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Commentary on the Three Poems of Ánh Thơ – Polish Edition
A long sleepless night, the meditation practitioner sits leaning on the window, waiting for dawn and recognizing the wondrous manifestation of “her” as a condition among conditions. Following that is the story of a lawyer who had an accident and was cared for by five girls in the family—Huong, Hong, Hoa, Thom, Qua—and in the end, he chooses Hong, who offers him the gift of “a thatched cottage—a golden heart.” Through this, the talk sketches the old society’s preference for sons (“one son is considered to exist, ten daughters are considered as nothing”), the examination process held every three years, the role of the “scholarly wife” supporting her husband’s studies, the scene of “a few yards of empty garden, a thatched house with a slanted roof,” and the dream of “the silk hammock of the future.”
Thay Nhat Hanh uses many poems and ancient folk songs—from the Chinese Book of Songs to Vietnamese folk poetry—to point out the illusion of dualism (coming/going, I/you). The truth of non-duality is illustrated through the images of
- no coming, no going,
- “one arrow falls, two illusory flags,”
-
seeking me is seeking you, seeking you is seeking me.
At the end are twelve proposals for the 1000th anniversary of Thang Long, including: - Establishing Van Hanh University with the spirit of non-abiding, fearlessness, non-duality
- Teaching ethics and citizenship at every level
- An interfaith and humanist congress to draft a global code of ethics
- A council of virtuous elders in every village
- Amnesty for prisoners who contribute suggestions to the government
- Tax exemption for the homeless
- Sundays with only smoke-free vehicles, prohibition of alcohol and tobacco
- Vegetarian restaurants and encouragement to eat vegetarian 15 days a month
- Support for solar energy in daily life
- Abolishing single-use nylon
- A People’s Buddhist Congress separate from politics
- Retreats to transform violence in the spirit of Van Hanh
