When I Find You Again, It Will Be in Mountains: The Selected Poems of Chia Tao

by Mike O'Connor (Translator)

Overview

Chia Tao (779-843), an erstwhile Zen monk who became a poet during China's Tang dynasty, recorded the lives of the sages, masters, immortals, and hermits who helped establish the great spiritual tradition of Zen Buddhism in China.

Presented in both the original Chinese and Mike O'Connor's beautifully crafted English translation, When I Find You Again, It Will Be in Mountains brings to life this preeminent poet and his glorious religious tradition, offering the fullest translation of Chia Tao's poems to date.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780861716975
Publisher:	Wisdom Publications MA
Publication date:	12/01/2015
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	160
File size:	15 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

Mike O'Connor is a poet and translator. He has published three volumes of his own poetry in addition to translating two volumes of the work of Buddhist poet Chia Tao. He lives in Port Townsend, Washington.

Table of Contents

	Acknowledgments	X
	Translator's note	XI
	Introduction	1
Book 1	Colors of Daybreak and Dusk
	Sent to Minister Ling-hu	14
	Winter Night Farewell	15
	Memento on the Departure of a Friend from Yeh, Last Day of the Second Moon	16
	Morning Travel	17
	Passing by a Mountain Village at Dusk	18
	Overnight at a Mountain Monastery	19
	Farewell to Monk Chih-hsing	20
	Watching the Late Day Clear After Snowfall	21
	At I-chou, Climbing the Tower of Lung-hsing Temple to View the High Northern Mountains	22
	Seeking but Not Finding the Recluse	23
	Written at the Dwelling of a Recluse	24
	Abode of the Unplanned Effect	25
	A Farewell to T'ien Cho on Retreat on Hua Mountain	26
	Meng Jung, Gainfully Unemployed	27
	While Traveling	28
	Seeing Off Sub-Prefect Mu to Mei-chou	29
	Spending the Night at a Villager's Pavilion	30
	Overnight in Ch'eng-hsiang Forest	31
	Farewell to Master Tan Returning to Min	32
	At Ni-yang Inn	33
	Farewell to a Friend Leaving for the Frontier	34
	Thinking of Retired Scholar Wu on the River	36
	Happy that Official Yao Is Returning from Hang-chou	37
	Late in the Day, Gazing Out from a River Pavilion	38
	Auspicious Arrival of Yung T'ao	39
	Seeing off the Monk Ts'ung-ch'ih Returning to the Capital	40
	Response to Sub-Prefect Li K'uo of Hu County	41
	Overnight at Hsuan-ch'uan Courier Station	42
	Spring Travel	43
Book 2	The Tiger Hears the Sutra
	Ferrying Across the Dry Mulberry River	46
	Taking Leave of a Buddhist Master, Departing China	47
	Seeing Off Shen-miao, Buddhist Master	48
	Seeing Off a Man of the Tao	49
	Sent to a Hua Mountain Monk	50
	For a Buddhist Monk	51
	Seeing Off a Buddhist Monk Traveling to Heng Mountain	52
	Sent to Monks Chen and K'ung at Lung-ch'ih Temple	53
	Mounting the Death of Ch'an Master Po-yen	54
	To Monk Shao-ming	55
	Taoist Master in Mountains	56
	At the Retreat of Monk Chu-ku	58
	Mourning the Death of Ch'an Master Tsung-mi	59
	Written at Li Ning's Hermitage	60
	Visiting with Buddhist Monk Wu-k'o at His Remote Dwelling	61
	At Ch'ing-lung Temple, the Mirror Guest Room	62
	Yuan-shang Autumn Residence	63
	Passing By the Home of Scholar Yung	64
	At Shang-ku, Seeing Off a Guest Traveling Rivers and Lakes	65
	East Heights Residence, Happy for the Frequent Visits of T'ang Wen-ch'i	66
	Getting Up Sick	67
	Sent to Chang-sun Ch'i-ch'iao, a Mountain Friend	68
	Sent to Monk Wu-k'o	69
	Lamenting the Death of Meng Chiao	70
	Lamenting the Death of Meng Tung-yeh	71
	Autumn Dusk	72
	Responding to Secretary Yao Ho	73
	Written at Ch'ang-chiang	74
	Rowing on Lake K'ung-ming	75
Book 3	One with the Snowy Night
	Seeking Shih-weng Temple's Highest Hermitage	78
	At the Hua-shan Hermitage of Adept Ma Tai	79
	Farewell to Scholar Keng	80
	In Early Autumn, Sent to Ling-yin Temple on T'ien-chu Mountain, for Posting	81
	Sending Off T'ang Huan, Returning to a Village on the Fu River	82
	For Monk Hung-ch'uan	83
	Winter Moon, Rain in Ch'ang-an, Watching the Chung-nan Mountains in Snow	84
	Parting from a Friend Entering Shu	86
	Farewell to Monk Ho-lan	87
	Overnight at Monk Yun's Room	88
	Sent to Mo-kung on Pai-ko Peak	89
	Seeing Off the Mountain Monk Ch'u, Returning to Japan	90
	Thinking of a Friend Traveling to the Border	91
	Seeing Off a Friend Traveling to Yueh	92
	At Ch'ung-sheng Temple, Pin-kung's Room	93
	Rainy Night, Sent to Ma Tai	94
	Farewell to a T'ien-t'ai Monk	95
	Rainy Night with Li Hsuan, Recalling Huang Fu-hsun	96
	Evening Gathering at the Residence of Yao Ho; K'o-kung Does Not Arrive	97
	Sent to Secretary Ch'ang Wu-chu	98
	Farewell to a Military Enlistee, on the Road	99
	Seeing Off Buddhist Master Hsia-yun of T'se-en Temple to an Audience with Minister of Public Works Li, at T'ai-yuan, Capital of Shansi	100
	Overnight at Ch'ing-yeh Temple with Li K'uo, Former Hu District Sub-Prefect	101
	For Li of Chin-chou	102
	Travel Stop on the Han River	103
	Winter Night	104
	Seeing Off Ch'an Master Hui-ya Returning to Jade Springs	105
	Overnight Stay with K'o-kung	106
	Farewell to Monk Wu-k'o	107
	Poem Just Jotted Down	108
	Short Glossary of Recurring Words and Symbols	109
	Notes to the Poems	111
	Bibliography	131
	List of Illustrations	137
	Biographical Notes	138

