Blooming flowers and dewdrops,
Open seas and bright moon,
High mountains and plains,
Shining stars and clouds,
All is one mind.
I bow in respect
To thousands of flowers blooming today.
I bow in respect
To dry stones on the roadside,
Along with the obscuring dust storm
Wandering to the horizon.
And I bow with deep respect
To dry tears on bony cheeks
In the immense world,
Where deep suffering is
A game of up and down.
Then I bow in gratitude
To the deep blue sky,
Clouds swirling in uncertain destinies,
Floating freely as the days go by.
Oh! The pure white snow
Covering millions of flowers
Despite spring’s presence.
The golden sunshine continues to sing in joy
For young shoots to appear.
Today flowers already bloom,
The grove is bright with plum blossoms.
The bird songs resound afar
The birthless harmony of peace.
All those who are talented
Come sing together in this melody.
Never let it be off-rhythm
So endless sky can be opened.
Spring 1997
Niêm Hoa
Bụt đứng uy nghi trên đỉnh núi
Đưa cành sen trắng cho con mỉm cười.
Sư huynh Ca Diếp hồn nhiên bảo:
‘Ta có chung trà riêng tặng em.’
1997
Bão Nổi
Đã từng rửa chân trên biển mặn,
Trời cao nhè nhẹ mây êm êm,
Sao về gom lửa mười phương lại.
Bão xuống cho đời rực rỡ sen.
1997
Riêng tặng n Sủ.
Holding a Flower
The Buddha stands serenely on the mountain peak
Holding up a white lotus,
And we smile.
Elder brother Kashyapa says simply to me:
“Brother, I have a cup of tea especially for you.”
1997
Storm Rage
Soft clouds, deep gentle sky,
Stars gather fire from ten directions.
In raging storm, the lotus blooms brilliantly.
1997
For my teacher, Thich Nhat Hanh
Ấn Tâm
Bước chân trên đất thực,
Hoa thắm nở ngàn nơi.
Chỉ một niệm chiếu soi
Siêu nhiên ngoài ba cõi.
Trong ngoại phương cõi này
Vằn vặt trăng chiếu soi,
Biển Tỳ Lô hùng tráng.
Thiên đường cũng đi qua
Địa ngục chẳng tạm dừng.
Sinh tử gì ràng buộc
Nên tự tại dạo chơi.
Ngợi ca thanh bình điệu
Câm ngang sáo không lỗ
Trổi nhạc khúc vô sinh.
Lưng trâu cỡi ngược về,
Trăng vàng lên đâu ngõ.
1997
Mind Seal
Stepping on the land of reality,
Beautiful flowers bloom everywhere.
Only deep mindfulness shines through
And the three realms have been surpassed.
In this land,
Where the moon shines brilliantly
On the glorious Dharma Body Ocean,
The world of Heaven disappears
And the world of Hell dusts off.
Why let birth and death bind us?
We can freely and joyfully travel,
Praising the melody of peace
And playing the music of non-birth
On a holeless flute,
Heading home on the buffalo’s back,
The golden moon arising at the gate top.
1997
Ánh Sáng Của Mùa Đông
Đối diện cùng tuyết trắng
Bỗng dưng tôi biến mất
Và cả một vũ trụ
Trở thành ánh sáng của tự tâm
1998
Bài thổ này nguyên bản bằng tiếng Anh.
This poem was hand-written by Thay Giác Thanh in English.
Tri Ấn
Lão nhân gầy hoa thắm,
Vườn nhà mấy đóa khai.
Du tăng ngồi ngắm mãi,
Buổi chiều lên không hay.
Riêng tặng gia đình bác Chân Tịnh Giới.
Gratitude
The old man plants flowers,
In his garden, some have opened.
The wandering monk sits contemplating the scene;
Without realizing it, evening has come.
Summer 1998
For Chân Tịnh Giới and his family
Mùa Thu
Một mùa Thu trống
Dưới bầu trời trong
Đi đứng tự do
Giữa những sắc màu
1998
Autumn
An empty autumn
Under empty sky
Walking freely
Among colors
1998
Liễu Ngộ
Liễu tri sinh tử
Thị đắc vô sanh
Thùy đạt chân không
Khả tri ngã thuyết
1999
Lời Việt:
Liễu Ngộ
Biết rõ sinh tử
Mới hiểu vô sinh
Ai hiểu chân không
Mới rõ lời tôi
Enlightenment
Understanding well birth and death
You realize no birth.
Whoever understands true emptiness
Is clear about what I say.
1999
Love
Life, death, peace, and joy
Are coming together beautifully.
Human relationships are nice in so many ways.
A moment you come,
A moment of love and care
Turning everything into eternal light.
December 29, 2000
Tặng tất cả bản bè
To all my friends
Biography of the Author
Giác Thanh was author Da Hac, Venerable Tam Tong, Chan Giác Thanh, pen name Tram Nhien, birth name Le Van Hieu.
