Gary Snyder and Poems by Han Shan
When Zen arrived in the United States in the 1950s via Japan, it was accompanied by the poems of the Tang Dynasty poet Han Shan. In 1954, the American magazine Encounter published the translation of 27 Han Shan's poems by Arthur Waley (1889-1966). In August 1956, the renowned US poet Gary Snyder (b. 1930) published his translation of 24 Han Shan's poems in the Evergreen Review. In 1962, the translation of 124 Han Shan's poems by Burton Watson (1925-2017) based on the annotated version of Iriya Yoshitaka (1910-1998) was published by the New York Grove Press. In 1970, Watson's translation was republished by the Columbia University Press in New York and London.
Among these three translations, Snyder's translation was particularly popular among the young people. Snyder's interest in Han Shan's poetry began with a painting that left a strong impression on him: In 1953, there was a Japanese painting exhibition in the US. One of the pieces featured a man wearing tattered clothes and having long, disheveled hair. Laughing in the wind, the man held a scroll, and stood on a high cliff in the mountains. That man was Han Shan.
Soon after, Snyder began translating Han Shan's poetry and published his translation of 24 Han Shan's poems. At that time, the Anthology of Chinese Literature edited by Cyril Birch (1925-2018) enjoyed widespread popularity in the US, with a large readership in almost every university. It included Snyder's translation of 24 Han Shan's poems, hence a testament to the reverence for Han Shan. Han Shan's poems did exert an important impact upon the mentality of the US youth.
加里·斯奈德与寒山诗
20世纪50年代，寒山诗伴随着禅宗一起，经由日本传到美国。1954年，美国《文汇》杂志发表了阿瑟·韦利所译的27首寒山诗。1956年8月，美国著名诗人加里·斯奈德在《常绿译论》杂志上发表了24首寒山译诗。1962年，伯顿·华特生据日本入矢义高校注本选译寒山诗124首，由纽约丛林出版社出版，并于1970年由哥伦比亚大学出版社在纽约和伦敦再版。
三种译本中，斯奈德的译诗在青年中普及最广。“1953年美国有一日本画展，其中有一幅画里出现过一个衣衫破烂，长发飞扬，在风里大笑的人，手里握着一个卷轴，立在一个山中的高岩上，这就是寒山。” 画作中的寒山给斯奈德留下强烈而震撼的印象。随后，他开始翻译并出版24首寒山诗。当时美国非常流行的《中国文学选集》，几乎在美国的每一所大学都拥有大量读者。这个选集将斯奈德翻译的24首寒山诗全部收入，由此可见寒山受到的推崇。寒山诗对后来美国青年人精神形象的塑造产生了重要影响。
