Xue Mo, formerly Chen Kaihong, was born in Liangzhou, Gansu province. He is currently a cultural scholar, China’s National First-class Writer, Vice President of the Gansu Writers Association, Humanities Tutor of the Tumor Research Institutes of Fudan University,
He is a Leading Expert at the Research Center on Literature Translation and Intercultural Communication at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies.
He is the holder of many honorable titles, including “Excellent Expert in Gansu Province,” “Excellent Litterateur both in Virtue and Art in Gansu Province,” “Top Innovative Talents in Gansu Province,” “Leading Talents in Gansu Province,” and “Top Ten Figures for China’s Brand Culture in 2015.”
As an influential writer of the Chinese contemporary literary circle, Xue Mo has been shortlisted three times for Mao Dun Literature Award and created nine full-length novels, including “Desert Trilogy” (Desert et al.),
“Soul Trilogy” (The Curses of Xixia, The Holy Mastiff of Xixia, The Holy Monk and the Spirit Woman), “The Wild Fox Ridge,” “The Legend of Heroes From Liangzhou,” and “Eternal Love.”
He also has written a poetry collection named “The Fox Worshiping the Moon,” and cultural works including “The Mahasiddhas’ Secrets” (Volume I-VIII), “The Buddha’s Wisdom” (Volume I-III), “The Mahamudra of Light Series (ten pieces),” “An Outline of Xue Mo’s Study of the Mind,” “A Study Guide for Cultural Transmission.”
Moreover, there are also four pieces of his nonfiction works, including “One Man’s Western Region,” “The Offspring of the Huns,” “Don Quixote in North America,” and “Mountain God’s Arrow Piles”.
An epic masterpiece, Suosalang, with 100,000 lines and millions of words written by him, has been published.
Based on the rural areas of western China, the works of Xue Mo have shown the history and present of the West and the Western culture, creating images of such Western local figures as farmers, hunters, camel herders, and folk soldiers, and further depicted their survival, soul, love, and belief.
With the effect of inquiring about human nature and seeking eternity, his works have been complete of majestic and vivid artistic appeal and possess the power to wash and sublimate the inner soul.
Praised by several domestic media as “Western novels in the true sense” and “invaluable works of art,” some of the works have been published by some foreign publishing and distribution organizations.
Britain’s Guardian newspaper once published the full text of Old Man Xinjiang in English and considered it one of the five best short stories in contemporary China.
A column of Xue Mo’s novels has been published in the 15th issue of “Chinese Literature and Culture,” an American English Magazine, commenting that it embraces a unique writing style full of great Spirituality and imagination.
The author Xue Mo has perfectly integrated life, reality, history, and faith and thoroughly endowed unique spiritual strength and charm in various time-space interwoven narratives.
The profound Chinese cultural background, vivid and mysterious Western Chinese culture, as well as the strong sense of faith and affection depicted in Xue Mo’s works.
In addition to his unique thinking on exploring human issues such as existence, human nature, the soul, life, and eternity, he has attracted the attention of elite translators and famous Sinologists worldwide.
Meanwhile, Xue Mo has successfully established cooperation relations on translation with some of them, such as Howard Goldblatt of the United States, Nicky Harman of Britain, Carducci Lisa of Canada, Hans-Peter Kolb of Germany, Constantin Lupeanu of Romania, Liljana Arsovska of Mexico, Dinesh Kulatunga of Sri Lanka, etc.
His works have been translated into more than 20 foreign languages, including English, German, and French.
As many as 35 translation versions of his works have been published by Bacopa Verlag of Austria, Wanzhi House of Sweden, Red Eagle Publishing House of Turkey, and the Arab Literature Center (ADAB).
As well as Neptune Publications of Sri Lanka, Book-Hill Publication of Nepal, Siglo XXI Editores of Mexico, and The Ideea Europeana Publishing of Romania.
In the future, many influential printing presses will publish his work in succession, which will be available to global readers.
In recent years, Xue Mo has been committed to cultural and educational exchanges and cooperation between China and foreign countries.
He attended the Sino-French Cultural Forum with a speech entitled Literature and Spirituality at the French Institute (L’Institut de France).
He successively visited more than 20 countries and regions, including North America, Europe, and South Asia.
In 2019, Xue Mo held a dialogue with Wolfgang Kubin, a renowned sinologist from Germany, at the Frankfurt Book Fair.
The “Bookshelf for Xue Mo’s Works” has also entered the United States, Canada, Italy, Hungary, Nepal, and other countries in succession, promoting the expansion of the popularity of Xue Mo overseas.
