Bill Porter: American follower of Chinese Zen

the Zen of Watermelon

To Porter, it was fate that brought him to Chinese Zen. At the start of the 1970s, despite little special interest or background in China studies, Porter chose to study the Chinese language for its relative ease of securing a scholarship along with anthropology at Columbia University. Once he began to explore the world of Chinese culture, however, he found it to be full of fascinating treasures. By chance one day he opened a book about Buddhist Zen, and was struck by how resonant and sensible he found the principles it laid out.

Porter met his first Chinese master, Monk Shouye, in New York City. On the first day of their acquaintance he was astounded to see that the master’s copy of the Avatamsaka Sutra had been writ- ten in his own blood. On the second day, Porter decided to convert to Buddhism under Monk Shouye’s tutelage. Monk Shouye could say only one English word– watermelon – so Porter would quip that his was the Zen of watermelon.

“My encounter with the master was what the Chinese called ‘yuanfen,’ or predetermined destiny,” Porter said. “He taught me to sit in meditation and practice Buddhism. Eventually I learnt that this practice was more important than getting a Ph.D.” Though the language barrier made it difficult for the two to communicate, Porter developed a deep and profound respect for his master’s attitude towards life. Two years later, Porter gave up his Ph.D. scholarship and started the life dedicated to practicing Buddhism in Taiwan.

After a short sojourn at Taiwan’s largest Buddhist monastery Fo Guang Shan, he transferred to Hai-Ming Temple close to Taipei in 1972. The Zen approach to Buddhism advocates finding enlightenment from within through selfcultivation, playing down the importance of following every Buddhist ritual. It believes the practitioner can gain religious insights not only through meditation and chanting the sutras, but also in the course of going through the banalities of everyday life, such as fetching water, sweeping floors, and even eating and sleeping. Disciples are usually left to discover Buddhist insights by themselves, and their learned teacher only provides guidance, if needed, when they reach perplexing turning points in their spiritual lives.

Porter was thus left alone to find his own way and received little direction from his master. Life at the monastery was simple. He got up before dawn to chant, and in the evening listened to the bells. The material concerns he had to deal with during his time there were basic – three vegetarian meals a day, a room, a bed, a mosquito net, and no bills.

“After two and a half years, the abbot asked me if I wanted to be a monk,” Porter recalled. “I felt embarrassed as I had lived and eaten for free there for such a long time. But I had met the girl who would later become my wife, so I didn’t want to be a monk. Then I left.”

Predetermined Destiny

In the temple Porter had gone by a monastic name, Shengyun, but on leaving he needed to find a new name. One day, he glanced at an advertisement in the bus saying “black pine and red water.” He made a small change and made it his new name – Red Pine, or Chi Song. It was coincidently similar to the name of legendary immortal Taoist, Chi Songzi.

In the early 1980s Porter married the Taiwanese girl he had met during his time at the Hai-Ming Temple. “My wife became my master,” he said. Soon they had children, and he found a position as translator at an English radio service. He translated Taiwan news into English and conducted a half-hour interview every week.

He also translated poems and scriptures. When Porter translated the works of Buddhist poet Han Shan (aka Cold Mountain, about 691-793), he found the work went so smoothly that his immortal namesake might have been helping him. After Cold Mountain Poems was published in 1983, Porter set out to translate the poems of Shiwu (1272-1352), another poet hermit who spent time in the mountains. It was during this translation that he began to wonder if there were still people practicing Buddhism in the mountains today. He was very curious.

But Porter didn’t know where he could find any such hermits. It was Monk Jinghui who by chance directed him towards the Zhongnan Mountains. “It was destiny that brought me that guidance.”

Funded by Wang Wenyang, the son of Taiwan’s richest family whom he had befriended, Porter traveled to Xi’an and found a car to take him to the mountain range. He chose a road arbitrarily and eventually found some hermits. For two months, Porter haunted the mountain and got to know several recluses, finding them to be “the happiest people.” “It was then,” he said, “that I made the decision to write a book telling the world about these people.” This became Road to Heaven: Encounters with Chinese Hermits.

