Bill Porter (author)
Encyclopedia
Bill Porter in Los Angeles is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
who translates under the pen-name Red Pine (赤松, pinyin
Pinyin
Pinyin is the official system to transcribe Chinese characters into the Roman alphabet in China, Malaysia, Singapore and Taiwan. It is also often used to teach Mandarin Chinese and spell Chinese names in foreign publications and used as an input method to enter Chinese characters into...
: Chi Song). He is a translator and interpreter of Chinese texts, primarily Taoist and Buddhist, including poetry and Sūtra
Sutra
Sūtra is an aphorism or a collection of such aphorisms in the form of a manual. Literally it means a thread or line that holds things together and is derived from the verbal root siv-, meaning to sew , as does the medical term...
s.
Early life
He was raised in mountainous Idaho. After serving three years in the U.S. Army (refusing assignment in Vietnam and subsequently being reassigned as a clerk in Germany), he took a degree in anthropology from University of California, Santa BarbaraUniversity of California, Santa Barbara
The University of California, Santa Barbara, commonly known as UCSB or UC Santa Barbara, is a public research university and one of the 10 general campuses of the University of California system. The main campus is located on a site in Goleta, California, from Santa Barbara and northwest of Los...
and went on to graduate studies in language (Chinese) and anthropology at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, but dropped out in 1972 to go to the Fo Kwang Shan
Fo Guang Shan
Fo Guang Shan is an international Chinese Mahayana Buddhist monastic order based in the Republic of China , and one of the largest Buddhist organizations. The headquarters of Fo Guang Shan, located in Kaohsiung, is the largest Buddhist monastery in Taiwan. The organization itself is also one of...
Buddhist monastery in Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
.
Taoism and Buddhism
In the years following, he lived in Taiwan and Hong KongHong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
. Since 1989 he has traveled extensively in China, both as a journalist and on his own. He adopted a Chinese pen-name (hào) "Red Pine" (赤松 "Chi Song"), after the legendary Taoist immortal. In 1993, after 22 years in East Asia, he returned to the US. In 1999 and 2000, he taught Buddhism and Taoism at the City of Ten Thousand Buddhas
City of Ten Thousand Buddhas
The City Of Ten Thousand Buddhas is an international Buddhist community and monastery founded by the Venerable Master Hsuan Hua, an important figure in Western Buddhism...
. He now lives in Port Townsend, Washington
Port Townsend, Washington
Port Townsend is a city in Jefferson County, Washington, United States, approximately north-northwest of Seattle . The population was 9,113 at the 2010 census an increase of 9.3% over the 2000 census. It is the county seat and only incorporated city of Jefferson County...
.
His book Road to Heaven prompted Edward A. Burger to seek out and study with Buddhist hermits in the Zhongnan
South Central China
South Central China is a region of the People's Republic of China defined by governmental bureaus that includes the provinces of Guangdong, Hainan, Henan, Hubei, and Hunan, and the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, however excluding the 2 special administrative regions : Hong Kong and...
mountains of China and direct the 2005 film Amongst White Clouds.
His most recent book is an updated and reissued publication of Lao-tzu
Laozi
Laozi was a mystic philosopher of ancient China, best known as the author of the Tao Te Ching . His association with the Tao Te Ching has led him to be traditionally considered the founder of Taoism...
's Taoteching
Tao Te Ching
The Tao Te Ching, Dao De Jing, or Daodejing , also simply referred to as the Laozi, whose authorship has been attributed to Laozi, is a Chinese classic text...
(Copper Canyon Press
Copper Canyon Press
Copper Canyon Press is an independent, non-profit small press, specializing in the publication of poetry and located in the picturesque town of Port Townsend, Washington. Since 1972, the Press has published poetry exclusively and has established an international reputation for its commitment to...
, 2009). One of the most noteworthy aspects of this translation is Porter's use of excerpts from China's vast and rich commentarial tradition.
Works
- P’u Ming’s Oxherding Pictures and Verses. Empty Bowl, 1983. (translator)
- Cold Mountain Poems. Copper Canyon PressCopper Canyon PressCopper Canyon Press is an independent, non-profit small press, specializing in the publication of poetry and located in the picturesque town of Port Townsend, Washington. Since 1972, the Press has published poetry exclusively and has established an international reputation for its commitment to...
