Road to Heaven: Encounters with Chinese Hermits |  | Author: Bill Porter
Publisher: Counterpoint
Category: Book
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Rating:  29 reviews
Sales Rank: 47136
Media: Paperback
Pages: 240
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.7
Dimensions (in): 8.9 x 6 x 0.7
ISBN: 1582435235
Dewey Decimal Number: 299.510922
EAN: 9781582435237
ASIN: 1582435235
Publication Date: September 29, 2009
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Amazon.com Review
From 1966 to 1976 the malevolent rage of the Chinese Cultural Revolution struck a devastating blow to all religions in China, destroying countless temples and shrines that had stood for centuries and forcibly returning thousands of monks and nuns to lay life. Bill Porter had been told that the venerable hermetic tradition in China had also succumbed, but he went looking anyway. What he found, Taoist and Buddhist monks and nuns living in huts and caves deep in the mountains of central China, is more than a revelation, it is a glimmer of hope for the future of religion in China.
Product Description
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.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 29
 The hermit's life is not all warm and fuzzy October 16, 1999
35 out of 36 found this review helpful
Unlike most books on Taoism, Buddhism and Zen this book is not philosophically cute, it doesn't warm the mind, and it's photographs don't make you wish you were on the next plane to China. This book just is. It taught me that being a Chinese hermit is sitting on a dirt floor in a cold, damp, stone hut with a leaky roof and snow, not rose petals, blowing around outside. Where other books left me with images of silk robes, and sitting cross-legged on bamboo mats in beautiful pagodas, this book slapped me in the face with a muddy, wet rag. Even the pictures were in black and white and although the hermits radiated an inner beauty and peace, their surroundings looked so bleak and inhospitable. I got a bang out of their disdain and boredom with tourists, and I now respect these wise and wonderful hermits all the more for the physical harshness of their living conditions and the clarity of their minds. As it was with one brilliantly in-tune hermit: "While he was talking, the gruel boiled over, and the watchdog was invited in to clean it up". He then concluded his fascinating discourse with the author with these words, "I'm just a mountain man, you know. I just string words together. They don't necessarily make any sense. How about some hot peppers in your potatoes?" For my little, insignificant mind anyway, raw Zen and raw Taoism.
Startling and hopeful May 22, 2001
A. Hogan (Brooklyn, NY USA)
21 out of 21 found this review helpful
Bill Porter,a.k.a. Red Pine is a wonderful tranlator of poetry. His collected songs of Cold mOuntain and Stone House are cherished companions. When I came upon this book, it intrigued me: hermits STILL living in China? Well Red Pine and his friend Steven Johnson go forth into some extraordinary parts of China{including a heavily fortified area near the main nuclear works of China} to find some astonishing people. Some of the temples were still functioning,most had been decimated by Maos cadres during the Cultural revolution. Still the air of hope is there. Old Taoists' lving alone for years upon years,almost completely disassocaited from the turbulence of the past 50 years. Mostly it is a remarkable story of hope,of faith and belief held together through some of the most horrific suffering ever inflicted on a civilization. The cover Photograph , of an aged nun praying is haunting and quite beautiful, as are most of the photos which accompany the text. Bill Porter lets these remakable people do the talking, and does not posture or place himself unduly into the stories{which is refreshing in and of itself} Highly recommneded!
The Trail of the Tao September 17, 2003
OAKSHAMAN (Algoma, WI United States)
23 out of 24 found this review helpful
What a great book! An American expatriate living at a Buddhist monastery in Taiwan takes advantage of the lifting of travel restrictions to see if China's legendary tradition of hermits still endures. He arrives in 1989, during the student demonstrations in Tienanmen Square. The officials assure him that the decadent hermits have been completely wiped out long ago. In spite of this, the scholar presses inland to the heart of China. He finds himself drawn to the Chungnan mountains- the mighty spine of the dragon, the bones of China itself, dividing the Yangtze country in the south from the Yellow river country to the north. He doesn't realize that this is where shamanism first arose in China, if not in the human world. This was where the Immortals lived. This was where Lao-tzu wrote the Tao te Ching. Here, he finds his hermits, Buddhist and Taoist, young and old, male and female. I think that the best part in the entire book was when one ancient hermit, who had been living in the mountains since 1939, asked the author, "Who is this "Mao" that you speak of?" After his initial contact with Chungnan hermits (he would return) the author heads back down into modern China. He finds that the Tienanmen Massacre has occurred. Upon reading this book I got a sense that the true bones of China were untouched by Communism, as they will no doubt be left untouched by Corporatism. I found this book to be inspiring- you could not invent a piece of fiction this good. However, I also found myself wishing that the author had brought that ancient hermit back with him to face down the butchers of Tienanmen. One man centered in the Tao can do much....
On the Road January 26, 2001
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
This is the book that got me started on Taoism and Chinese Buddhism. I had just finished Peter France's Hermits, on Western hermits but with a tantalizing reference to Lao Tzu and Chinese hermits. The only single intro to Chinese hermits was (still is) Porter's. Yes, it's a travelogue, with personal idiosyncrasies, but crammed with historical anecdotes and information. The spare interviews are, upon later investigation of Chinese hermits throughout history, just right. The book is a travel guide because Porter's knowledge is invaluable; like a travel guide, it assumes only your curiosity and empathy. After this beginner's encounter, the reader wants more, and I recommend Porter's own translations of Han-shan and Stonehouse as follow-up.
A book unlike any other August 31, 2004
Max Hurst (Richardson, Tx United States)
8 out of 8 found this review helpful
I read this book over the fall of 2002. I read it very slowly to match the books own pace.I am rereading it now and again find it to be one of the most enjoyable books ever. I love Bill Porter's translations of Stonehouse et al and I think we owe a lot to these guys in Port Townsend and other obscure places for taking the time to share this quiet wabi-sabi stuff with us. In this book Bill ventures into the remote Chung-nan mountains looking for any left-over Buddhist and Taoist hermits from the Cultural revolution of Mao tse tung and he finds a surprisingly resiliant culture indeed. His talks,shared cigars& koolaid teas with the assorted hermits are a delight to hear about. All of us Taoist Zen afficianados wonder if any of these guys suvived and they have. This book was written in the late eighties early ninties however and now I wonder if they still do as many were quite old.
Anyway again all praise to Bill Porter.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 29
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