Janet Jiryu Abels is the founder and co-resident teacher, with Gregory Hosho Abels, of Still Mind Zendo in New York City, and the guiding teacher of Plum Blossom Zendo in Pittsburgh. In this enlightening work, Abels shares the lives and teaching of 12 Chinese Zen masters during a period which has come to be known as Zen's Golden Age. She successfully captures and conveys their idiosyncrasies as ancestors and the breadth of their skills as spiritual mentors.

Among those covered are Bodhidharma and his no-knowing mind; Mazu and his belief that ordinary mind is the way; Shitou and the importance of stilling the mind; Guishan and spiritual companionship; Zhaozou who amused his students with his repeated phrase "go have some tea"; Yunman who saw Zen as nothing more than moment to moment of receiving and responding; and Fayan who taught about the two-headed madness where the mind is endlessly dividing things into this and that.