An erudite backpacking journey by a true dharma bum.
Peripatetic journalist and translator Porter (Road to Heaven: Encounters with Chinese Hermits, 1993) ventures again deep into the mountainous reaches of China, seeking the remote paths of the first six patriarchs of Zen Buddhism.
The author’s folksy, seemingly spontaneous day-by-day travelogue invites the reader along on an arduous ten-week trek into China, where during the first century CE Buddhist monks sought refuge from persecution. From the Yunkang caves near Tatung, 225 miles west of Beijing, to various monasteries in Loyang, Wuhan and Shaokuan, by bus, train or taxi, the author revisited the places sacred to Chinese Buddhists. Although his style is casual, the history Porter explores is dense. He traces the growth of Zen from the spiritual roots planted by the Prajnaparamita scriptures, which arrived in China in the second and third centuries, to its establishment as a separate school of Buddhism by the Indian monk Bodhidharma, the First Patriarch, who brought it to China around 475. Traveling to the places associated with these historic developments, Porter offers intriguing glimpses of a stunning and (to Westerners) little-known countryside and monuments, including the Nanhua Temple near Shaokuan, where Hui-neng lived for 40 years after he became the Sixth Patriarch in 677. The author penetrated many working monasteries severely repressed during the Cultural Revolution that are only now making a comeback. Porter titles his chapters to reflect the concept of “the life of no-mind” dear to Buddhists—and difficult for others to grasp—such as “No Home,” “No Dust or Mirrors,” “No Day Off” and so forth. Fluent in Chinese, the author brings a freshness to the snippets of ancient texts he translates here.
An erudite backpacking journey by a true dharma bum.Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-1-59376-132-5
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Counterpoint
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2008
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.
A compendium of charts, time lines, lists and illustrations to accompany study of the Bible.
This visually appealing resource provides a wide array of illustrative and textually concise references, beginning with three sets of charts covering the Bible as a whole, the Old Testament and the New Testament. These charts cover such topics as biblical weights and measures, feasts and holidays and the 12 disciples. Most of the charts use a variety of illustrative techniques to convey lessons and provide visual interest. A worthwhile example is “How We Got the Bible,” which provides a time line of translation history, comparisons of canons among faiths and portraits of important figures in biblical translation, such as Jerome and John Wycliffe. The book then presents a section of maps, followed by diagrams to conceptualize such structures as Noah’s Ark and Solomon’s Temple. Finally, a section on Christianity, cults and other religions describes key aspects of history and doctrine for certain Christian sects and other faith traditions. Overall, the authors take a traditionalist, conservative approach. For instance, they list Moses as the author of the Pentateuch (the first five books of the Hebrew Bible) without making mention of claims to the contrary. When comparing various Christian sects and world religions, the emphasis is on doctrine and orthodox theology. Some chapters, however, may not completely align with the needs of Catholic and Orthodox churches. But the authors’ leanings are muted enough and do not detract from the work’s usefulness. As a resource, it’s well organized, inviting and visually stimulating. Even the most seasoned reader will learn something while browsing.
Worthwhile reference stuffed with facts and illustrations.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 978-1-5963-6022-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
This a book of earlier, philosophical essays concerned with the essential "absurdity" of life and the concept that- to overcome the strong tendency to suicide in every thoughtful man-one must accept life on its own terms with its values of revolt, liberty and passion. A dreary thesis- derived from and distorting the beliefs of the founders of existentialism, Jaspers, Heldegger and Kierkegaard, etc., the point of view seems peculiarly outmoded. It is based on the experience of war and the resistance, liberally laced with Andre Gide's excessive intellectualism. The younger existentialists such as Sartre and Camus, with their gift for the terse novel or intense drama, seem to have omitted from their philosophy all the deep religiosity which permeates the work of the great existentialist thinkers. This contributes to a basic lack of vitality in themselves, in these essays, and ten years after the war Camus seems unaware that the life force has healed old wounds... Largely for avant garde aesthetes and his special coterie.
Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1955
ISBN: 0679733736
Page Count: 228
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1955
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