What People are Saying About This

Burton Watson

Chia Tao's lyric poems, many of them dealing with monks and mountain temples, have exercised a profound influence on the Buddhist poetry of China and the countries within the Chinese cultural sphere. But because of the rather muted and unemotional style employed in such poems, they are often difficult to bring over into English effectively. Mike O'Connor's renderings, accurate and eminently readable, seem to me to represent an unusually happy meeting of poet and translator, one that will please poetry lovers and students of Chinese culture alike (Burton Watson)

Anne Waldman

These poems startle with recognition of the tendernesses and strengths of a life lived in humble isolation. Chia Tao, known as "The Wandering Immortal" catches the stab of mortal existence as he moves through ever-shifting mountain landscapes: there's nothing to hold on to. Which is what makes life all the more vivid! Changing moons, stange bird calls, dramatic vistas, difficult partings from friends, light and shadow, color and fog--and always the restless need to move on. Mike O'Connor has done a fine poet's job of translation here, energetically alert to delicacies of shade and tone. His ear and phrasing are incisive, the pictures are both stark and lovely. He's caught the contemplative's passion for the sharp telling detail: "Touch whip to lean horse and go / into the colors of dusk." When I Find You Again, It Will Be in Mountains is a gorgeous tapestry (Anne Waldman, poet and co-founder of the Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics, The Naropa Institute)

