Vietnam

Two days ago, we had a temple marathon day. We made a short drive from Danang to Hoi An, which is a World Heritage Site. The town, which was saved from bombing during the war by an agreement between the two sides, is beautifully preserved and, needless to say, a tourist magnet. Our destination was several Buddhist temples.

The first two temples we visited were outside Hoi An. They were quite old--someone said 400 or more years old--and so beautiful and peaceful. All the temples have gardens. Some are large, as at Thay's root temple, Thien Mu, and some are small. But always, there are lovingly tended plants, many cultivated in a sort of bonsai style, although much larger.

The Vietnamese also have a lovely form of water garden that I've fallen in love with. It represents a mountain and is surrounded by a pool of water. These are constructed in basins or small ponds and come in many sizes. There are usually bonsai or small plants placed on the rock, and often small figurines. Sometimes there are fish in the pools. They are so peaceful and lovely.

At each temple, we are greeted by the venerables (the monks who are in charge at the temple). There is always an exchange of gifts, as well. And invariably, we get water, cookies, or a meal.

Our luncheon in Hoi An was at a large temple, and the meal was the most amazing one we've had. Not that every temple meal hasn't been delightful...believe me, they have been! But this one was a feast. The laypeople kept bringing plates of food. Just when I thought, "Okay, now THIS is it," here would come another exquisite platter. We were ravenous, having eaten breakfast at 5 a.m., so it was a little hard to know when to stop. And of course we wanted to try a little of each dish. At the end of the meal, we sang to the laypeople to thank them for their warmth and hospitality.

We had a little time to walk around Hoi An. It's a shopper's paradise. The town is well known for its clothing, and everywhere you look, there's a store with even more beautiful clothing than the last one. Several people had clothes tailored, including Sandra, who got the most divine outfits. (Don't worry, Billy, they were reasonably priced.)

Thay was invited by the owners of a resort outside Hoi An, and the entire delegation enjoyed a couple of hours of hospitality--a luscious buffet of fruit and cold drinks (and the ever-present Vietnamese coffee), a visit to the beach, a swing in the hammock. The monks played volleyball (my guess is that the Western family on the other side had no idea when they got up that morning that in the afternoon, they'd be lobbing the ball back and forth with a group of Buddhist monks!). The nuns went for a swim. It was a nice bit of downtime for all of us.

Yesterday, we deviated from the planned itinerary and took the train rather than the overnight bus. The train (the Reunification Express) was well maintained and the ride was so scenic. It was really the first we had seen of the Vietnamese countryside. Water buffalo, rice paddies, corn fields (yes, corn fields). Children playing soccer. Women and men tending the fields. It was like a moving meditation to watch the scenery.

Now we are in Nha Trang, a seaside resort. Not that we'll do much resort-ing. We have temples to visit!

See some new photos at http://tinyurl.com/326l3h.

It has been several days since I had reliable Internet access. We travelled to Danang from Hue, settling into a hotel that, while friendly, lacks some of the--shall we say?--modern amenities. In any event, we have been too busy to do much besides sleep outside the sangha schedule.

Each day, we have enjoyed a Dharma talk from Thay. The first two days in Danang were marked by an incredible, indescribable festival at Kwan Um Temple. It you think "carnival," that's about as close as I can come to describing the atmosphere. The first night, the crowd was very lively and talkative. Thay had the monastics do a lot of chanting to try to help calm the crowd.

Thay's talk there, and the several he has given since, are marked by such warmth and compassion. Our Vietnamese Buddhist brothers and sisters practice a devotional form of Buddhism, which has its own beauty and effectiveness, but Thay's hope is to introduce the practice of mindfulness and to begin, ever so gently, to show people the simple forms of meditation that he has developed in his work with Westerners.

We have been to a number of temples here. At each one, on at least our initial visit, we participate in a formal procession with the monastics. Local people line the path, and we walk quietly and mindfully. Part of our role here is to embody the practice of mindfulness as much as possible.

I hope that it's clear from my few entries here how very much Vietnam has affected me. The warmth of the people, their gentleness and good humor, are endearing. As a Buddhist, I feel that the practices that Thay teaches will take root here. The quietness and tranquility are definitely present here. They may be buried under a few layers of "progress," but I do believe they are the nature of the people here.

On the tourist-y side, we did yesterday get a chance to do a little shopping in area of the Marble Mountain of Danang. Marble Mountain, among other things, is the site of a number caves where temples have been established. It isn't called Marble Mountain for nothing. There are many artisans in the area working in marble. We were able to browse in a few shops. I bought a beautiful marble Buddha.

Other than that brief shopping expedition, we did go to the central market in Danang. The markets are always an experience! Here and in Hue, the markets are buildings ringed by stands of people selling various foodstuffs. Inside, there are other vendors and, on the second floor, stalls selling fabric, shoes, and ready-made clothing.