Table of Contents
Xue Mo and His Light
(Translated by Howard Goldblatt and Sylvia Li-Chun Lin)
Xue Mo, born in the distant reaches of China’s West, is a writer who traverses the Earth in his footsteps and breathes life into his work with his pen.
A beloved son of the Qilian Mountain Range, he has shaped his life and aspirations through his homeland’s natural landscapes and musical traditions.
His relentless quest for dreams knows no bounds, and he wields his pen passionately to immortalize his hometown. The wisdom that flows from his fingertips illuminates the hearts of countless readers.
Writing under the pen name Chen Kaihong, Xue Mo is the author of several notable works, including “Desert Rites,” “Desert Hunters,” “White Tiger Pass,” “Wild Fox Ridge,” “The Curse of Xixia,”
“Songs of Liangzhou,” “The Sound of Broadbeans Late at Night,” “The Monk and the Spirit Woman,” and the epic poem “Suosanlang.”
His literary contributions have earned him prestigious accolades in China, including the Feng Mu Literary Award, the Shanghai Novel Prize, and the Novella Prize. In 2015 he was recognized as one of China’s Ten Persons of the Year.
Xue Mo has also shared his knowledge and insights as a faculty member at Fudan University, Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Guangzhou University of Foreign Studies.
Six of his novels and epic poems have been skillfully translated into English by the renowned team of Howard Goldblatt and Sylvia Li-chun Lin.
His works have transcended language barriers, appearing in French, German, and over three dozen other languages, reaching a vast international audience.
Domestically, he boasts a devoted following and a prolific portfolio of over a hundred published works.
Xue Mo’s journey began in a remote, impoverished village plagued by relentless sandstorms and perennial drought.
As a child, books were scarce, and hunger was a constant companion, stunting his growth. However, he harbored dreams of becoming a writer, facing seemingly insurmountable obstacles.
Then, his maternal uncle offered a unique solution – planting a tall pole in the yard, crowned with a light that burned each evening, accompanied by the silent recitation of “The enlightened exert themselves constantly; the virtuous endure onerous duties.”
Xue Mo’s parents, born of humble origins and illiterate, embraced this belief despite the financial strain. This light, shining through the vast West’s expansive night sky, became a symbol of hope for the young boy.
It guided him through the trials of childhood and into adulthood, motivating him to strive unceasingly. This light was his steadfast companion throughout his growth, a beacon of hope symbolizing unwavering determination.
In 2000, the publication of “Desert Rites” catapulted him into the limelight, followed by “Desert Hunters” and “White Tiger Pass,” both critically acclaimed and considered seminal works in China’s Nativist literary tradition.
Over twenty years, he dedicated himself to chronicling the lives of China’s peasants through the “Desert Trilogy.” Subsequent works like “The Curse of Xixia,” “White Fox Ridge,”
“The Monk and the Spirit Woman” solidified his position as a pivotal figure in contemporary Chinese literature and an essential voice in representing China’s Western regions.
Lei Da, president of the Chinese Fiction Society and a respected literary critic, recognized Xue Mo’s extraordinary cultural and literary significance.
He praised Xue Mo for his deep understanding of the mentality and temperament of Chinese peasants, attributing his powerful literary impact to this insight.
Professor Chen Sihe of Fudan University asserted that Xue Mo, along with Zhang Chengzhi, embodied the spiritual essence of China’s West and was reminiscent of the influential writer Xiao Hong.
Chen Xiaoming of Peking University lamented the underappreciation of Xue Mo, emphasizing his importance in contemporary Chinese literature.
Carrying his pen as a symbol of his journey, Xue Mo ventured beyond his village to urban areas, with the light still burning brightly in his heart.
This light has remained a lifelong totem, aglow wherever he goes. Under its guidance, he tirelessly pursued his dreams, authoring works such as “True Heart,” “Beyond Emptiness,”
“Guru’s Secrets,” “An Outline of Xue Mo’s Study of the Mind,” “A Study Guide for Cultural Transmission,” and many more.
Encyclopedia of China Publishing House established a dedicated division for Xue Mo’s works, publishing a series of his writings on the human mind.
Through his exploration of the mind, Xue Mo has become a guiding light for many, illuminating their lives. His works have reached diverse corners of the globe, with dedicated divisions for his books in the US, Canada, Europe, and Southeast Asia.
Canadian Buddhist expert Tan Xiyong lauded Xue Mo’s “Beyond Emptiness” as the best writing on Buddhism in the last century and beyond.
His “Buddha’s Wisdom” has been hailed as the most profound work on analyzing and interpreting Buddhist theory and practice by experts in the field.
Xue Mo’s epic poem “Suosanlang,” with its eighty thousand lines and over a million words, emerged from a lifetime of study and practice.