Thay Giác Thanh was born on June 9, 1947, in the quiet and remote hamlet of Tra Loc, in Soc Son Village, Tri Ton District, Rach Gia Province. His father was Le Van Dat and his mother was Nguyen Thi Nho. He was the third child in the family of four sons and two daughters.
Like many other children in the countryside of Vietnam growing up in the great suffering of their country caused by wars and poverty, Thay Giác Thanh had to learn at an early age to follow his older brothers and sisters to gather food and catch fish. From this, his elegant face became tanned golden by the tropical sunlight. In spite of his hardships, the seed of compassion had been present within him, perhaps for many lifetimes. At the early age of seven or eight, he shed tears when thinking of our small human life in the vastness of infinite existence. Thay’s stay in this little village ended when his parents moved to Rach Gia City. While in the city, he began learning to write his first alphabet. During this time, there were some relatively peaceful periods without bombing and fighting because of the Geneva Peace Accord.
As time passed, the little boy with the golden-tanned face from the remote hamlet of Tra Loc became one of the best students of Nguyen Trung Truc School, very intelligent and especially very brave. Perhaps he had inherited his bravery from patriot Nguyen Trung Truc. Thay Giác Thanh expressed love for his country in his first poem “Tears for My Homeland,
” written when he was in grade twelve, 1967:
Oh my beloved homeland,
So many long quiet nights
I lay awake, crying tears of love for you.
Oh my beloved homeland,
What have you done to deserve this,
To let those demons torture you so,
Without remorse, compassion, or brotherly love?
They sold you to the Devil King.
Out of love for you
I buy you back with my own flesh and blood,
With my wisdom, my very heart,
And with my whole being.
Even if this body burns into ashes,
I vow to spread them along the road to peace.
There is a saying, “Man should have a determination to penetrate the deep skies.” If one does not want to be a speck of dust blown away by the whirlwind destroying one’s own country, then one should not participate in the destruction. Better, one should be a lone traveler on the path of no-birth and no-death. Thay Giác Thanh turned his life towards cultivating his ideal of great compassion and liberation through inner discovery. In 1967, he became a novice monk at Thanh Hoa Temple, Tan My Village, Cho Moi District, Long Xuyen Province. His Dharma name, Giác Thanh (Awakening Sound), was given to him by his teacher, Venerable Pho Hue.
He stayed in Giac Nguyen Temple (Saigon) in 1968, and then in Xa Loi Temple in 1969. He was fully ordained in Giac Vien Temple in the autumn of 1970. In 1971, he attended Van Hanh University to further his studies in Buddhism. He never stopped searching; whenever there was a talk by a well-known teacher, he would be there. Then he received further inspiration on his path when he came across the book of guidance for the monastic life practiced at the True Emptiness Monastery. Although he was not a permanent resident of the monastery, he participated in every summer Rains Retreat.
In the spring of 1974, they returned to True Emptiness Monastery, entering its second four-year program. The days passed, listening to sutras in the morning, meditating in the afternoon, drinking tea, looking at dewdrops hanging from the leafy roof, and watching the rays of sunlight shining and merging with the firelight in the hearth. The love from his brothers and the teachings of his old teacher on the Peak of Tao Phung Mountain opened his heart and lit up the path to the true nature for this young destitute. Thay Giác Thanh was a very good meditator and one of the most beloved elder brothers at True Emptiness Monastery. Those who had a chance to know him had beautiful memories of him. He offered love, tenderness, and support to lay practitioners as well as to his newly ordained brothers and sisters. With his deep understanding and compassion, he created great harmony in the sangha.
Once again, Vietnam’s history turned to a new page. After the spring of 1975 (when the Communists took over the whole country), the peaceful years at True Emptiness Monastery faded into the past. Everybody now had to work hard in the fields under the hot, burning sun. While working, Thay sometimes stopped and asked the question, “One’s awakening is not yet realized, why should one waste one’s precious life to gain some food? My dear younger brothers and sisters, we should give ourselves time for reflection.” Whenever there was an opportunity, he would contemplate with his little tea set, beside the bamboo grove in the front yard. Often at dawn and dusk, seeing the floating mist, he also felt the human love floating and fading away. He wrote:
Existing in this life,
I know how to enjoy tea alone.
Thirty years, a dream gone by,
Day and night, the little pot of tea is my only friend.
In the winter of 1977, Thay left Thuong Chieu Monastery and built An Khong hut in My Luong Village. This hut was made of bamboo leaves and next to the hut was his small meditation space. The setting expressed the meditative taste of a Zen master with a simple and noble life, but it also expressed the artistry of a poet. After four years, he left An Khong hut, as described in the last paragraph of the poem “A Yellow Flower Dream:”
I am a traveler
In infinite time.
My soul seems to get lost in the desolate island.
One morning, the island awakens,
Birds shouting, rushing me onto my path.
