Zen Baggage

Name: Zen Baggage
ISBN: 9787541150838

Bill PorterSichuan Literature and Art Publishing House2018

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Word count: 260 words
Chapters: 16
Series: Bill Porter Works
ISBN: 9787541150838

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Summary

Zen Baggage is another travelogue of Chinese culture by the American sinologist and translator Bill Porter, following Road to Heaven. Since 1972, Porter has lived for long periods in Taiwan and Hong Kong and traveled frequently in mainland China, translating Buddhist texts and classical poetry while recording the landscapes, people, and events he encountered along the way. This book records a long journey in the spring of 2006, starting from Beijing and traveling south all the way to Hong Kong: following the geographical thread of the development of Chinese Chan Buddhism, he visits the monasteries where six Chan patriarchs once practiced and taught, including Bailin Monastery, Shaolin Monastery, the Fourth Patriarch's Monastery, the Fifth Patriarch's Monastery, and Nanhua Monastery at Caoxi. The book interweaves several kinds of content: first, the historical development of the places visited and the origins of Buddhist relics; second, transcripts of interviews with monks and editors of Chan journals, discussing the transmission of Chan, the shortage of qualified teachers, and the place of language in transmitting the Dharma; third, the travels and traces of patriarchs across different eras, as well as the earliest documentary records concerning Chan; and fourth, his own travel observations, physical sensations, and years of understanding of Chan. This approach, blending historical research, on-site observation, and personal reflection, makes the book both a concise historical and geographical guide to Chinese Chan Buddhism and a travel notebook kept over dozens of days. The author's perspective carries the curiosity of an outsider and also the thoughtfulness of someone long close to Chinese culture; the tone is calm, with occasional American humor, but never frivolous. The "baggage" in the title is both the luggage carried on the journey and, by extension, the psychological burden that accumulates over a lifetime and is hard to put down. In an unhurried way, the book asks how a person can see direction clearly and how to let go.

Editor's review

这是一本“把禅宗史读成路书”的书。比尔·波特没有写成一本教人打坐入定的指南，而是背上行囊，从北京一路走到香港，去六位禅宗祖师留下足迹的地方实地看一看：祖庭的殿宇还在不在，僧人每天怎么过，禅在今天靠什么传下去。书里既有对寺院沿革和祖师行迹的梳理，也有和僧人、编辑面对面的谈话，他甚至不回避“合格的禅老师太少”“语言到底能不能传达道”这类难答的问题。值得留意的是它的结构：十六章标题都以“不”“无”起头，从“不立文字”“不见如来”一路排到“无终”“不归路”，既是禅宗语汇的化用，也暗暗对应着自北向南的路程。这种安排让一本游记有了骨架，读来不散。中文版由叶南翻译，译笔干净，保留了原作者那种带点冷幽默的旁观口吻。对于想了解中国禅宗地理、又不想读过于专门的学术著作的读者，这是一条相当友好的入口。

Who it's for

A good fit for

对中国禅宗历史与祖庭地理感兴趣的读者
喜欢《空谷幽兰》一类文化寻访游记的人
希望以轻松方式接触佛教文化常识的普通读者
计划走访国内寺院、想要背景知识的旅行者

Not a good fit for

希望获得系统禅修方法与坐禅指导的读者
期待严格学术考据与详尽注释的研究者
偏好强情节、快节奏叙事的读者

Reading tips

可以对照中国地图读，把北京到香港的路线与六位祖师的驻地道场一一标记出来。
读到涉及祖师行迹的段落时，不妨配合《六祖坛经》或禅宗入门读物查阅，理解会更完整。
把它当作旅行随笔而非修行手册，不必急于求“悟”，顺着作者的节奏读即可。
若对语言与传法关系的讨论感兴趣，可重点读与禅学刊物编辑访谈的部分。

About the publisher

Sichuan Literature and Art Publishing House China · Founded in 1984

Sichuan Literature and Art Publishing House is a professional literary and art publishing institution. It mainly publishes books on contemporary and modern literature, foreign literature, poetry and prose, music and art, and literary theory. Judging from the books in the database, the house places considerable emphasis on classic works and foreign literature. Representative titles include Lu Xun's Call to Arms and Dawn Blossoms Plucked at Dusk, Lao She's Camel Xiangzi, Xiao Hong's The Story of Hulan River, J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit, William Shakespeare's Hamlet, and Hermann Hesse's Siddhartha. Its translator resources include Deng Jiawan, Shi Zhongge, Du Yunci, and Zhu Shenghao. Common categories include social fiction, classic works, foreign literature, world classics, literary appreciation, and classical poetry, reflecting a publishing profile that balances Chinese and foreign literary classics with literary appreciation.

Chapter 1 Not Setting Up Words
Chapter 2 Not Seeing the Tathagata
Chapter 3 No Mountain
Chapter 4 No Home
Chapter 5 No Beginning
Chapter 6 No Form
Chapter 7 No Mind
Chapter 8 Not Working, Not Eating
Chapter 9 No Mirror and No Dust
Chapter 10 No Leisure
Chapter 11 Not Seeing the Peach Blossom Spring
Chapter 12 Not Distinguishing East from West
Chapter 13 Not Distinguishing South from North
Chapter 14 No Death
Chapter 15 No End
Chapter 16 No Return Road

FAQ

这本书是讲禅修方法的吗？

不是。它主要记录作者2006年从北京到香港寻访禅宗祖师道场的旅程，兼及禅宗历史、寺院见闻与人物访谈，属于文化游记，而非坐禅教程。

没有佛教基础能读吗？

可以。全书以行程为线索，历史背景交代得比较清楚，语言平实，作者本人也是以外来者视角观察，入门读者不会觉得门槛太高。

这本书和《空谷幽兰》是什么关系？

两书同属“比尔·波特作品”系列，作者相同、译者同为叶南。《空谷幽兰》寻访的是终南山隐士，本书则沿禅宗祖师的足迹南下，主题转向中国禅宗的历史与现状。

中文版有多个版本吗？

有。南海出版公司2010年出过一版，四川文艺出版社自2014年起多次再版，2018年版书号为9787541150838，各版正文与目录基本一致。

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About the author

Bill Porter Author · American · 1943

Bill Porter (1943–), pen name Chisong, is an American writer, translator, and sinologist. Born in Los Angeles, he studied anthropology and Chinese at Columbia University and went to Taiwan in 1972 to practice at Fo Guang Shan. He has long translated Chinese Buddhist and Daoist classics and classical poetry, and he also writes about China's landscapes and culture from a traveler's perspective. Eight of his works are included here, among them Road to Heaven, The Silk Road, and travel books on the Yellow River and Jiangnan. His subjects span culture, prose, travel, and modern poetry, and his bilingual interpretation of the Thousand Poets' Collection reflects his approach to Chinese-English reading. His writing combines walking through places with reading classics, in a plain and natural style, and has helped introduce Chinese culture to English-speaking readers. He received the 2018 Thornton Wilder Translation Prize.