It filled a void in Chinese literary history, offering a fantastic yet remarkably realistic narrative that weaves together themes of good versus evil, love and spiritual devotion, heroics and everyday life, war and peace, self and universal love, as well as a profound exploration of human nature and the human experience.
A recognized expert has gone so far as to classify “Suosanlang” alongside acclaimed works such as “Lord of the Rings” and “A Song of Ice and Fire,” deeming it one of the top three contemporary fantastic epic poems.
Xue Mo writes to illuminate his life, the world, and the human soul. When faced with setbacks, he finds boundless strength in the light that forever burns in his heart.
This light represents hope and dreams, something every individual needs. Humanity requires such light, even if it appears faint, as it can penetrate the darkest of nights.
Desert Rites, Xue Mo’s first novel, is one of his desert trilogies that takes him twelve years to finish with elaborate care and finally makes him achieve immense literary acclaim and launch his career as a nationally recognized writer.
This novel, taking place in the Hexi Corridor of Gansu Province, stands out for its expansive ensemble of characters and profound exploration of the human psyche and its meticulousness.
It is a comprehensive documentation of the everyday lives of farmers in Western China, exemplifying the conditions prevalent in Chinese society during the latter part of the 20th century.
It vividly portrays the everyday life of peasant Lao Shun’s family, who struggles to survive when there is an extreme shortage of material support and shows their brave resistance against their miserable fate and the unremitting pursuit for a better life, which mirrors the farmers’ harsh living conditions in China’s western countrysides and their spiritual outlook at that time.
In the novel, having witnessed all the sufferings his family had to endure, he sees the silent despair and hopeless struggles of his generation of people in Western China.
Inescapably had to go through, Lingguan, one of the heroes of the novel, chose to leave his hometown, heading towards a lonely destination that no one ever knew.
This novel has been adapted for the T.V. series “Desert Ties” and received extensive attention. In 2016, Howard Goldblatt, regarded as the best translator of Chinese contemporary literature, translated the fiction into English.
Later, the German version of this book was translated by Mr.HansPeter Kolb, an excellent student of prominent German sinologist Wolfgang Kubin, and then published by Bacopa Verlag of Austria.
Meanwhile, the Spanish version of this book was translated by well-known Mexican sinologist Liljana Arsovska.
Xue Mo’s Desert Rites
Desert Rites, Xue Mo’s first novel, is one of his desert trilogies that takes him twelve years to finish with elaborate care and finally makes him achieve immense literary acclaim and launch his career as a nationally recognized writer.
This novel unfolds in the Hexi Corridor of Gansu Province, notable not just for its extensive array of characters and profound exploration of the human psyche but also for its meticulous and detailed documentation of the episodic lives of Western Chinese farmers, a reflection of the prevailing conditions in mid-to-late 20th-century Chinese society.
It vividly portrays the everyday life of peasant Lao Shun’s family, who struggle to survive when there is an extreme shortage of material support. It shows their brave resistance against their miserable fate.
The unremitting pursuit of a better life mirrors the farmers’ harsh living conditions in China’s western countryside and their spiritual outlook at that time.
In the novel, having witnessed all the sufferings that his family had to endure, seeing the silent despair and hopeless struggles that his generation of people in western China inescapably had to go through, Lingguan, one of the heroes of the novel, chose to leave his hometown, heading towards a lonely destination that no one ever knew.
This novel has been adapted for the T.V. series “Desert Ties” and received extensive attention. In 2016, Howard Goldblatt, regarded as the best translator of Chinese contemporary literature, translated the fiction into English.
Later, the German version of this book was translated by Mr.HansPeter Kolb, an excellent student of prominent German sinologist Wolfgang Kubin, and then published by Bacopa Verlag of Austria.
Meanwhile, the Spanish version of this book was translated by well-known Mexican sinologist Liljana Arsovska.
Xue Mo’s Desert Hunters
Desert Hunters is a long fable-like story written in realism and has a broad humanity perspective. It begins with an incident of poaching, and all the plots unfold around a precious well named Pig Belly Well because the water in it is the most crucial source of the survival of all the living around it, especially the herders and their sheep.
Therefore, where there is sufficient water, there is peace, or there will not be. When the water level drops below one hundred meters, bloody fighting occurs immediately, precisely like human self-destruction originating from greedy desires.
At present, well-known translator Howard Goldblatt has translated the novel into English with his wife Sylvia Li-chun Lin, and this English version has been published in China.
Xue Mo’s White Tiger Pass
White Tiger Pass presents readers with a panoramic picture of the life of the countryside in China’s West in great naturalistic detail, but also shows the farmers’ survival plight and spiritual sufferings during the social and economic transformation from agricultural civilization to commercial civilization.
