Red Pine and The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain
Bill Porter (b. 1943, whose Chinese name Chi Song translates as Red Pine) is a contemporary US author, translator and renowned Sinologist. When studying at Columbia University for his doctoral degree in anthropology, he started to learn Chinese by chance and fell in love with Chinese culture. He has spent most of his time between China's Hong Kong and Taiwan regions, and has often traveled to the mainland of China as well. He has written a large number of books and travel memoirs introducing China's customs and cultural relics. His book Road to Heaven: Encounters with Chinese Hermits once had a wide-ranging impact in Europe and America.
In 1972 Bill withdrew from the society and began a seven-year life of Zen seclusion in Taiwan, China. He studied first at the Fo Guang Shan Monastery, and later at the Haiming Temple in Taipei. It was at the Haiming Temple that Bill first came into contact with Han Shan's poetry and took a liking to it. So, he started translating the Tang Dynasty poet's works one by one. In 1983 his translation of The Collected Songs of Cold Mountain was published under the name Red Pine. It was the first complete translation of Han Shan's poetry into English and caught the attention of many young people in the US.
The cultural thoughts of harmony between heaven and earth, between people, and between body and soul in Han Shan's poetry have profound significance transcending generational and geographical boundaries.
赤松与《寒山诗集》
比尔·波特，笔名赤松，美国当代作家、翻译家和著名汉学家。在哥伦比亚大学攻读人类学博士期间，他在机缘巧合之下开始学习中文，从此爱上中国文化。比尔长期生活在中国的台湾和香港地区，经常到中国大陆旅行，并撰写了大量介绍中国风土文物的书籍和游记，其作品《空谷幽兰》等，曾在欧美各国产生广泛影响。
1972年，比尔开始了他在中国台湾长达七年的隐居禅修生活，先是在佛光山，后来在台北海明寺。也正是在海明寺期间，他开始接触并且喜欢上了寒山诗，开始逐首翻译寒山诗。1983年，他的寒山诗三百首全译本首次以“赤松”的名义公开出版，这是寒山诗的第一个英文全译本，在美国引起大批青年人的关注。寒山诗所蕴含的天地和合、人际和合、身心和合的文化思想，产生了超越时代和国界的深远意义。