, 1983. (translator) - Mountain Poems of Stonehouse. Empty Bowl, 1985. (translator)
- The ZenZenZen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."Zen...
Teaching of BodhidharmaBodhidharmaBodhidharma was a Buddhist monk who lived during the 5th/6th century AD. He is traditionally credited as the transmitter of Ch'an to China, and regarded as the first Chinese patriarch...
. Empty Bowl, 1987; North Point Press, 1989. (translator) - Road to Heaven: Encounters with Chinese Hermits. Mercury House, 1993. (author)
- Guide to Capturing a Plum Blossom by Sung Po-jen. Mercury House, 1995. (translator)
- Lao-tzuLaoziLaozi was a mystic philosopher of ancient China, best known as the author of the Tao Te Ching . His association with the Tao Te Ching has led him to be traditionally considered the founder of Taoism...
's TaotechingTao Te ChingThe Tao Te Ching, Dao De Jing, or Daodejing , also simply referred to as the Laozi, whose authorship has been attributed to Laozi, is a Chinese classic text...
: with Selected Commentaries of the Past 2000 Years. Mercury House, 1996. (translator and editor) - The Zen Works of StonehouseShih-wuShiwu or Stonehouse was a Chinese Chan poet and hermit. He served as abbot of Fuyuan Temple for eight years.American translator Red Pine translated Shiwu's poems into English.-External links:***...
: Poems and Talks of a Fourteenth-Century Chinese Hermit. Mercury House, 1997. (translator) - The Clouds Should Know Me by Now: Buddhist Poet Monks of China. Wisdom Publications, 1998. (editor, with Mike O'Connor; and contributing translator)
- The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain. Copper Canyon PressCopper Canyon PressCopper Canyon Press is an independent, non-profit small press, specializing in the publication of poetry and located in the picturesque town of Port Townsend, Washington. Since 1972, the Press has published poetry exclusively and has established an international reputation for its commitment to...
, 2000. (translator and editor) - Diamond SutraDiamond SutraThe Diamond Sūtra , is a short and well-known Mahāyāna sūtra from the Prajñāpāramitā, or "Perfection of Wisdom" genre, and emphasizes the practice of non-abiding and non-attachment...
. Counterpoint, 2001. (translator and extensive commentary) - Poems of the Masters: China's Classic Anthology of T'ang and Sung Dynasty Verse. Copper Canyon PressCopper Canyon PressCopper Canyon Press is an independent, non-profit small press, specializing in the publication of poetry and located in the picturesque town of Port Townsend, Washington. Since 1972, the Press has published poetry exclusively and has established an international reputation for its commitment to...
, 2003. (translator) - The Heart Sutra: the Womb of Buddhas. Washington: Shoemaker & Hoard, 2004. (translator w. extensive commentary)
- Zen Baggage: A Pilgrimage to China. Counterpoint, 2008. (author)
- In Such Hard Times: The Poetry of Wei Ying-wu. Copper Canyon PressCopper Canyon PressCopper Canyon Press is an independent, non-profit small press, specializing in the publication of poetry and located in the picturesque town of Port Townsend, Washington. Since 1972, the Press has published poetry exclusively and has established an international reputation for its commitment to...
, July 1, 2009. (translator). Winner of the American Literary Translators Association (ALTA)'s inaugural Lucien Stryk Asian Translation Prize in 2010. - Lao-tzuLaoziLaozi was a mystic philosopher of ancient China, best known as the author of the Tao Te Ching . His association with the Tao Te Ching has led him to be traditionally considered the founder of Taoism...
's TaotechingTao Te ChingThe Tao Te Ching, Dao De Jing, or Daodejing , also simply referred to as the Laozi, whose authorship has been attributed to Laozi, is a Chinese classic text...
:: Translated by Red Pine with selected commentaries from the past 2000 years. revised edition, Copper Canyon PressCopper Canyon PressCopper Canyon Press is an independent, non-profit small press, specializing in the publication of poetry and located in the picturesque town of Port Townsend, Washington. Since 1972, the Press has published poetry exclusively and has established an international reputation for its commitment to...
, 2009.