Through his vivid portrayal of the characters involved in this novel, the writer also deeply explores and analyses the cultural psychology of ordinary people living in the western provinces of China.
Moreover, based on the miserable life and self-redemption of three rural women—Lanlan, Ying’er, and Yue’er, it reflects how great the tenacity of an individual life can display when stuck in one of life’s most difficult challenges and touches upon human’s essential themes including eternality, life and death, human and nature, thus shining with human conscience and dignity glow.
At present, well-known translator Howard Goldblatt has translated the novel into English with his wife Sylvia Li-chun Lin, and this English version has been published in Hong Kong, China.
Xue Mo’s The Holy Monk and the Spirit Woman
The Holy Monk and the Spirit Woman is a great fantasy, mystery, and symbolic masterpiece. It is the only novel that Xue Mo considers the most important for his readers because of it.
In detail, it describes the process of the Tibetan holy monk Khyungpo Naljor seeking the truth and achieving ultimate spiritual enlightenment.
Filled with soul-searching dialogues between the characters and inner monologues that candidly trace out the spiritual transformation that Khyungpo Naljor had gone through, The Holy Monk and the Spirit Woman stand out from many biography and biographical fictions nowadays.
In some sense, it can serve as a manual for self-elevation, self-transformation, and self-completion. In the book, we see that a person as great as Khyungpo Naljor was not born great, but with the same feelings and emotions as we do, he overcame his weakness to be a great Buddhist achiever.
Khyungpo Naljor faced many hard choices similar to ones we might face in our own lives. From his psychological struggles, we might learn how to avoid choosing those wrong yet extremely tempting paths to set ourselves on a path to becoming a better person.
This epic story of the legendary pilgrim may provide solace for those lonely travelers who leave their homes to chase their dreams; it may point a direction for those who feel lost; it may serve as a guide for those who want to improve themselves as human being.
The novel also has its unique historical values. Its meticulous reconstruction of specific cultural-historical details helped fill in a gap in the historical accounts of the Himalayan culture and the cultural interaction between China, Nepal, and India.
The novel is an excellent introduction to the Shangpa lineage, one of the many invaluable treasures of Chinese culture.
Xue Mo’s The Curses of Xixia
With its ingenious mixture of folklore, religion, history, and modern issues, The Curses of Xixia is a magical realist novel about such enduring themes as life and death, light and dark, eternity, and impermanence.
The novel’s story unfolds as the narrator tries to piece together different accounts from the manuscripts he had discovered in Vajravārāhī Cave, a cave monks had used for spiritual training since the Dynasty of Western Xia.
The innovative experimental approaches that the author takes with both the form and content of the novel demonstrate the author’s unconstrained imagination and exceptional writing style.
Echoing the Desert trilogy, Xue Mo’s The Curses of Xixia and his two books that came after it, The Holy Mastiff of Xixia and The Holy Monk and the Spirit Woman, because of their shared focus on Spirituality, are now collectively referred to as the Soul trilogy.
Xue Mo’s The Holy Mastiff of Xixia
The Holy Mastiff of Xixia is the second of the three novels collectively known as Xue Mo’s Soul trilogy. Combining cultural elements across spacetime, the novel is an ingenious mixture of reality, legend, myth, and fantasy.
The book can also be viewed as a result of the culture of western China encountering the culture of southern China.
Elements from both strands of culture vitalize this touching story about two individuals on their spiritual journeys crossing paths with each other.
The story unfolds as the book’s heroine, Zixiao, starts her search for her lost mastiff, also known as a cang-wolf, while the book’s hero, the Black Singer, continues his quest for the eternity of the soul.
Through the encounter of their destinies, the destinies of all kinds of people connected to their story are also revealed.
Xue Mo’s Wild Fox Ridge
This is a delightful novel that challenges our preconceptions. The author of the book is both a master storyteller and an explorer.
Two of Western China’s most famous camel caravans disappeared in the Wild Fox Ridge a hundred years ago. One hundred years later, the hero arrived in the Wild Fox Ridge.
In his unique way, he summoned the ghosts of the camel caravans and let them release all their memories of life.
Thus begins a story that happened a century ago that spans the boundaries of yin and yang, north and south, good and evil, people and livestock. Lin, and it is expected that the book will be published soon.
Xue Mo’s The Legend of Heroes From Liangzhou
This book describes a little-known martial arts story and an unforgettably painful memory that happened in the ancient city of Liangzhou a hundred years ago.
The thrilling martial arts battles, the fights against horse bandits, and the love affairs unfold like a movie. It is a tribute to the spirit of martial arts.
There is no denying that the energy carried by this book will invigorate you, touch your soul, and remind you of your humanity.
