Thomas Cleary, who "began translating at the age of 18 and went on to write and translate close to 100 books," died June 20. He was 72. His translations from classical Chinese, Japanese, Sanskrit, Pali, Bengali, Arabic, and Old Irish "are recognized for the clear, accurate, natural style in which he made accessible both well-known and little-known classical texts: Buddhist and Taoist works, works from the Art of War tradition on leadership and strategy and building strong organizations, the Qur'an, the sayings of Muhammad, the counsels of Hadrat Ali, the counsels of Cormac."
In a remembrance, Shambhala Publications president Nikko Odiseos observed that Cleary "was the twentieth century's most prolific translator of Asian classics to English... Shambhala Publications publishes over 60 of his works. He was a very private person, shunning the limelight and preferring to work quietly, producing some of the most important works of the Buddhist world into English....
"Yet despite his reclusive ways, he was a giant. Robert Thurman said of him, 'There is no doubt in my mind that Thomas Cleary is the greatest translator of Buddhist texts from Chinese or Japanese into English of our generation, and that he will be so known by grateful Buddhist practitioners and scholars in future centuries. Single-handedly he has gone a long way toward building the beginnings of a Buddhist canon in English.' "
Odiseos added that Cleary's bestselling books were the classics of ancient Chinese thought: The Art of War (for which he translated multiple related texts), The Book of Five Rings, various iterations of the I Ching, and many other books. "I hope you join me in gratitude to Thomas for a life of dedication to these works and the figures behind them. They have benefitted--and will continue to benefit--countless seekers with the aspiration to achieve the highest potential of what it can mean to be human."
Cleary's obituary in the East Bay Times noted: "He always remained deeply interested. He strove always to convey the spirit of the originals but in contemporary language, so that his translations were never stilted. His introductions brought a breath of fresh air as they reviewed vast bodies of knowledge, distilling their essential message. Only someone with the depth and breadth of his scholarship could present such complex concepts in light, lucid prose. He continued his work to the end, despite his worsening illness."