""The Mountain Poems of Stonehouse" is] a tough-spirited book of enlightened free verse."--"Kyoto Journal"

The Zen master and mountain hermit Stonehouse--considered one of the greatest Chinese Buddhist poets--used poetry as his medium of instruction. Near the end of his life, monks asked him to record what he found of interest on his mountain; Stonehouse delivered to them hundreds of poems and an admonition: "Do not to try singing these poems. Only if you sit on them will they do you any good."

Newly revised, with the Chinese originals and Red Pine's abundant commentary and notes, "The Mountain Poems of Stonehouse" is an essential volume for Zen students, readers of Asian literature, and all who love the outdoors.

"After eating I dust off a boulder and sleep
and after sleeping I go for a walk
on a cloudy late summer day
an oriole sings from a sapling
briefly enjoying the season
joyfully singing out its heart
true happiness is right here
why chase an empty name"

Stonehouse was born in 1272 in Changshu, China, and took his name from a cave at the edge of town. He became a highly respected dharma master in the Zen Buddhist tradition.

Red Pine is one of the world's leading translators of Chinese poetry. "Every time I translate a book of poems," he writes, "I learn a new way of dancing. And the music has to be Chinese." He lives near Seattle, Washington.

One of the best-selling English-language translations of the Taoteching.

"A refreshing new translation. . . . Highly recommended."--"Library Journal"

"With its clarity and scholarly range, this version of the "Taoteching" works as both a readable text and a valuable resource of Taoist interpretation."--"Publishers Weekly"

"Read it in confidence that it comes as close as possible to expressing the Chinese text in English."--Victor Mair, professor of Chinese studies, University of Pennsylvania

"Lao-tzu's""Taoteching" is an essential volume of world literature, and Red Pine's nuanced and authoritative English translation--reissued and published with the Chinese text "en face"--is one of the best-selling versions. What sets this volume apart from other translations are its commentaries by scores of Taoist scholars, poets, monks, recluses, adepts, and emperors spanning more than two thousand years. "I envisioned this book," Red Pine notes in his introduction, "as a discussion between Lao-tzu and a group of people who have thought deeply about his text."

"Sages have no mind of their own"
"their mind is the mind of the people"
"to the good they are good"
"to the bad they are good"
"until they become good"
"to the true they are true"
"to the false they are true"
"until they become true . . ."

Lao-tzu (ca. 600 BCE) was a Chinese sage who Confucius called "a dragon among men." He served as Keeper of the Royal Archives and authored the "Taoteching."

Red Pine is one of the world's foremost translators of Chinese literary and religious texts.

Having translated The Diamond Sutra and The Heart Sutra, and following with The Platform Sutra, Red Pine now turns his attention to perhaps the greatest Sutra of all. The Lankavatara Sutra is the holy grail of Zen. Zen's first patriarch, Bodhidharma, gave a copy of this text to his successor, Hui-k'o, and told him everything he needed to know was in this book. Passed down from teacher to student ever since, this is the only Zen sutra ever spoken by the Buddha. Although it covers all the major teachings of Mahayana Buddhism, it contains but two teachings: that everything we perceive as being real is nothing but the perceptions of our own mind and that the knowledge of this is something that must be realized and experienced for oneself and cannot be expressed in words. In the words of Chinese Zen masters, these two teachings became known as  have a cup of tea" and  taste the tea."This is the first translation into English of the original text used by Bodhidharma, which was the Chinese translation made by Gunabhadra in 443 and upon which all Chinese Zen masters have relied ever since. In addition to presenting one of the most difficult of all Buddhist texts in clear English, Red Pine has also added summaries, explanations, and notes, including relevant Sanskrit terms on the basis of which the Chinese translation was made. This promises to become an essential text for anyone seeking to deepen their understanding or knowledge of Zen.

The Heart Sutra is Buddhism in a nutshell. It has had the most profound and wide-reaching influence of any text in Buddhism. This short text covers more of the Buddha's teachings than any other scripture, and it does so without being superficial or hurried. Although the original author is unknown, he was clearly someone with a deep realization of the Dharma.For this new English translation, Red Pine, award-winning translator of Chinese poetry and religious texts, has utilized various Sanskrit and Chinese versions, refining the teachings of dozens of ancient teachers together with his own commentary to offer a profound word-for-word explication. Divided into four parts and broken into thirty-five lines to make it easier to study or chant, and containing a glossary of names, terms, and texts, The Heart Sutra is a wise book of deep teaching destined to become the standard edition of this timeless statement of Mahayana truth.

