American’s ‘paradise of mind’ in China
A 75-YEAR-OLD American man and a reclusive Chinese poet who lived 1,600 years ago have come together in an unlikely literary romance.
On a visit to China this month, Bill Porter, a translator and writer who has dedicated himself to Chinese culture, introduced to Chinese readers his new book “Paradise of the Mind.”
The book records a tour Porter made last year of eastern China, during which he traced the footsteps of his favorite poet Tao Yuanming and another ancient poet Su Dongpo, who was a follower of Tao.
“I love him as a poet, but I like him more as a person,” said Porter. The idyllic lifestyle advocated by Tao is what he has been pursuing for his whole life.
Porter has translated more than 1,600 Chinese poems and written a series of books about his pilgrimages in China over the past 30 years.
He is best-known in China for his signature work “The Road to Heaven,” a book about his times in China’s mountains looking for hermits. Since it was published in 2009, the Chinese version of the book has sold over 200,000 copies.
For his efforts in translating Chinese poems, he was awarded a prize for translation by the American Academy of Arts and Letters in February.
“Chinese culture is like a treasure chest, and I want to share with people the treasure I have discovered,” he said.
In 1972, when he was a doctoral student, he ran into a Chinese monk in New York’s China Town, and was introduced to meditation and Buddhist scripture.
“I felt that was exactly the lifestyle I wanted. Be a Buddhist practitioner!” said Porter. So he quit school and moved to Taiwan, hiding in temples tucked away deep in the mountains. At first he was attracted only by Buddhism, but later on he found himself lost in the beauty of Chinese poetry and philosophy.
Porter’s first encounter with Tao was in 1975 when he found a collection of the poet’s versus in a bookstore.
“I was attracted by the threadbound book and its calligraphy style,” he said, “But when I read it I was mesmerized by the lines that carry such a beauty, serenity and simplicity.”
Porter ended his three years in temples as a lay Buddhist when he met his wife, who was studying Chinese philosophy. His passion for China grew so strong that he decided that it was something worth a lifetime of devotion. Under the pen name of Red Pine, he has published some translations of Buddhist scripts and Chinese poems in the United States.
Though appreciated by professionals and critics, the works did not sell well. He took a series of part-time jobs, including as a tour guide. “Translating is not a way to make a living, but a way to enjoy myself,” he said. “When I translate poems, the world stops around me.”
He said he prefers to live a frugal and simple life just like Tao did, because “from simplicity, mindfulness arises.”