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The Tale of Kieu – Through the Lens of Mindful Contemplation, Talk 10
Poetry and the practice of meditation are always interwoven in the monastic life, from morning until night, from the brown robe to the daily rituals, the Offering Rice at Midday, and the Sharing of the Merit. As soon as a novice enters the temple, he memorizes the collection of essential daily gatha in classical Chinese called “Tỳ Ni Nhật Dụng Thiết Yếu,” which includes about 50 verses, beginning with the opening gatha: “May all beings attain the wisdom of understanding…” recited every morning upon waking up. The morning and evening practices, offering food to the Buddha, are also poems and gathas. The Zen masters of the Lê, Lý, and Trần dynasties all composed poetry, and the dialogues between teacher and student during the transmission of the mind seal and realization were often in verse.
From the golden rice fields on Tao Đàn hill in 1950 to the poetic inspiration 38 years later, the poet Tú Vũ—still living in Saigon, author of “The Flute Sound in the Autumn Evening” (195–) and “Pilgrimage” (1964)—has truly absorbed the Dharma, without needing to “build a bridge between the Way and poetry.” The Buddha was also an artist, creating the robe of blessings based on the image of fertile fields, and once, walking with Ananda along the seashore, when a fisherman spoke of the eight qualities of the ocean, the Buddha enumerated the eight corresponding qualities of the Dharma of Liberation.
- The gathas of the novice in “Tỳ Ni Nhật Dụng Thiết Yếu” (about 50 classical Chinese verses)
- “Thi Tứ”—the poem Tú Vũ composed in autumn as the leaves fell, offered to Thầy Nhất Hạnh, inscribed with respect… building a bridge of understanding between the Way and poetry
- The eight qualities of the ocean and the eight qualities of the Dharma of Liberation (from gradually deepening, always ready to receive, not accepting corpses…)