The book is also suitable for children to read. For the first time, this book reveals the life of writer Xue Mo as he pursues martial arts, unveiling the obscure story of his martial arts encounters.
It is noted that the book has been translated into Arabic by famous translator Fouad Hasan and published by the Center of Arabic Literature.
Xue Mo’s Eternal Love
Xue Mo wrote the epistolary novel “Eternal Love” based on true stories. In this novel, a woman diagnosed with tongue cancer shares her battle with the deadly disease through correspondence with her teacher and diary.
The heroine and her teacher communicated heart-to-heart in their letters, discussing various topics related to the essence of life. This communication gave the heroine the courage to overcome her fear of death.
Despite its sometimes somber narration, the book embodies an uplifting and optimistic spirit that inspires us to become better individuals and work for the welfare of all people and all life.
Chairman Fan Daiming is a distinguished figure at the helm of the Chinese AntiCancer Association and an honorary member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.
He wholeheartedly endorse this book and joins forces with six prominent critics, including He Shaojun, Bai Ye, Chen Sihe, Chen Xiaoming, Yangyang, and Wang Chunlin.
Xue Mo’s Qiang Village
There may be many villages like Qiang village in western China, which need to be more inconspicuous in their long history.
However, many unusual stories between men and women happened in the land of the West of China, which has left this small village a place in history. The book tells a heart-catching story about a hundred years ago in Qiang Village.
All the characters in the story live truly and have lived out their wonder, such as a man with a strong will, an infatuated woman who got her heart broken when being in love, a boy who had a family feud and waited, and so on.
Meanwhile, you would see in the story that people’s daily life was full of ups and downs, which was precisely Like the ocean, sometimes calm, sometimes choppy. People’s strive for power was the stage and background of this story.
These people’s accounts had been hidden in history, and this book would recreate their stories, showing you their beliefs and their passions for life, thereby bringing you an extraordinary reading experience.
Selected Stories by Xue Mo
Selected Stories by Xue Mo is a collection of four beautiful stories happening on the Silk Road. With many elements of life in western China, including desert, camels, dholes, and yellow sands, the book has a strong and unique flavor of Western China.
It features love, faith, forever, life, and death as distinctive themes, reflecting the spirits that peasants in China’s West stubbornly distill from their suffering. The book is a bridge to enter the literature world of writer Xue Mo and fits for reading in scattering moments.
The Chinese version of this book has been translated into more than twenty kinds of languages. Well-known British sinologist Nicky Harman translates its English version.
One of her translated stories, “Old Man Xinjiang,” has been published by Britain’s Guardian newspaper and is considered one of the five most excellent short stories in contemporary China.
Meanwhile, The Sinhala version of this book has won the 2022 National Literature Award in Sri Lanka. The English, Korean, Swedish, and Nepali versions of Selected Stories by Xue Mo have been published or are being published.
The Crunching of Broad Beans at Dead of Night: The Secret Interview on China’s Silk Road
This book introduces the Silk Road in China by an indigenous writer from Western China to a female Western sinologist who came to conduct interviews.
It leads to nineteen stories about men, women, living creatures, and beliefs in China. Rooted in the western lands of China, these stories present the region’s vivid, rich, and unique characteristics.
In addition, the writer from Western China also answered questions about characters, life, culture, concepts, and beliefs in the stories requested by the female Western sinologist.
The symbolic dialogue and exchanges extensively portray the Western Chinese worldview, spiritual world, and energy. Therefore, this book can also be considered a means of understanding the Silk Road and the Western Chinese.
Xue Mo’s Mother, Wolf Gray
Mother Wolf Gray is one of the animal stories written by Xue Mo. It was adapted from a storyline about wolves in the novel Desert Hunters.
After one of her cubs was mistakenly killed by someone who, ironically, was tasked to stop poachers, the mother wolf named Gray took revenge on humans, which also set in motion a series of events involving both the poachers and those who took the mission to stop the poachers.
A game of survival between different groups of humans and different species of animals had thus begun, testing both the humanity and animal nature of all those involved.
Filled with love and suspense, the story is entertaining and educational, making it an excellent account for children to read.
The Fox Worshiping the Moon: Xue Mo’s Romantic and Spiritual Poems
This is the first collection of Xue Mo’s poems with its rhythmic solid, deep, intelligent, and elegant nature, and it is highly regarded as one of the most meaningful and touching poems in contemporary Chinese literature.
At the beginning of the book, the author expresses a sincere human yearning for love, freedom, and kindness with his profoundly moving and beautiful verses.
Then, written in strikingly imaginary language, he presents a vivid picture of what an ordinary person has gone through in their mind when they are on the path to spiritual enlightenment, encouraging readers’ musings and reflection.
