During the time of confinement, the editor Jordi Carulla-Ruiz held telematic tai chi sessions, during which Miquel Àngel Cabrer told him about some little-known books about wisdom and spirituality, which planted a seed that has germinated in Tres Portales , a new imprint that is now launching with the publication of three books that are a manifesto of the desire to bring to readers these “jewels of wisdom” from both Western and Eastern culture and various literary records, in Catalan and Spanish , according to the titles, and always with the eco-edition seal.
On the one hand, they publish in both languages ??The Tradition of Tears, by Jean-Paul Iommi-Amunatégui, a historical and literary essay that analyzes crying from the European spiritual tradition, taking into account authors such as Ramon Llull, Juan Luis Vives, Saint Teresa of Jesus or Malevich. As Carles Duarte – who is part of the label’s advisory board with Cabrer, Manel Ollé, Almudena Blasco and Guillem Usandizaga – explains, the book allows us to “deepen the longing for union with God”, with the tear as a “spiritual representation and bridge between the human being and God.”
They have also published in Catalan The Prince and the Monk, by the 12th century Catalan Jew Avraham ben Xemuel ibn Khasdai, which adapts the story of Barlaam and Josaphat from Arabic, which at the same time is based on the life of Siddhartha Gautama, Buddha. According to its translator, Tessa Calders, it is an example of the great baggage of Jewish culture in Catalonia, which resulted in “an unattainable quantity of texts.” Calders also highlights that unlike the Christian versions – the characters of Barlaam and Josaphat came to be considered saints in the Middle Ages – and Muslims, in this one “there is no type of proselytism.”
The third book with which they inaugurate the publishing house is Camino al cielo. Encounters with Chinese Hermits, by Bill Porter (Los Angeles, 1943), who after spending four years in a Buddhist monastery in Taiwan wondered if there were still Buddhist and Taoist hermits in the Chinese mountains, and the best way to find out was to go look for them. . And Porter finds them, talks to them and if the book, published in the United States in 1993, had a relatively discreet first reception, when it came out in China it became a reference and has sold more than two million copies. Porter – who presents the book on Wednesday at the Casa Asia in Madrid, and Thursday at the CCCB in Barcelona – explains that in recent years he has even met some hermits who only had one book: his.
Porter remembers that in China “hermits are part of society”, they have prestige among other reasons because after a few years of retirement they return to the world to help with what they have learned. However, the author – also known by the Buddhist name of Red Pine, with which he signs his translations – is clear that “all cultures are a system of deceptions.” The author recalls that today, “in China there is a spiritual revolution, and it is led by women”, who can be up to 70% of the hermits, who although they do not have the explicit support of the authorities do tolerate them and In some cases, they even venerate them, although that happens more with Buddhists, since “in the long Chinese history behind all the revolutions were the Taoists – and he gives the example of Falun Gong -, and that is why today the regime “They are especially monitored, because they fear that they will lead a revolt.”
Ollé, professor of Chinese Studies at UPF, explains that the idea of ??the stamp is to open a “space of intersection” for classic and ancient texts, but also contemporary ones, that find “readers with spiritual but also literary interest.” He is in charge of the translation and the prologue of one of the next books, already in September, Notes on painting by the monk Bitter Gourd, by Shitao.
Catalan version, here
