Bill Porter: Moments of Zen

by Zhang Hong

Clad in track pants accented by a red scarf around his neck， Bill Porter frequently shows wide grins from behind his whiskers. An American disciple of Chinese Zen Buddhism， Porter revealed a whole new world to both Chinese and English readers with his book Road to Heaven： Encounters with Chinese Hermits. This book is a collection of his interviews with Chinese hermits. He followed it with several other books， including The Heart Sutra， Zen Baggage， and Yellow River Odyssey.

Initial Watermelon Zen

In the 1970s， Porter was enrolled in Columbia Universitys anthropology Ph.D program. He took some Chinese language courses in order to get a scholarship even though he had little interest in the Chinese culture at the time. As his studies continued， however， he was eventually mesmerized by the profundity of Chinese culture.

Later， a great opportunity emerged. In New York， Porter met his first Chinese master， an old monk named Shou Ye. While learning about Zen， Porter was so amazed to see a copy of Avatamsaka Sutra written with the masters own blood. Soon， he converted to Buddhism. Since the only English word his master could say was“watermelon，” Porter jokingly told people that he was learning “Watermelon Zen”from his master.

Halfway through his Ph.D. program， Porter headed to Taiwan and stayed on Foguang Mountain for a while. He spent his days studying in the morning and playing basketball in the afternoon. Sometimes he even played as a teammate of Venerable Master Hsing Yun. For the quiet American， Foguang Mountain seemed way too noisy， so he went to Haiming Temple， near Taipei. During his stay there， he sat in meditation for three or four hours every day and read many bilingual books， which helped his Chinese improve by leaps and bounds.

While Porter stayed at Haiming Temple， Master Wu Ming， the abbot， gave him a self published book of poetry titled Collected Poems by Han Shan. Porter was fascinated by the book and began translating poems by Han Shan （691-793）， an eminent monk of the Tang Dynasty， into English.

Master Wu Ming had no idea how to teach a Western student. All he could do was grab a wooden board， knock on it three times， and ask Porter， “Hear it？”which meant it was time to eat.

During his stay at Haiming Temple， Porter never asked his master a question， but he naturally understood the importance of meals. Indeed eating is part of a key Zen phrase： “Eat when hungry， go to bed when sleepy.” The proverb underscores the importance of performing one thing at a time.

Two and a half years later， Master Wu Ming asked Porter if he wanted to become a monk. Ashamed that he had been “free loading” at the temple and it never occurred to him to join the monastery， Porter fled quickly.

Interview with Hermits in Zhongnan Mountain

After translating many Han Shan poems， Porter started working on poetry by Shi Wu， a monk of the Yuan Dynasty（1271-1368）， which further aroused his interest in ancient Chinese monks. “Do any Chinese people still live on mountains to pursue Buddhist truths today？” Just imagining them made Porters pulse race.

Through business connections， Porter met Winston Wang， eldest son of Wang Yung-ching， chairman of Formosa Plastics Group， and they became good friends. When Wang found that Porter wanted to search for hermits on Chinas mainland， he offered to sponsor the author financially.

When Porter finally arrived on the mainland， he had no idea how to locate the hermits. He happened to meet Master Jing Hui， who advised him that the place to start would be Zhongnan Mountain.

He left immediately for Xian and chartered a vehicle to take him all the way to the foot of the mountain， which stretches 200 kilometers north to south. Except for herb pickers， Porter was all alone. Over the next two months， he climbed up and down the mountain， meeting and befriending the hermits he had been dreaming of. The sages appeared to be the happiest people he had ever seen.

“It suddenly occurred to me that I had to write a book about these people so that the rest of the world can know about them，”he recalls. So he sat down and began penning Road to Heaven： Encounters with Chinese Hermits. The history of Chinese hermits can be traced back 5，000 years. To Porter， it was amazing that these people train and study in the mountain before turning to help others.

Although hermits live in solitude， they usually congregate on a single mountain in order to help each other. Novice hermits lack all the necessary skills to survive on the mountain， so veterans teach them how to cut wood and where to get water. They learn qigong （a health-oriented art involving both body and mind） to stay warm in the cold weather and how to identify edible flora on the mountain.

Ever since he left the mountain， Porter has continued efforts to visit his old friends there via Xian every two years. After being exposed to the hermits， he tasted the hardship of their lives. After living so long in a world of hot baths and fine dining， he could have never imagined living a life like that.

Better Classical Chinese than Colloquial

The publication of Road to Heaven made Porter well known and associated with hermits and Zhongnan Mountain. With sentences written in classical style cited extensively in his book， he jokingly claimed he was better in classical Chinese than colloquial.

Porter returned to China in 2006 and traveled all the way to Hong Kong from Beijing. He soon wrote and published another book： Zen Baggage： A Pilgrimage to China， in which he traced the history of Zen in China. He discovered several characteristics of Zen： “People need to live together in a group. Zen starts the moments you get up. Meditation is part of Zen， washing dishes is also a part even though other religions may not give much attention to that one.”

The history of Zen spreads from north to south. From Bolin Temple， Porter headed south to Shaolin Temple， then to Sizu（Fourth Patriarch） Temple， Wuzu （Fifth Patriarch） Temple， and finally to Nanhua Temple in Caoxi.

Porter discovered that earlier Zen patriarchs only had several disciples. During the time of the Fourth Patriarch， Zen gradually spread to other parts of China. He amassed 500 students， who lived together and supported themselves through farming. “From that point on， Zen became the most influential religious school in the country.”

Subsequently， the Fifth Patriarch had over 1，000 students. After the teachings were transferred to the Sixth Patriarch， Hui Neng， despite his lack of education， he traveled south and converted over 3，000 people.

After completing Zen Baggage， Porter started on his next work， Lankavatara Sutra – the classic of Bodhidharma. He spent the next three years working on the classic， which is so complicated that even native Chinese people have trouble understanding it.

Despite his long exposure to the Zen religion， Porter doesnt hold anything against other Chinese religions. “There are three excellent entrances to the spiritual world in China： Confucianism， Buddhism， and Taoism，” he asserted. “You can not simultaneously enter through two gates. You have to use only one. Once inside， youll discover people inside who came in through other entrances.”

has continued efforts to visit his old friends there via Xian every two years. After being exposed to the hermits， he tasted the hardship of their lives. After living so long in a world of hot baths and fine dining， he could have never imagined living a life like that.