In the last part, it is beautiful that he puts a simple but profound interpretation of The Diamond Sutra, giving viewers unique spiritual and aesthetic satisfaction.
Meanwhile, herein lies the poet’s luxuriant imagery and a series of themes such as life and death, human and nature, eternity and transient, and so on. Thus, the book is less a collection of poetry than a lighthouse guiding the direction of our life journey.
The Romanian version of the book has been translated by Romanian sinologist and translator Constantin Lupeanu and published in Romania by The Ideea Europeana Publishing.
Xue Mo’s Suosalang
Xue Mo’s composition, “Suosalang,” stands as the first epic poem of the Han Chinese, an impressive work encompassing nearly 100,000 lines, totaling over 2 million Chinese characters.
This epic narrates the odyssey of a young goddess on a mission to save her ailing mother and a planet teetering on the brink of destruction, ensnared by overindulgence and unchecked development.
As this world spirals towards its demise, five chosen champions opt to be reborn on a distant planet known as Earth.
In human form, they gradually lose touch with their purpose, succumbing to earthly distractions. In her quest to rescue her mother and home planet, a courageous and intelligent young goddess assumes human form and sets out to rekindle the champions’ long-forgotten mission.
Along this transformative journey, she attains self-realization, emerging as the radiant beacon that guides others toward enlightenment.
The saga of the goddess and the five champions is rife with challenges and hardships. They grapple with trials involving love and loss, life and death, fame and fortune, and confront demons and evil forces. Nevertheless, they ultimately find the eternity they sought to secure.
Notably, despite a rich literary history, the Han Chinese, constituting most of the Chinese population, did not previously produce epics like those found in other cultures, such as Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, the Sumerian epic Gilgamesh, or the Tibetan epic King Gesar.
Consequently, “Suosalang” is celebrated as the inaugural epic of the Han Chinese, touching upon timeless themes like the struggle between good and evil, love and faith, excellence and mediocrity, war and peace, ego and universal love, and much more.
Through the characters’ journeys, readers can glean wisdom that may guide them through similar dilemmas in their own lives. “Suosalang” is undeniably a masterpiece not to be overlooked.
Xue Mo’s One Man’s Western Region
One Man’s Western Region is Xue Mo’s long autobiographical narrative about his hometown in western China. The book recounts past events in Western China typical of the middle and the end of the 20th century, around the self-growth and life struggles of a literary youth in a remote countryside.
It combines folktales, folk culture, mundane affairs and personal dreams, spiritual quests, and life understanding, thus displaying a vast, profound, and mysterious West with the glows of a plan always shining.
In this book, Xue Mo, through his sincere and easy-to-understand words, recalls how he conquers his weaknesses, elevates himself with the power of a dream, and then achieves his purpose of changing his fate.
Reading the book, those who are fond of Chinese traditional culture will get to know a new kind of lifestyle and the path to success that are different from the popular urban utilitarian culture nowadays.
One Man’s Western Region-To the Youth
This book is the youth version of a full-length autobiographical prose named One Man’s Western Region. Around growth, dream, and youth as three keywords, it mainly tells about the writer’s growth experiences and youth memories.
It narrates them through three chapters separately named “My Childhood,” “My Study Periods,” and “Entering Society.” Reading the book, you will see a dream-chaser how to seek and determine his dream, chase it, and finally achieve it.
You will also see him how to choose when he suffers his life dilemma, how to get rid of traps and correct mistakes in the process of his growth, and thereby live the way he wants to be.
In short, this book will help you solve lots of the difficulties and puzzles in your life and make you get a complete preparation for your coming future and this vast and unknown world.
Laozi’s True Thoughts -Volume I-IV The Interpretation of Tao Te Ching by Xue Mo
Tao Te Ching is a philosophy work written 2500 years ago by Laozi, considered one of the wisest books worldly.
Over the years, the author Xue Mo read and analyzed various other interpretations of this book, and he noticed that the more profound truths Laozi attempted to share often needed to be understood or seen.
Depending on the study of excellent traditional Chinese culture as well as personal practice around it for many years, the author believes that since Laozi is an anchorite, only when we explain to Tao Te Ching from the perspective of the Tao can we genuinely understand the true meaning behind Laozi’s words.
Thus, with clarity and simplicity, he explains Laozi’s teachings necessary to be understood and embodied on the path of spiritual realization, and herein lies lots of down-to-earth guidance regarding how this old wisdom can be applied to people’s work and life.
In short, with this book in hand, we’ll move to a high-quality life far away from affliction and anxiety.
Xue Mo’s Poetic Interpretation on Laozi
This book is author Xue Mo’s brand-new masterpiece for his creative interpretation of the traditional Chinese cultural classic work “Tao Te Ching,” it has also been designed as an entry-level book telling modern people how to put Laozi’s thoughts into practice.
