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Zen Baggage: A Pilgrimage to China

Zen Baggage: A Pilgrimage to China
By Bill Porter

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In the spring of 2006, Bill Porter traveled through the heart of China, from Beijing to Hong Kong, on a pilgrimage to sites associated with the first six patriarchs of Zen. Zen Baggage is an account of that journey. He weaves together historical background, interviews with Zen masters, and translations of the earliest known records of Zen, along with personal vignettes. Porter’s account captures the transformations taking place at religious centers in China but also the abiding legacy they have somehow managed to preserve. Porter brings wisdom and humor to every situation, whether visiting ancient caves containing the most complete collection of Buddhist texts ever uncovered, enduring a six-hour Buddhist ceremony, searching in vain for the ghost in his room, waking up the monk in charge of martial arts at Shaolin Temple, or meeting the abbess of China’s first Zen nunnery. Porter’s previously published Road to Heaven: Encounters with Chinese Hermits has become recommended reading at Zen centers and universities throughout America and even in China (in its Chinese translation), and Zen Baggage is sure to follow suit.

Product Details

  • Amazon Sales Rank: #348620 in Books
  • Published on: 2008-12-16
  • Original language: English
  • Number of items: 1
  • Binding: Hardcover
  • 352 pages

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Editorial Reviews

Review


“Porter takes the reader to places far off the tourist track and far from the economic and political frenzy of major cities, traveling on buses and sleeping rough in monasteries. He does it without pedantry or zeal and with some humor.” —Library Journal

Customer Reviews

Old Man Zen 5
Zen Baggage: A Pilgrimage to China by Bill Porter is a tedious travelogue told by a grumpy old man. However, as he carries his baggage of tea and books through the interior of China, Porter slowly reveals himself to be a man of Zen as I understand his understanding of Zen: a mind at work in the everyday world.

Meditating makes Porter's knees hurt, and he actually prefers being on the outside of the meditation hall. And although respecting the ceremonies and rituals practiced by the Zen Buddhist monks and nuns, he'd much rather take a nap.

In the everyday world, Porter grumbles about headaches, backaches, and allergies to dust as he travels by bus, train, taxi, motorcycle, mini-van, or tractor through frigid cold, tropical heat, or torrential rain. But before it all becomes too tiresome, he finds a delicious pumpkin cookie, a skillful masseuse, or an impressive PhD student who peels mangoes for him with a Uighur knife pulled from her boot.

Porter enjoys wild mushrooms, hot baths, gooseberry wine, afternoon naps, Iron Goddess tea, and an occasional fun-sized Snickers -- all providing much-needed breaks from his traveling and journaling. Writing about his pilgrimage to the ancient temples and grave sites of Zen patriarchs, Porter brings to light his mind, a mind at work in the everyday world, the everyday world of China, that is.

Along roads that end in dusty wasteland or muddy ruts, he is one porter who carries his Zen baggage lightly. And who's to say that Bodhidharma wasn't just another grumpy old man from the West?


Porter, Bill. Zen Baggage: A Pilgrimage to China. Berkeley: Counterpoint, 2009.

Tagging along with Bill5
I thought Bill Porter's first book about his journeys in China, Road to Heaven, was one of the most entrancing books I have encountered in my many years of avid reading. However, his new book is equally compelling. As someone with a deep interest in Chinese thought and culture, I have been wondering what the current state of spiritual life is in the brave new world that is modern China. This book goes a long way toward answering some of my questions. Bill's ability to communicate and his intimate knowledge of Ch'an literature and history gives a richness to this deceptively simple tale of his wanderings.

Zen Baggage5
Bill Porter has a great writing style that keeps his story moving as if you are traveling along on one of his spiritual odyssies. He will bring you much closer to the essence of Chinese Chan and Taoist thinking than other authors who merely recount philosophical dictums. Highly recommended!