holding the Lotus to the Rock (2003).
If you want more of the talks
→ Zen Pivots (1998).
If you want a classic text with his commentary
→ Original Nature (2012) — the Platform Sutra.
If you collect early American Zen
→ Cat’s Yawn (1947).
6 Sokei-an Books, in Order
Cat’s Yawn
A reprint of the thirteen issues of Cat’s Yawn, the small magazine his society published in 1940 and 1941, with short talks, essays and his own drawings. Published by the First Zen Institute of America in New York in 1947, it was the Institute’s first book, and it is now hard to find.
The Zen Eye
The first published collection of the talks he gave in New York, edited and introduced by Mary Farkas, one of his students, and published by Weatherhill in 1993. The talks are short and direct, and this is the easiest way into how he taught.
Zen Pivots
A companion to The Zen Eye, drawn from the talks he gave in New York in the 1930s and early 1940s and published by Weatherhill in 1998. It covers Buddhism more broadly as well as Zen.
Holding the Lotus to the Rock
His life story, put together by Michael Hotz from his own writings in chronological order, with poems, short stories, letters and photographs. Published by Four Walls Eight Windows in New York in 2003, it is the best account of his years as a struggling immigrant artist before he became a teacher.
Original Nature
His translation of the Platform Sutra of Huineng, the Sixth Patriarch, with his comments on it, published with the First Zen Institute through iUniverse in 2012. Denser than the talk collections and best read once you know a little Zen.
Three-Hundred-Mile Tiger
His translation of the Record of Linji, the Chinese master known in Japan as Rinzai and the founder of his own school, with commentary. Published through iUniverse in 2013, it is the companion to Original Nature and the most demanding of his books.
In What Order to Read Sokei-an
Begin with the talks rather than the commentaries. The Zen Eye shows how he taught, and Holding the Lotus to the Rock explains the unusual life behind it: an art student in Tokyo, an immigrant in California, an artist in Greenwich Village, and only late a Zen teacher.
The two translations with commentary, Original Nature and Three-Hundred-Mile Tiger, belong at the end. They follow classic Chinese texts line by line and are closer to the sanzen room than to a lecture hall.
A reading path
1. The Zen Eye (1993), his talks
2. Holding the Lotus to the Rock (2003), his life
3. Zen Pivots (1998), more talks
4. Original Nature (2012), the Platform Sutra
5. Three-Hundred-Mile Tiger (2013), the Record of Linji
Quick facts about Sokei-an
- Born
- Yeita Sasaki, 10 March 1882, Japan
- Died
- 17 May 1945, aged 63
- Also known as
- Shigetsu Sasaki; Sokei-an is his Zen name
- Studied
- Art at the Imperial Academy of Art in Tokyo, under the sculptor Koun Takamura, graduating in 1905
- Zen teacher
- Sokatsu Shaku, who gave him final certification as a teacher in 1928
- Founded
- The Buddhist Society of America, New York, 11 May 1930; now the First Zen Institute of America
- Married
- Ruth Fuller Everett, on 10 July 1944; her daughter Eleanor was married to Alan Watts
- Books
- Six in English, nearly all compiled after his death from transcripts of his talks
How Sokei-an Taught: Talks in a New York Apartment
Sokei-an arrived in San Francisco in 1906 as one of fourteen followers of his teacher Sokatsu Shaku, who tried to set up a farming community in Hayward, California. It failed, and he stayed on in America, living in Greenwich Village from 1916, going back to Japan to finish his training and returning in 1922. When he opened the Buddhist Society of America in 1930 he did not hold meditation retreats; he taught through sanzen, private interviews on koans, and through talks, which his students wrote down. Those transcripts are the source of almost every book on this page.
His closest link to the wider story of Zen in the West runs through Alan Watts. Watts came to study with him in 1938 and left after about two weeks; in 1944 Sokei-an married Ruth Fuller Everett, whose daughter Eleanor was Watts’s wife. During the war the FBI arrested him as an enemy alien, and he was held at Ellis Island and at Fort Meade, Maryland, from June 1942 until his students secured his release in August 1943. He died in 1945 without a dharma heir, and the society he founded continues as the First Zen Institute of America.
His autobiography calls him “America’s first Zen master”. That is the publisher’s description: Soyen Shaku visited America in 1893 and 1905, and Nyogen Senzaki arrived in 1905. Sokei-an is better described as the first Zen master to settle in America and teach there for many years.
Frequently asked questions about Sokei-an’s books
Who was Sokei-an?
A Japanese Rinzai Zen teacher (1882–1945), born Yeita Sasaki, who founded the Buddhist Society of America in New York in 1930. It continues today as the First Zen Institute of America.
Which Sokei-an book should I read first?
The Zen Eye (1993), the first published collection of his New York talks, edited by Mary Farkas. Follow it with Holding the Lotus to the Rock (2003) for his life.
Was Sokei-an the first Zen master in America?
He is often called that, including in the subtitle of his autobiography, but Soyen Shaku and Nyogen Senzaki came before him. He was among the first Zen teachers to settle in America and teach there for many years.
How was Sokei-an related to Alan Watts?
In 1944 he married Ruth Fuller Everett, Watts’s mother-in-law, which made him Watts’s stepfather-in-law. Watts studied with him briefly in 1938.
Did Sokei-an write his books himself?
Mostly not. Apart from Cat’s Yawn, his books were compiled after his death from transcripts of his talks and from his own writings, by his students and the First Zen Institute: Mary Farkas, Robert Lopez, Peter Haskel and Michael Hotz.
Was Sokei-an interned during the Second World War?
Yes. The FBI arrested him as an enemy alien after Pearl Harbor, and he was held at Ellis Island and Fort Meade from June 1942 until August 1943, when his students secured his release.
Footnotes
- Sokei-an — Wikipedia
- Publications — First Zen Institute of America
- First Zen Institute of America — Wikipedia
- Robert Lopez, “Zen in the Yawn of a Cat” — Tricycle, 1997
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.
“I am of the Zen sect. My special mission is to train students of Buddhism by the Zen method.”
— Sokei-an, Original Nature
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