TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — At the age of 80, Bill Porter, also known as "Red Pine," has achieved an illustrious career as a travelogue writer and translator of Chinese classics such as "Lao-Tzu’s Tao Te Ching" and "Songs of Cold Mountain."
"I do not expect to live too long, I have already had too much good luck in my life," Porter said. He has earned awards ranging from the U.S. Academy of Arts & Letters, PEN American Center Literary Awards, and even a Guggenheim Fellowship.
In his travelogues, Porter visits overlooked historical sights, reminding the public of China’s 5,000-year-long history. His travel writing originally appeared in English, though Chinese translations have achieved widespread acclaim, outselling his original work 12 to 1.
On June 14, 2023, he won the "2023 Special Book Award of China," presented by China’s State Press and Publication Administration to foreign translators, writers, and publishers.
Bill Porter reflects upon his life as a translator and author. (Taiwan News photo)
From another century
Porter is buoyant, with bright eyes and an inquisitive nature. He likes to greet acquaintances with carefully pondered Confucian quotes.
Porter’s path into China began with an awakening from religious scholar Allen Watts's "The Way of Zen." He dropped out of a four-year graduate fellowship at Columbia University and moved to Taiwan.
His interest in meditation led him to pursue monastic life at first, seeking out the rapidly developing Buddhist community at Fo Guang Shan in Kaohsiung. However, this pursuit was unfulfilling, as monks here tended to be more interested in rituals and cultivating an active lay community rather than inner tranquility.
Porter later transferred to Ming Hai Monastery near Taipei, where he studied with Abbott Shi Wuming (釋悟明) who would serve as Chiang Kai-shek's spiritual advisor and the president of the Buddhist Association of the R.O.C. (BAROC). Porter would spend three years at Ming Hai Monastery under Wuming's tutelage, undertaking meditation practice and beginning his translation work.
Porter was later warned that his Chinese language ability would be limited by living in the monastery because, "monks don’t talk." This led him to leave the monastery and take up studies fulltime at Chinese Culture University in 1975. Porter later joined Taiwan's English language radio station, ICRT, to spearhead a new program called "Issues and Opinions," funded by a grant from the CIA-backed Asia Foundation.
While working for ICRT on the program as well as frequent news translations, Formosa Plastics Group Chair Winston Wong (王文洋) gave him US$9,000 to search out hermits living in remote mountainous areas. This research later became the basis for his first book, "Road to Heaven: Encounters with Chinese Hermits" (1993).
The success of the book led to more interest in his reporting skills, and soon, Metro News, a radio station in Hong Kong, commissioned him to produce 1,000 two-minute radio programs, according to Porter.
He would begin travelling six weeks at a time, each time returning to Hong Kong to produce radio episodes in rapid succession: three programs in the morning and three in the evening. Porter’s radio dispatches were wildly popular, filled with observations about the unintended intersection or clash of ancient and modern life in China.
The translator
"I was addicted to the experience of translation," Porter said. Others have translated works such as Lao Tzu's "Tao Te Ching," but Porter strives to add additional commentaries.
Porter even tackled "Cold Mountain Poems." Columbia University’s Burton Watson translated 100 of Cold Mountain's poems, but Porter felt compelled to translate the complete canon, which numbered 300 poems. Cold Mountain was revered by the Beatniks, with a number of such poems included in Jack Kerouac’s "Dharma Bums."
Porter’s first published translation was "P'u Ming's Oxherding Pictures & Verses," largely sold in Port Townsend, Washington, where an acquaintance from Taipei helped distribute the book.
"I liked the monastery, because I was attracted to the solitude, but every now and then I also liked to socialize," Porter said. In the early 1980s, Taipei had a community of about 30 to 40 expats, which met on a monthly basis and were keen to help each other out financially, or through job referrals, according to Porter.
"There was always someone asking you to do some English teaching at their company, and eventually this would lead to a more important role, such as quality control, and then assisting with foreign buyers," he said. Porter enjoyed these interactions, but traveling to and from the monastery could be difficult.
Furthermore, Taiwan’s Buddhist community was only beginning to form. "I spent about a year with Hsing Yun (釋星雲). He was the first person to introduce non-monastic practice to Taiwan. He was the person who really developed the sangha," Porter said.
"Sangha" is a term that refers to a community that jointly pursue dharma. It can refer to monks, nuns, lay practitioners, and even those who assist such religious practices.
Porter said that Hsing Yun was an infinite source of energy, ideas, and charisma. "He would convince many lay people to join his organization with the promise of something better 5-6 years later," he said.
Prior to Fo Guang Shan, many temples and monasteries were off-limits to lay people. "Hsing Yun was different. He encouraged an open community. They were stunned by his adoption of what is now known as Humanistic Buddhism," Porter said.
Humanistic Buddhism encourages individuals to do practical, compassionate actions in their everyday life, such as donating money, helping others, and cleaning their environment.
As for Porter's mission, it is translating Chinese spiritual and poetic works, which generally takes around two years each. When he finds the will or resources to travel, he gladly makes his way down the road wherever it may take him.
