Dancing with the Dead

“Bill Porter has been one of the most prolific translators of Chinese texts, while also developing into a travel writer with a cult following.”—New York Times

“In the travel writing that has made him so popular in China, Porter’s tone is not reverential but explanatory, and filled with luminous asides.”—New York Review of Books

"For decades, Red Pine has breathed new life into some of the most profound yet humble poetic expressions of realization, many of which have been collected together in the anthology Dancing with the Dead: the Essential Red Pine Translations (Copper Canyon). Whether translating Puming’s verses on the oxherd taming the ox—a quintessential Zen metaphor of taming the mind through meditation—or the vernacular poetry of the enigmatic Buddhist hermit Cold Mountain, it is the utter simplicity of Red Pine’s translations that is most alluring. He renders the evocative essence of the Chinese into English with confident economy; there are no extra words or punctuation, nor is there want of more. Lovers of poetry as art and believers of poetry as a conduit to rarified experiences will find no shortage of pleasure or insight here."—Buddhadharma

“With its clarity and scholarly range, this version of the Taoteching works as both a readable text and a valuable resource of Taoist interpretation.”—Publishers Weekly

“[Translator] Red Pine’s out-of-the-mainstream work is uncanny and clearheaded.”—Kyoto Journal

"Red Pine introduces Western readers to both the text itself and the traditions it has inherited."—Virginia Quarterly Review

“Red Pine… has given us the first full collection of Han Shan’s songs in an idiom that is clear, graceful, and neutral enough to last… His translations are accurate and mirror the music of the originals…”—Bloomsbury Review

“In Red Pine’s hands, these poems are revitalized.”—Ellipsis