On the cuisine front, we have been very well fed. We often eat at the temples, where the food is, of course, vegetarian. One person commented that the food is very sattvic, and it does feel that way. It is light, soothing, and delicious! In some places, the lay people prepare the food. In others, the nuns do much of the preparation. Always, the food is prepared with a great deal of love and mindfulness, and I know this makes the food taste better!

Tonight, a number of us are going on a boat cruise on the Han River. We'll have dinner and be entertained by musicians performing classical Vietnamese music.

Today has been a "lazy" day, meaning I chose not to accompany the rest of the delegation (120+ lay people and 200 or so monks and nuns) on temple visits and outings to the Cham Museum and beach. Our day yesterday was very, very long, and I needed some time to recuperate. Happily, it's acceptable to take a "lazy" day occasionally.

I will stop now. Rather than let this get too long, I'll try to post another entry in a day or so. I appreciate emails and comments on the blog and if I can't respond to them, know that I do get to read them and enjoy them!

April 1st found us making our way to the Hanoi airport en route to Hue. En route, I realized I didn't have my passport. (In Vietnam, as in many countries, hotels keep your passport during your stay. I was too tired when I arrived to offer a Xeroxed copy instead.) The hotel's driver made a quick call. We pulled over to the side of the busy road, and after a quarter hour's wait, along comes a motorcycle driven by the hotel's manager, my passport in his hand!

Arriving in Hue, we entered a different climate zone. It was 34 degrees C! Toasty. Many other group members arrived on the same flight, so slowly, we are becoming a travelling sangha.

The Green Hotel, our new home, is elegant and has all the amenities one could hope for...a lovely pool, a gymnasium, Internet access, restaurants, shops, and, of course, air conditioning. We settled into our rooms quickly. Sister Tue Nghiem greeted us and helped us get oriented. Each of us received a nametag, a grey robe, and a bowl. The grey robe identifies us as lay members of the sangha. The bowl is to use when we have meals at the pagodas.

With two hours of arrival, we were on a bus to a nearby hall to hear Thich Nhat Hanh give a public Dharma talk on power and happiness. Local government officials, as well as many monastics, were in the audience. Thay (the Vietnamese word for “teacher,” which we used respectfully to refer to Thich Nhat Hanh) spoke about the difficulties of power. He talked about the Iraq war and wondered whether George Bush, who has tremendous power, sleeps well at night. I suspect that most of us sitting and listening didn't have a hard time understanding that power is not a path to happiness.

Thay invited one of our fellow lay travellers, Cheri Maples, to speak to the audience about her experience as a police officer and a practitioner of mindfulness. Cheri was taken by complete surprise. She spoke about her work organizing mindfulness retreats and trainings for police officers and other criminal justice professionals and how it is possible to transform attitudes through mindfulness practice, even in those very challenging professions. (More information about this can be found at http://speakingoffaith.publicradio.org/programs/thichnhathanh/transcript.shtml.)

Thay offered his Dharma talk in Vietnamese. Some of the nuns provided real-time translations for us as we sat on a veranda overlooking the Perfume River. As Thay spoke, the sun set, the bats emerged, and the geckos scampered across the walls.

Now we are three... My friend Sandra Russell arrived from Scotland, so we are an international trio! We enjoyed dinner at Koto, a restaurant that trains and employs street children. The kids are delightful, the restaurant is lovely, and the food was yummy and beautifully presented.

Yesterday (3/31), we met our tour guide for the day, Hiep. My friend Julie Wagner in Connecticut met Hiep when she was in Vietnam late last year and she in turn introduced me to him. Hiep is a 20-year-old architecture student. He spent the entire day with the three of us, escorting us through this beguiling city. Stops included several pagodas (I'll provide more details, perhaps in another entry as I am a bit rushed this a.m.), the Ho Chi Minh mausoleum and museum, and the Temple of Literature.

We all found it hard to put into words the experience of the mausoleum. It was moving, for sure, seeing Vietnamese break down in tears during the few moments it's possible to see the embalmed leader as the queue moves slowly around the room. Happily, we arrived early in the day so didn't wait long. The queue was several hundred people long when we left.

The HCM museum, near the mausoleum, was truly incredible. No expense was spared in the building or the exhibits. Hiep enjoyed pointing out to us that HCM wasn't always the best speller. We pored over several of his letters on display as Hiep looked for misspellings.

An absolutely exquisite lunch at a vegetarian restaurant (thank you, Hiep) was followed by a taxi ride (air conditioning! hurray!) to the Temple of Literature. While there is indeed a temple there, the TOL is actually the first university in Vietnam, founded, I think, in 1076. Amazing! Take that, Wesleyan. The grounds are spectacular. The tile-roofed buildings are something out of a dream of Vietnam.

We finally all gave into a bit of travel exhaustion and headed back for a quick nap before dinner and a trip to see Hanoi's famous water puppets. We all agreed that the water puppet show was a highlight of the day. It's a traditional art form in this area, originally done perhaps in rice paddies using three-dimensional puppets on long bamboo poles. The puppeteers masterfully manipulate the puppets from behind a screen, making them splash and swim and cavort through the water.