Thien Quang Pagoda (The Pagoda of the Light of Thien) opens on one side onto the Lake of the same name and on the other side to a small garden fragrant with the scent of grape-fruit tree flowers.
A Buddhist nun, still young despite her fifty years, silently served us lotus tea.
The noise of the town does not reach this place of serenity and peace. The semi-darkness of the room where incenses invites us to meditate on zen, a reflection of which is found in the Ke written by a Buddhist nun of royal blood, Dieu Nhan, nine centuries ago.
Birth, old age, illness, death
Have always continued indefinitely,
If one wants to deliver oneself,
Ties that are loosened only tighten all the more
One blindly appeals to Dhyana.
Don’t appeal to Buddha or Dhyana,
Stay mute, words are only verbiage.
Mysticism based on total knowledge, salvation resting on spiritual asceticism to put an end to suffering, to the will to live which is the source of endless birth and rebirth, to reach real death which is both nothingness and life, love and wholeness,
Dieu Nhan, the first Vietnamese woman of letters, had Ly Ngoc Kieu for her real name. The eldest daughter of Prince Phung Can Vuong- King Ly Thanh Tong (reign: 1054-1072) god-daughter, she was married to a district chief, whose family name was Le. Becoming a widow, she entered into religion and was in charge of the Pagoda of Huong Hai in Gia Lam district for many years.