Andrew Schelling

It is astonishing that Chia Tao, a uniquely clear-tempered poet of hard luck, Zen sobriety, and durable friendship, has not had a full translation until now. The wait has been worth it. Each of Mike O'Connor's spare, weathered cadences has the heft of a good walking stick. Can anyone say what kinship joins two poets separated by twelve centuries, a hundred thundering river gorges, ten thousand icy nights? If there's an answer this book holds it. A crisp introduction and well informed bibliography are all the more reason to light a stick of incense. (Andrew Schelling, The Jack Kerouac School)

Editorial Reviews

"You couldn't hope for a more inviting introduction to Chia Tao."

Oyster Boy Review

"Perfectly translated by Mike O'Connor, this new collection is an astonishing glimpse into the rhythms of an ancient era and the mindframe of a poet whose thoughts and language are more than relevant today... The power of Chia Tao's poetry lies in its grace and subtle turn of phrase; he is the rare writer who achieves emotional depth with spare, minimalist yet subtle observations... When I Find You presents the English translations of Chia Tao's poetry alongside the original Chinese text, and a slender glossary carefully explains the nuances and references to points of geography and history which many readers may not recognize. For anyone seeking greatness in poetic expression, When I Find You is the very best place to start. This single volume is truly a literary gift for both the student of Zen Buddhism's distinct theological process and those who revere the power of the written word."

NYCpoetry.com

"These poems startle with the recognition of the tenderness and strengths of a life lived in humble isolation. Mike O'Connor has done a fine poet's job of translation here. His ear and phrasing are incisive, the pictures are both stark and lovely."

Anne Waldman

"A deeply moving book of translations by a single Chinese poet that other translators have overlooked... illustrated with stunning black and white photographs. They offer a glimpse of the continuity of human experience-friendship, loss, loneliness and exile-and the momentary transcendence that comes with the calls of wild swans at dawn or the sound of an evening bell in winter mountains."

Port Townsend & Jefferson County Leader

"Read at the right moment and from a meditative place, poetry can strike a deep chord of wisdom within the heart—these poems by Chia Tao touch that place. His poetry unfolds the unseen path of being, [finding] the invisible ground where monastic ideals merge with worldly realities. A vibrant mosaic of change and noble truth."

Meditation Pathways

"O'Connor combines scholarly intentions with creative inspiration... he transports the reader into Chia Tao's mountains through his concise and sonorous translations... This soulful book will appeal to readers interested in poetry and/or Asian religion and literature; it could also play a role in general survey courses in Chinese literature."

CHOICE

"It is astonishing that Chia Tao, a uniquely clear-tempered poet of hard luck, Zen sobriety, and durable friendship, has not had a full translation until now. The wait has been worth it... A crisp introduction and well informed bibliography are all the more reason to light a stick of incense."

Andrew Schelling

"Wonderfully limpid, lucid poems, suffused with simple longing. Their particular delight is that Chia Tao seldom does more than render concrete details, yet, without the merest hint from the poet, these concrete details seem magically to acquire tremendous significance. This clear and highly readable translation, the fullest of Chia Tao yet to appear, is assisted by an excellent introduction and glossary. And it is a welcome correction to the West's neglect of an important poems."

Dharmalife

"Chia Tao's lyric poems have exercised a profound influence on the Buddhist poetry of China and the countries within the Chinese cultural sphere. Mike O'Connor's renderings, accurate and eminently readable, seem to me to represent an unusually happy meeting of poet and translator, one that will please poetry lovers and students of Chinese culture alike."

Burton Watson

"Mike O'Connor's precise, elegant translations bring to life the poetry of the cold, lean Chia Tao, certainly one of the most existential Buddhist poets of the T'ang (or any other) dynasty. A true master of the lu-shih, or modern poem written in the plain style, Chia Tao arrives like an old friend with his Chuang Tzu and wine."

Sam Hamill