Each season of the year has its own features, which poets
and writers extol, celebrate or lament in myriads of poems and
writings among cultures around the world.
When spring comes, nature revives, trees grow green
foliage, and flowers bloom everywhere. When spring goes,
spring flowers wither, fade away, and give way to a promising
summer with outdoor activities.
The seasonal change of the world is as necessary for the
planet as are the air we breathe, and the fresh water we
drink. Accepting the universe as it is is an obvious course of
action, but how to take the changes and how to perceive the
transition is a matter of one's outlook on life, one's
world-view.
A short poem called a “Buddhist prayer” by some sources,
written in Chinese characters and later converted to
Sino-Vietnamese, was penned by a bonze under the Ly dynasty in
the 11th century. This poem expresses the mysterious meaning
of life in explicit expressions as well as in implicit
allusions.
No literature records exist about the Zen Buddhist priest
Man Giac (1051-1096) except for this poem. According to Keith
Weller Taylor in his “The Cambridge History of Southeast
Asia,” published in 1992 by Cambridge University, the
influence of Buddhism was preponderant in this era. Buddhist
monks were largely instrumental in the establishment of the Ly
dynasty.
The first ruler of the House of Ly, Ly Cong Uan, was raised
by a monk named Van Hanh, who supported him as sovereign in
1009. Ly Cong Uan (or King Ly Thai To), and the next three
kings Ly Thai Tong, Ly Thanh Tong, Ly Can Duc, all encouraged
the expansion of Vietnamese literature by using the
Sino-Vietnamese writing system.
The title of the poem “Cao Tat Thi Chung,” literally
“Advice from a person of ill health,” expresses an ideology of
life, a philosophy and the karma: the cycle of births and
rebirths, the cycle known in Buddhism as the samsara, the
round of births and deaths, the never-ending series of cause
and effect.
The first two verses cover the general concept of the
passage of time (spring goes, spring comes) and its
consequences on nature (flowers fall, flowers bloom):
When spring goes, hundreds of flowers fall.
When spring comes, hundreds of flowers bloom.
The next two lines touch upon the effect of the march of
time on human life. Life may exist here now, but may disappear
at any moment. Years are added to one’s life with age.
Things keep passing as I watch.
My head is showing signs of the years.
Following the objective observation of the first four
lines, the last two verses expound the author's profound and
insightful philosophy with a universal appeal.
The author's closing message encapsulates his outlook,
“Don’t tell me that the flowers are all gone when spring is
over; you must see that life is inexhaustible, boundless. Life
and death are in constant transition. I saw a branch of plum
blooming overnight near my front door. The new blossoming is
the begining of new life, the life after life, the spiritual
and eternal life."
On that note, let us enjoy Man Giac's laconic but pregnant
poem in its totality.
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