A Journey of Pilgrimage

By Xie Shengyu

Bill Porter, an older American, has been to China more than 30 times.

He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. His father was an entrepreneur running 52 hotels in Western US. Later on,his parents divorced, which took a tremendous emotional toll on him.

In the 1970s while pursuing his doctoral degree in anthropology at Columbia University, Bill Porter dropped out, took a trip to Taiwan, a province in China,and chose to live a quiet and simple life in a Buddhist temple,awakened by morning bell and reminded when to retire for the evening by the beating of a drum.

During meditation, h e suddenly realized that selfcultivation was more important than a PhD. “I would get up before the dawn to chant Buddhist sutras, and listen to the ringing of a bell in the evening. Plus,my three meals per day were all vegetarian, and I had a simple room with a bed for my rest. If my legs ached too much from sitting in meditation, I would read books instead,” said Bill Porter. After three years in the temple, he put out a book calledRoad to Heaven.Since then, he has been wholly absorbed in reading Chinese books, traveling around China and enjoying Chinese scenery.

For decades, he had been working as a tourist guide to earn his living and engaging himself in reading and translating books on Chinese culture. Since August of 2011, he has visited the tombs and the former residences of 41 ancient Chinese poets. He set out from the city of Qufu in Shandong Province, the hometown of Confucius, to visit the tomb of Li Qingzhao, a famous poetess in the Song Dynasty, in Jinan. Then he went on to Xi’an to pay a formal visit to Bai Juyi’s tomb, and off to Chengdu to retrace the steps of Du Fu and Jia Dao, and to Hubei to commune with the spirit of Meng Haoran’s poetry (all these figures were famous Tang Dynasty poets). And finally, he arrived in Hunan to chant Qu Yuan’s Songs of Chu (Qu Yuan, 340-278BC, the great romantic poet in the Period of Warring States). He always traveled alone, and his trips always lasted for at least a month.

美國老頭比爾·波特到中國不止30次。

他是典型的富二代，父親曾是掌管美國西部52家酒店的企業大亨。后來，父母離婚，令他看破紅塵。

20世紀70年代，在哥倫比亞大學攻讀人類學博士時，比爾·波特中斷學業，來到中國臺灣，在一座寺廟里過起晨鐘暮鼓的清凈生活。

“修行比讀博士更重要”，這是比爾·波特打坐修行得到的頓悟。“天亮前起來誦經，夜晚聽鐘聲，一日三餐素食，一間房，一張床，如果我的腿太痛，我就讀書。”三年的寺院生活點滴，匯聚成一本《空谷幽蘭》。看中國的書，走中國的路，看中國的景，成了比爾·波特的生活新寄托。

他一邊做導游，一邊掙錢，一邊閱讀和翻譯關于中國文化的書籍，幾十年來樂此不疲。從2011年8月開始，他尋訪41位中國古代詩人的墓地或故居。從孔子的故鄉曲阜出發，他到濟南尋找李清照的墳墓，去西安拜謁白居易的墓地，經成都探尋杜甫、賈島的蹤跡，在湖北尋找孟浩然的墨魂，抵湖南吟誦屈原的《楚辭》……他常常一個人走，一走就是一個月。

比爾·波特前往湖州霞幕山，在探訪元代詩僧石屋清珙之墓的路上，不慎摔傷，先后在湖州和美國西雅圖動了兩次手術，大腿里植入二十多顆螺絲釘。傷口尚未痊愈，他又來到中國，和他的偶像們“約會”。

2017年夏天，比爾·波特從美國帶來兩瓶威士忌：一瓶18年的威利特，一瓶16年的喬治·斯塔格。在北京報國寺跳蚤市場，買了三個祭祀用的杯子。

On his way to Mount Xiamu in Huzhou to visit the tomb of Shiwu Qinggong (1272-1352), a famous poet monk of the Yuan Dynasty,he broke his leg in an accident.He went through two operations successively in Huzhou and Seattle, with more than 20 screws implanted into his broken leg. Yet before he was fully recovered, he came to China again for his “date”with the idols.

In the summer of 2017, Bill Porter brought two bottles of whisky from America: one, an 18-year old bottle of Willette, and the other, a 16-year old George Stagg.For that, he bought three cups used in sacrificial ceremonies at the flea market near the Baoguo Temple in Beijing.

Bill Porter wanted to pour a glass of liquor for TaoYuanming,the forefather of Chinese pastoral poetry in the Eastern Jin Dynasty(317-420AD), whose verse, “While picking chrysanthemums beneath the eastern fence, my gaze upon the southern mountain rests,” was the first classical Chinese verse he ever read, from which him fell in love with Tao Yuanming and the studies of ancient Chinese civilization. Bill Porter said, “Tao Yuanming was the first Chinese poet I got into, it was his works that led directly to my infatuation with ancient China. And it’s something I’ll never forget.” He made a painstaking excursion to find Tao Yuanming’s tomb, only to be let down by the fact that the tomb is now inside a military base. So, he was unable to get in to sweep the tomb and pay his respects. He bowed to the guards and pleaded with them to pour the liquor over Tao Yuanming’s tomb for him. “I know according to Chinese customs, only his descendants could offer sacrifices and pour liquor on his tomb. But in my heart, the hermit poet is like my kin.”

Now in his seventies, Bill Porter has published over 20 books about China in America. He is currently living a quiet and happy life in an old house near a small coastal town in Seattle. Every day, he practices his meditation,writes something about China and drinks Chinese tea.

Pouring a glass of liquor in front of Tao Yuaming’s tomb would have allowed him to know a kindred spirit and given him inner peace. Such a ceremony may have nothing to do with earthly life, yet Bill Porter insists on expressing himself in his own way—just the same way we offer some fine food on an altar to our ancestors during certain holidays.Behind Bill Porter’s insistence lies his strength of will and desire for spiritual fulfillment.

(FromWindow of Knowledge,January 2018. Translation: Liu Jie)

北京報國寺跳蚤市場C

比爾·波特要給陶淵明斟酒，“采菊東籬下，悠然見南山”是他最先讀到的中國古詩，讓他喜歡上陶淵明，也熱愛上中國國學。比爾·波特說：“陶淵明就像我的初戀女友，讓我迷戀上中國古代文明。我不會忘記他。”他費盡周折找到陶淵明的墓地，結果卻令他失望：墓地處在軍事基地內，比爾·波特不能進去祭掃拜謁。他給士兵作揖求助：“麻煩你幫我把酒灑在陶淵明的墳頭。我知道，按照中國習俗，只有后代才能在他的墳前祭祀斟酒，但在我心里，這位隱居詩人就是我的親戚。”

年過古稀的比爾·波特在美國出版20本書，都是有關中國的題材。現在，他在美國西雅圖一個海邊小鎮的舊房子里打坐、寫字、喝中國茶，生活恬淡又自在。

到陶淵明的墓地斟一杯酒，給自己的靈魂認個親戚，這種令生命恬淡、內心安寧的莊重儀式無關意義，比爾·波特卻執著于用自己的方式來表達，一如逢年過節時，我們對著香案給祖先敬奉一碗齋飯。比爾·波特的執著的背后，關乎他一生的初心和精神抵達。（摘自《知識窗》2018年第1期）