And in the vast billowy ocean,
The dust of life is washed off.
In July of 1981, they escaped from Vietnam by boat, crossing the Gulf of Siam. Like many other Vietnamese people enduring dangerous escapes, he was not able to avoid the pirates. Seeing the raping and robbing, he angrily asked, “Do you have a heart? How could you be so cruel to your fellow humans?” The pirates were angry and threw him into the ocean. Fortunately, the head pirate, in a flash of sympathy, tossed him a rope and pulled him up onto the boat. So the game of birth and death was once more postponed.
Thay was in Song La refugee camp in Indonesia from July 1981 to early 1982. He was sponsored by Venerable Thich Man Giac to come to Los Angeles. He spent his first refugee allowance of $300 on an expensive, antique tea set and some tea, and offered the first cup of tea to Venerable Thich Man Giac. What was the cost of a cup of tea? A small expense, but this action expressed the gratitude of a young wandering man. The Venerable offered cooling shade and a loving harbor for Thay Giác Thanh. During Thay’s brief stay at Phat Giao Vietnam Temple, the Venerable, like a tender and caring mother, offered the loving energy that healed the wounds in the wanderer’s heart. At the end of spring in 1982, at the request of the Venerable Man Giac, Thay moved to Nam Tuyen Temple in the state of Virginia to help Thay Tri Tue. They lived there happily together from 1982 to 1989.
During that time, Thay Giác Thanh also lived and practiced in Japanese, Korean, and Burmese practice centers. The appeal of the traveler’s life faded, but his journey of coming home was still burning deep within him. Continuously he searched, knocking at different great teachers’ doors, for the final breakthrough to penetrate directly into infinite space.
In one of the North America retreats led by Thay Nhat Hanh at the end of summer in 1986, seeing him practice with intense and strained effort, Thay Nhat Hanh said to him: “Thay Giác Thanh, you do not need to strive so much. Walk with me and look at the beautiful autumn leaves changing colors from yellow to red. Life is such a miracle; it is never born and never dies. Look deeply and accept life as it is.” These teaching words of Thay Nhat Hanh were like the few drops of water that cause a full cup to overflow, like lightning penetrating deep layers of clouds and illuminating the immense sky. From that time, he abandoned searching by means of strained effort.
In the summer retreat of 1990 at Plum Village, the retreatants had a chance to practice with Thay Giác Thanh, a Vietnamese monk with a beautiful smile that expressed his inner peace. In 1991, he began residing at Plum Village and there he lived happily with his teacher, Thay Nhat Hanh—the old oak tree—and he himself became an oak tree protecting his little brothers and sisters, the young oak trees. He also led Days of Mindfulness at the Cactus Meditation Center located near Paris, France. He was called by a very poetic name, “Thay Cactus.” He was given this name because he looked after the Cactus Meditation Center, but it was an appropriate name for his permeating but gentle radiance and upright manner. At the end of 1991, he received the Lamp Transmission to become a Dharma Teacher and a gatha from Thay Nhat Hanh. The gatha is:
The awakened nature is the true nature.
Pure sound is the manifestation of the Wonderful Sound.
The full moon light illuminates Ty Lo Ocean.
The musical waves are still strong and sonorous.
And this is Thay Giác Thanh’s insight gatha offered to his teacher and the Sangha at his Lamp Transmission:
Clear water on one side,
Urine on the other,
All will return to sky, clouds, oceans, and rivers.
There is sunlight during daytime
And moonlight at night
Shining my way.
For Thay Giác Thanh Plum Village was a cradle in which all of humankind’s happiness could flourish, and a field in which the seeds of com
passion and understanding could be sown. He wrote a poem to express his respect and admiration for his teacher:
A lightning look
Brings down several great walls.
I bow my head to receive
And remember it life after life.
Thay Nhat Hanh offered him a small wooden hut on the forest edge beside his own. All year round, one could hear birds singing and see many different flowers blooming around his hut. He liked the name Floating Cloud. There was a vast space in his heart. He walked freely and solidly, and his smiles and words carried a profound peace to people around him. Therefore, in 1992 in his very first visit to the East Coast of North America, he brought a lot of happiness to the practitioners participating in the various retreats and Days of Mindfulness that he led. One thing was sure wherever he went—France, America, Australia, Canada—from the beginning of his teaching to his last breath, all of us received his tender, fresh, and peaceful energy. He was respected and deeply loved by all of us.
In 1995, he contracted tuberculosis and his diabetes worsened. He had lived with his illnesses since 1992 or earlier. With his mindful breathing, he embraced his illnesses. He took care of his illnesses like a mother loving her child, never complaining no matter how demanding the child was. Many of our ancestors also faced challenging obstacles but took them as opportunities to realize full enlightenment. Similarly, even with these serious illnesses, Thay could live peacefully and happily, and this was clearly expressed in his poems, especially those written after 1997, such as “Mind Seal:”