The existence of hermits in China can be traced back 5,000 years. Porter pointed out how these hermits were different from those in the West, who would usually withdraw entirely from society. Instead these hermits would spend time in the mountains practicing in solitude and return to society to help others along their spiritual path.

The Zhongnan mountain range is huge, stretching 200 km from north to south. Porter was usually alone deep in the mountains, seeing only the occasional farmers. He compared temple practice to an undergraduate degree, whereas practicing Buddhism in the mountains was a Ph.D. However, although Chinese culture looks up to those who can maintain pureness and solitude in the heart while living in the noisy city as “big” hermits, it regards those living in the isolation of mountains as “small” hermits.

Typical mountain hermits usually start their spiritual journey in a monastery. After achieving a certain level of spiritual strength, they go into solitude responding to their inner heart, and build a small wooden hut in a mountain in which to live. They usually spend three to five years in the mountains before returning to the city to live as “big”hermits. But, according to Porter, one in every five or six hermits will stay in the mountains.

Though “small” hermits live separately, they tend to be located on the same mountain so they can help each other. Older hermits will teach newcomers basic living skills like chopping wood, fetching water, and Qigong practices to help them keep warm during cold weather. The most important knowledge passed on is how to identify edible food in the wild.

Porter still returns to the Zhongnan Mountains every couple of years to say hello to his old friends. Sometimes he finds one or two new huts, and always hears the more experienced hermits express doubt that they will make it through the winter. It’s a lonely and difficult path, and not everyone is prepared for it. Porter himself understands their motivations, but doesn’t feel he has it in him to lead this kind of life. He loves hot baths and good food too much.

Different Approaches, same Destiny

Though Road to Heaven: Encounters with Chinese Hermits gained Porter a reputation for his knowledge of hermits and the Zhongnan Mountain range, his real passion is Zen Buddhism in general. Avid reading allowed him to better understand the spirit of Zen, and soon his translations and book on hermits were joined by other publications.

In 2006, Porter published Zen Baggage: A Pilgrimage to China, recording his travel across the country from Beijing down almost to Hong Kong to trace the development of Zen, which originated in northern China and later spread to the south. The story starts in Bailin Temple in Hebei Province, touching on Shaolin Temple in the middle of the country, and then to Sizu, or “Fourth Successor to the Zen Founder,” Temple and Wuzu, “Fifth Successor,” Temple, before finally ending up at Nanhua Temple in Caoxi, Guangdong Province.

According to Porter’s study, Bodhidharma, the founder of Zen Buddhism, had few followers. It wasn’t until Bodhidharma’s fourth successor, referred to as the fourth patriarch, who presided over some 500 followers, that the sect began to grow in influence to become one of the most influential in China. Under the fifth patriarch, Hongren, Zen Buddhism’s flock grew to 1,000. Hongren was followed by Huineng, the sixth and final patriarch. “Though semi-literate, Huineng traveled to the south and had over 3,000 followers,” said Porter.

Porter concluded that there are several major characteristics of the Zen approach to Buddhism. “Disciples like to live together. Other than when sleeping, they practice their beliefs constantly and regard everything – whether sitting in meditation or washing the dishes – as part of it. Other approaches might not pay attention to the latter.”

Though himself dedicated to Zen Buddhism, Porter has not ignored other schools of thought, and feels that they each have intrinsic value. “In China there are three good approaches to self-cultivation – Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism,” he said. “It’s impossible to take two approaches at the same time. You should pursue only one. But if you come across heaven through your approach, you will find people who have come there through other ways, too.”

Porter’s latest book is The Lankavatara Sutra: Translation and Commentary, a work recording his thoughts after spending some three years reading the classic sutra, which is a challenge even for native Chinese. But Porter thinks he has an advantage. “I believe I was Chinese in a previous life,” he explains. “An ancient person versed in classical Chinese.”