The book explains Laozi’s eighty-one chapters by eighty-one pieces of long philosophical poems. Each chapter includes four parts: original texts, free translation, brief introduction, and poetries.
Combined with the author’s own life experiences, he creatively interprets Laozi’s thoughts and wisdom in literary writing, and it is full of his poetic imagination.
Besides, the whole book is fascinating, penetrating, and insightful between the lines, and meanwhile, its content is appropriate for the past and the present and can directly touch readers’ hearts.
In short, the book is based on the author’s personal growth and can, through its visible literary words and expressions, guide readers to gradually experience the invisible realm of wisdom behind Laozi’s words.
It aims to tell people how to apply what they have learned from this classical work to their current job, life, and spirits and helps them better conduct themselves, do things, and deal with their spiritual crises.
Undoubtedly, everyone will emit the fragrance of wisdom after reading the book.
Xue Mo’s Interpretation of Laozi: Let Children Love Tao Te Ching
This is a teenage book featuring the interpretation of the Chinese classical work “Tao Te Ching.” The author emphasizes that learning this classic work is to deal with the confusion.
Troubles of young people under the guidance of oriental philosophy and meanwhile to teach children how to behave correctly, how to do things properly, how to live well in the world, how to apply traditional wisdom, how to solve their spiritual problems, how to improve the quality of their life, and how to change their destiny, etc.
In short, writer Xue Mo turns the philosophy contained in this book into a tool to guide people’s lives so that parents and their children can feel the charm of oriental philosophy while reading and, at the same time, understand the essence of traditional Chinese culture, and thereby elevate their spiritual level to a higher level.
Besides, the book is written from the perspective of youth and can satisfy their spiritual needs. It not only helps them eliminate reading obstacles by the phonetic spelling of rare Chinese characters and annotations of keywords but also deeply interprets Laozi’s thoughts and cultural connotations through vivid and humorous language and easy-to-understand examples.
Therefore, this book can be used as an aid for parent-child reading and family education to help teenagers form excellent characters.
Xue Mo’s Wisdom Classes (Volume II)
This book is one of the core books of “Western Chinese Culture Series of Xue Mo,” to give readers explicit instruction for their spiritual practice.
It breaks the boundary between religion and culture and synthesizes traditional philosophical theories of awakening to the inherent wisdom from Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism.
In other words, the author distills the essence of his studies and practice around excellent traditional Chinese culture to construct a complete and graded path of practice toward awakening to our inherent wisdom.
In the book, writer Xue Mo takes Confucianism’s eight notions as the foundation for seeking knowledge, which is “rectifying one’s heart,” “being sincere in thought,” “cultivating oneself,” “studying things,” “acquiring knowledge,” “regulating one’s family well,” “governing the state properly,” and “bringing peace to all under heaven.”
Then, he divides the cultivation of wisdom advocated by the Buddhist and Taoist Schools into six stages to lead spiritual trainees to surpass their limits step by step until they reach the ultimate realm of great wisdom.
In short, taking root in excellent traditional Chinese culture, Xue Mo integrates the knowledge of traditional culture with the present reality to bring new inspiration to the masses and lead them to a high quality of life.
Sunyata and Beyond— The Essence of Mahāmudrā
Many recent books have been published abroad on Mahamudra or mind meditation. This book is different in the systematic way it distills the essence of the author’s research and practice over many years on traditional Mahamudra to construct a complete and graded path of course towards the awakening to our inherent wisdom.
By reading the book, you will understand the philosophical theories of this world transcending wisdom and its clear lineage and be informed of a detailed, precise description of the way to practice and the practical solution to every typical problem that arises in different stages.
Therefore, for those who want to know about the Mahamudra culture or are eager to achieve spiritual awakening, it is a beautiful book that cannot missed.
It is noted that this book has been translated into English by J.C. Cleary, Doctor of Sinology and Culture at Harward University, and will be published soon.
Xue Mo’s Philosophy School of Mind Series
Based on twenty more years of personal practice around the cultivation of the mind as well as research on traditional philosophical theories of Mind from Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism, writer Xue Mo distills the essence and establishes his philosophy school of mind, which can not only keep up with the time but also satisfy people’s spiritual needs.
Meanwhile, with its easily understood interpretation, this series is detached from names and forms and directly points to the human mind. Thus, some scholars even regard it as a brilliant work epitomizing the traditional Chinese philosophical theories of mind ever to be written.
Moreover, compared with the Confucian master Wang Yangming’s philosophy school of mind, this series is unique because it systematically offers explicit theories and operable approaches to cultivating the mind, verified by generations of accomplished teachers.