In 1989, Bill Porter, having spent much of his life studying and translating Chinese religious and philosophical texts, began to wonder if the Buddhist hermit tradition still existed in China. At the time, it was believed that the Cultural Revolution had dealt a lethal blow to all religions in China, destroying countless temples and shrines, and forcibly returning thousands of monks and nuns to a lay life.
But when Porter travels to the Chungnan mountains -- the historical refuge of ancient hermits -- he discovers that the hermit tradition is very much alive, as dozens of monks and nuns continue to lead solitary lives in quiet contemplation of their faith deep in the mountains.
Part travelogue, part history, part sociology, and part religious study, this record of extraordinary journeys to an unknown China sheds light on a phenomenon unparalleled in the West. Porter's discovery is more than a revelation, and uncovers the glimmer of hope for the future of religion in China.

Zen Buddhism is often said to be a practice of "mind-to-mind transmission" without reliance on texts -- in fact, some great teachers forbid their students to read or write. But Buddhism has also inspired some of the greatest philosophical writings of any religion, and two such works lie at the center of Zen: The Heart Sutra, which monks recite all over the world, and The Diamond Sutra, said to contain answers to all questions of delusion and dualism. This is the Buddhist teaching on the "perfection of wisdom" and cuts through all obstacles on the path of practice.

As Red Pine explains: "The Diamond Sutra may look like a book, but it's really the body of the Buddha. It's also your body, my body, all possible bodies. But it's a body with nothing inside and nothing outside. It doesn't exist in space or time. Nor is it a construct of the mind. It's no mind. And yet because it's no mind, it has room for compassion. This book is the offering of no mind, born of compassion for all suffering beings. Of all the sutras that teach this teaching, this is the diamond."

"It is one of the very first art books which helped artists develop the aptitude for seeing the inner essence of various natural phenomena."--"Shambhala Sun"

""Guide to Capturing a Plum Blossom" could fit neatly into any number of contemporary-sounding categories: hybrid text, art book, lyric essay, etc. It is a book that relies on interdependence of image and text, of history and the present, of evocation and concrete image."--"The Rumpus"

"Red Pine introduces Western readers to both the text itself and the traditions it has inherited."--"Virginia Quarterly Review"

Through a series of brief four-lined poems and illustrations, Sung Po-jen aims at training artistic perception: how to truly "see" a plum blossom. First published in AD 1238, "Guide to Capturing a Plum Blossom" is considered the world's earliest-known printed art books. This bilingual edition contains the one hundred woodblock prints from the 1238 edition, calligraphic Chinese poems, and Red Pine's graceful translations and illuminating commentaries.

"Tiger Tracks"

"winter wind bends dry grass
flicks its tail along the ridge
fearful force on the loose
don't try to braid old whiskers"

Red Pine's commentary: "The Chinese liken the north wind that blows down from Siberia in winter to a roaring tiger. China is home to both the Siberian and the South China tigers. While both are on the verge of extinction, the small South China tiger still appears as far north as the Chungnan Mountains, where hermits have shown me their tracks."

Sung Po-jen was a Chinese poet of the thirteenth century.

Red Pine (a.k.a. Bill Porter) is one of the world's foremost translators of Chinese poetry and religious texts. His published translations include "The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain," "Lao-tzu's Taoteching," and "Poems of the Masters." He lives near Seattle, Washington.

" Translator] Red Pine's out-of-the-mainstream work is uncanny and clearheaded."--"Kyoto Journal"

"Red Pine's succinct and informative notes for each poem are core samples of the cultural, political, and literary history of China."--"Asian Reporter"

Wei Ying-wu (737-791) is considered one of the great poets of the T'ang Dynasty, ranked alongside such poets as Tu Fu, Li Pai, and Wang Wei. Strangely, though, only a handful of Wei Ying-wu's poems have ever been translated into English.

