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

by Mike O'Connor (Translator)

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.

Genres: Poetry, China, Asia

160 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2000

About the author

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Reviews

[Regine · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a lovely volume of translated poetry that includes the Chinese original. I enjoyed the opportunity to wonder at some of the translator’s choices and to appreciate how he conveyed across 1200 years Chia Tao’s meditative, often melancholic tone. The result is calming. Reading a poem in the morning was like walking through a Chinese landscape painting, with a cup of coffee in hand.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

brief but beautiful glimpses into feelings from a bygone time and space

wish I could have read more of the traditional Chinese text, the conversion to English felt like a reduction from 3D to 2D

[Richard Rogers · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I imagine classical Chinese poetry, especially Tang era poetry, especially with a hint (or more than a hint) of mystical religion, this is exactly what I have in mind. I may have to check to be sure, but this may be my new favorite volume of poetry. So much to love here.

Chia Tao was originally a Buddhist monk, an adherent of Chan Buddhism (which we would call zen), and though he stayed in contact with other monks his whole life, he dedicated his life to poetry. His religion was a huge part of his writings, including not just beliefs but people and places--the monks, the monasteries, the mountain retreats, and so on. The poetry is filled with trails, waterfalls, trees, and the distant sound of stone chimes, leading him toward remote monasteries. There's a lot of romance in these descriptions, and I'm here for it.

This is a nice example:

Sent to a Hua Mountain Monk

From afar,
I know your white-rock hermitage,
hidden in a haze
of evergreen trees.

When the moon sets,
it's mind-watching time;
clouds arise
in your closed eyes.

Just before dawn, temple bells
sound from neighboring peaks;
waterfalls hang thousands of feet
in emptiness.

Moss and lichen
cover the cliff face;
a narrow, indistinct path
leads to you.

There's a Wordsworth/Tintern Abbey feel to this, and I love it.

The translation is beautiful. While in some places the original elliptical phrasing is preserved (no verb, no article type of language) it is very readable and clear to an English language brain, and there's not a rhyme to be seen. (Rhyming poetry in translation is unbearable to me. A harmless prejudice, I hope.) Where it's helpful, the translator has provided notes in the back, so the reader can have the assistance without marring the look of the poetry, and I give him full marks for that choice, as well.

A lot of the poetry is contemplative and tranquil, and I adore it. But there's also a lot of emotion brilliantly captured.

Mourning the Death of Chan Master Po-Yen

Fresh moss covers
the stone bed;
how many springtimes
was it the Master's?

His profile in meditation
has been sketched;
but the body of the meditator
has been burned.

Snow in the pines
has closed the pagoda courtyard;
dust settles in the lock
on the sutra library.

I chide myself
for these two tears—
a man who hasn't grasped
the empty nature of all things.

That's very sweet. Lovely.

Highly recommended for readers of Tang poetry, or poetry more generally. Beautiful poetry nicely rendered in English, it bears many re-readings.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Jia Dao's poetry is simple, straightforward, and raw. No wonder it's said to remind some of the ancestors of Haikus. Would I say Dao's poetry is excellent? No, it's not. But it does have a level of sincerity that is endearing.

This is a wonderful translation by O'Connor. I'm really impressed by his precision in most translations. The only "but" I can add concerns his translations of Chan fragments, which are heavily influenced by Japanese Zen thought rather than Chinese thought.

Enjoyed it very much!

[Kristyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful and melancholy collection of poems that stretch across the thousand or so years with the familiar human feeling of farewell.

From the poem "Overnight at Hsuan-Ch'uan Courier Station"

"a mountain lamp
shines in the desolate calm."

From the poem "Sent to Chang-Sun Ch'i-Ch'iao, a Mountain Friend"

"There is a trail
connecting with the summit of Mount Sung
I still have hopes of returning there with you."

[Douglas Thornton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice, thoughtful poetry

[Helen Pugsley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this one. I immediately regretted not buying it at the B&N when I saw it, so I got it on Kindle. I've ONLY been reading this for a few years.😅 I loved it.

[Helen Pugsley · Rating 5 out of 5]

It gutted me

[Kelsey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful

This is like the Chinese version of Robert Frost. Beautiful, evocative, longing portrayals of nature in deceptively simple prose. Stunning.

[Stephen McDonough · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant poems and translation. This book is so well put together. A real treasure.

[Clare Walker · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reread September 2025.

[Carolyn Graebener · Rating 5 out of 5]

a Beautiful book full of wonderful words...