In short, if somebody seriously cultivates their mind according to instructions in the book, their mind will become more robust, and their quality of life will also be elevated to a higher level.
Although all books in this series are different from each other in terms of their content, they complement and reinforce each other and constitute the pyramid of knowledge structure of Xue Mo’s philosophy school of mind.
The Mind of Truth
The Mind of Truth is the core work of Xue Mo’s philosophy of mind series, and it is also the fundamental book of this whole set.
Based on the inheritance of philosophical theories of mind in traditional Chinese culture and many years of personal practice around them.
The writer breaks the barriers between sects and the boundary between religion and culture, distilling the essence of mind cultivation from Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism.
Thereby, he shows the world the essential wonder of traditional Chinese culture. Besides, the book gives readers a comprehensive and systematic introduction to the actual mind and its relevant, practical approaches to cultivating it.
Thus, reading the book can inspire you to create a new lifestyle and have a new possibility in your life.
The Mind of Wisdom
The Mind of Wisdom not only gives a clear exposition of the writer’s original, profound, and enlightening viewpoints about the worldly myriad things with the wisdom of his philosophy school of mind but also collects many excellent online records of question-and-answers between him and his readers.
In terms of this content, readers can be more accessible to comprehend the wisdom of this philosophy of mind and its easy-to-digest practice and, by extension, gain a happier and more positive life.
The Mind of Literature
The Mind of Literature is one of Xue Mo’s philosophy of mind series, and it is mainly about how the writer achieves his pursuit in literature with the wisdom of his philosophy of mind.
The book is rich in content and materials, filled with his unique insights of wisdom and heart-to-heart suggestions, which may bring you new inspiration for literature creation.
With this book, you will be sure to broaden your horizons and get a unique spiritual and intellectual satisfaction.
An Outline of Xue Mo’s Study of the Mind (Traditional Chinese Version)
An Outline of Xue Mo’s Study of the Mind is an entry to understand Xue Mo’s philosophy school of mind, a systematic method to learn it, and a key to open it.
This book distills the essence of “Xue Mo’s philosophy school of mind.” It expounds on related content in philosophical terms so that it can easily resonate with readers of any age.
In the meantime, it also briefly introduces other types of philosophical schools of mind in both ancient and modern times, in China and abroad, as well as their related religion and philosophy, aiming to provide a broad cultural vision for readers and offer insight into the book.
The book mainly tells four aspects of Xue Mo’s philosophy school of mind: ontology, epistemology, methodology, and practice.
Compared with other cultural works of the author, the academic characteristics of this book are more highlighted, precise, and easier to understand.
It can not only be used as professional teaching material but also can satisfy the knowledge needs of the public.
The Buddha’s Wisdom—Xue Mo’s Realization of Transcendental Wisdom From Diamond Sutra (Traditional Chinese Version Ⅰ – Ⅲ )
The Buddha’s Wisdom—Xue Mo’s Realization of Transcendental Wisdom From Diamond Sutra is a classic work that Xue Mo worked on for five years.
It was printed with wisdom and poured out with all his heart. Experts in the publishing industry have described it as “a major event in the history of publishing as soon as the book was published.”
The understanding of the Diamond Sutra in this book has no parallel in history. Whether it is unspeakable or not, understandable or obscure, tacit or describable, you can savor the essence of Buddhist teachings and its practice by reading this book.
The author used his practical experience as pen and profound wisdom as ink to write this inspiring masterpiece.
In the book, you can feel the poetry and the warmth of Buddha’s heart and connect its insight and clarity of mind with yours.
The audio version of this book is available on Himalaya. As soon as it was launched, it topped the charts in the Himalayas and was very popular among the audiences.
Mahasiddhas’ Secrets (Volume I- Ⅷ )
Written in the form of storytelling and question-and-answers, Mahasiddhas’ Secrets (Volume I- Ⅷ ) mainly tells the stories about 84 masters of ancient India from the 8th to the 12th century A.D. Just as Xue Mo said, “The reason why I read these stories is that they have a direct bearing on our lives.”
No matter how time flies and changes, the desire of human souls is interlinked. Whether it is confusion or pain, questions or expectations, they are similar in modern or ancient times, in China or elsewhere.
They are very similar to every single one of us. Most of them are everyday people, ordinary mortals. They have desires, emotions, and passions, representing various aspects of life.
What is different is that they realized spiritual autonomy a thousand years ago and could help many people decide their destiny.
Nevertheless, a thousand years later, we still suffer from various problems, pains, and cruel destinies. Let us walk into the world created by these stories.
This way, you will unfold your inherent wisdom, master your destiny, and become truly free and powerful. You will no longer be subject to your desires, world, and fate.
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