True to his reputation as one of the world's leading translators of Chinese, Red Pine (a.k.a. Bill Porter) translates 175 of Wei's poems and demonstrates why he is "one of the world's great poets." Presented in a bilingual Chinese-English format, with extensive notes and an informative introduction, "In Such Hard Times" is a long-overdue world premiere.

"A courtyard of bamboo in the snow at midnight"
"a lone lantern a book on my table"
"if I hadn't encountered the teachings of inaction"
"how else could I have gained this life of leisure"

Wei Ying-wu (737-791) is considered one of the great poets of the T'ang Dynasty. Born into an aristocratic family in decline, Wei served in several government posts without distinction. He disdained the literary establishment of his day and fashioned a poetic style counter to the mainstream: one of profound simplicity centered in the natural world.

Red Pine (a.k.a. Bill Porter) is one of the world's leading translators of Chinese literary and religious texts.

A Zen-Taoist poetry classic, in a handsome Chinese-English format

This definitive translation of Han Shan's poetry appears in a bilingual Chinese-English format. Included are extensive notes, a preface by renowned translator Red Pine, a findings list, and photographs of the cave and surrounding area where Han Shan ("Cold Mountain") lived.

Cold Mountain is one of the most revered poets in China. He was a Taoist/Buddhist hermit who begged for food at temples, often sang and drank with cowherds, and became an immortal figure in the history of Chinese literature and Zen. His poems were written twelve-hundred years ago on the rocks, trees, and temple walls of China's Tientai Mountains. This revised edition also includes poems by Han Shan's colleagues, Pickup (Shih-te) and Big Stick (Feng-kan), translated here for the first time.

As Red Pine begins his Preface, "If China's literary critics were put in charge of organizing a tea for their country's greatest poets of the past, Cold Mountain would not be on many invitation lists. Yet no other poet occupies the altars of China's temples and shines, where his statue often stands alongside immortals and bodhisattvas. He is equally revered in Korea and Japan. And when Jack Kerouac dedicated "The Dharma Bums" to him in 1958, Cold Mountain became the guardian angel of a generation of Westerners as well."

Reviews of Red Pine's "Collected Songs of Cold Mountain"

"The translator's preface describes his rendition of the life of Cold Mountain, offering an excellent historical and philosophical context for the simple yet profound poems attributed to the poet."--"Library Journal"

"These are poems one must taste fully and drink whole... The poems of Han-shan read like a journal or memoir, and they often work as Zen koans, challenging the mind to go beyond the words and reason."--"Parabola"

"Red Pine... has given us the first full collection of Han Shan's songs in an idiom that is clear, graceful, and neutral enough to last... His translations are accurate and mirror the music of the originals... "The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain" is a considerable performance and a truly valuable book. Thanks to Copper Canyon's high standards of bookmaking, it is beautiful to hold and behold; thanks to Red Pine's care, it will survive as the definitive text of Han Shan in English for many years. It belongs on the shelf of everyone with an interest in poetry and... should be opened often."--"The Bloomsbury Review"

"An exquisite publication that captures the Taoist practice of passionate attention, of being still inside and relaxed in the comforts and discomforts around you, going nowhere else... We discover this in the poet's vision and spirit, in the precision and balance of the translator's scholarship and heart, and in the elegant wilderness of the bookmaker's art around them. On every level this is a beautiful book."--Judges' comments on awarding the WESTAF Award in Translation

"Cold Mountain's colloquial poetry...sound like inspired raps--marvelously direct, with skips, jumps, verbal nudges and abrupt revelations... The volume is beautifully produced, with a long and careful introduction... This is an indispensable book."--"The Berkeley Monthly"

"More than anyone else, Red Pine has made Han Shan's] spontaneous poems accessible to Western readers... In this new, expanded edition, invaluable notes and an extensive new critical preface provide a contextual awareness, not just for the poems, but for their sources in Buddhist and Confucian culture."--"Inquiring Mind"

Red Pine is one of the world's leading translators of Chinese literary and religious texts. His other translations include "Lao-tzu's Taoteching" (isbn 9781556592904) and "Poems of the Masters: China's Classic Anthology of T'ang and Sung Dynasty Verse" (isbn 9781556591952).