Tuan Hiep TRAN

Since childhood, I have had a heart for the Dao. At the age of 14, I read about Confucius, admired him, and wanted to follow the examples of the wise ones who came before. At 15, I read Zhuangzi; though I didn’t yet understand the concept of "non-action" (Wu Wei), I was captivated by the free and expansive style in The Equality of Things and The Happiness of Roaming Freely . I then delved deeper into Confucianism and Daoism, reading Confucianism by Trần Trọng Kim, Dao De Jing by Laozi, and other works. But I still didn’t truly understand the Dao; I was only exploring knowledge. At 22, a life-changing event led me to study and explore Buddhism. Eastern Dao holds a latent power that those who haven’t experienced it cannot truly understand. The Dao is a path, but which path is meant for you? Which path is meant for each of us? Why has the Eastern Dao fallen behind, overshadowed by the scientific and technological might of the West? And why do people nowadays tend to speak of ...

     A LETTER OF JUSTICE The person who wrote this letter was Nguyen Quang Bich, who passed successfully the imperial exam to become Doctor of Confucianism in 1869, and was a mandarin in Nguyen dynasty. Fighting many battles with French colonialist force, maintaining the Can Vuong movement in Hung Hoa, Phu Tho for 4 years after the fall of the capital. He passed away at the end of the year of Ky Suu in 1890 when he was 60 years old, leaving Ngu Phong Thi Tap poetry collection made during the time of Can Vuong. The following quoted letter answers to the French call for surrender. "... When you came here, one you said that it was for peace, two you said that it was for protection, then you occupied our strongholds, dismissed our king, expelled our generals, and then established Dong Khanh as new king himself. It was merely a trick of the person who covers his ears while stealing the bells. Political interests are in the hands of you. Our civil and military mandarins are a...

Human life perspectives essentially fall into two categories. The first category encompasses the material reality, where the truth is derived from tangible life experiences, whether it involves seeking pleasure or sacrificing for societal contributions. Actions within this scope are focused on immediate, observable outcomes. The second category believes that present life is just one dimension within a multi-dimensional space-time continuum, suggesting the existence of spiritual realms, heavens, hells, or other worlds beyond material reality, which science has yet to confirm. Different life perspectives lead to different behaviors. Adherents of the first perspective rely solely on current reality, attributing unknowns to randomness, and their actions are practical, grounded in the external world they can perceive. Followers of the second perspective further divide into those who forsake the present reality for spiritual perpetuity and those who view material life as part of a broader sp...

即事   社稷兩回勞石馬， 山河千古奠金甌。  Tức sự (I) Xã tắc lưỡng hồi lao thạch mã, Sơn hà thiên cổ điện kim âu. Dịch nghĩa Trên nền xã tắc hai lần ngựa đá phải mệt nhọc, Nhưng núi sông nghìn đời được đặt vững như âu vàng.

This is a poem by Nguyen Xuan On, a  strong-willed, patriotic scholar in the " Aid the King" movement  in 19th-century  Vietnam.   Feeling nostalgia on a winter day Time has gone by so quickly, The way ahead still needs to be clarified. Look at my age; my age has gone by too Look at the star; the star has already rotated to the east The prime of life has come, not like my initial oath Once the youth is gone, I won't meet it again This life, if I can't honor the debt of winning fame  I'm afraid of betraying the six arrows shot into the sky. In Vietnamese Đông nhật cảm hoài Bách đại  quang âm  chuyển thuấn không, Tiền đồ  trâm hốt bội thông thông. Niên hoa khuất chỉ trùng lâm dậu, Tinh kỷ hồi đầu hựu quá đông. Tráng tuế phương lai hiềm dị thệ, Thiếu niên nhất khứ hận nan phùng. Thử sinh vị liễu công danh trái, Khủng phụ đương sơ  lục xạ bồng . Dịch thơ: Quang âm thấp thoáng thoi đưa, Chút lòng trâm hốt tiền đồ xa xôi. Bấm tay dậu nữa tới rồi, ...

This is the famous poem of Dang Dung , a general in the 14th century.  Express my heart Affairs of this world are endless, but I’m old already; what must I do? The infinite universe comes into some drunken songs. When good fortune comes, a butcher or fisher can become weirdly successful. When chance is gone, heroes will only drink much resentment.  I wanted to help the king and held the ambition of lifting this earth's axis to turn it around. I wanted to wash all armor, but there was no way to pull the river on galaxy down. The nation is not avenged yet; hair turned white first.  How many nights have I sharpened my sword in the moonlight? (Thuật hoài Thế sự du du nại lão hà, Vô cùng thiên địa nhập hàm ca. Thời lai đồ điếu thành công dị, Vận khứ anh hùng ẩm hận đa. Trí chúa hữu hoài phù địa trục, Tẩy binh vô lộ vãn thiên hà. Quốc thù vị báo đầu tiên bạch, Kỷ độ Long Tuyền đới nguyệt ma. Sự đời dằng dặc mà ta già rồi, biết làm sao đây! Trời đất mênh mông thu vào trong cuộc ...

Hello World! After so long, more than 10 years, that I have kept a low-key profile, I would like to be open to the world again by starting my personal blog.  This new beginning will be more exciting and deeply thoughtful than my previous blogs when I was a student in Hanoi, Vietnam. I stopped blogging a long time ago, as life has changed so much for a young; things came and gone, people came and gone, and my heart and soul have been transformed by traces and scars. I took a long time to ponder life and the world and untangle myself from the tangled things that came to me. Now, as I become more apparent in my mind and purer in spirit, this is the time to give back my thinking to the universe. Because this is the first post, I want to insert a beautiful image. Looking for a photo on my laptop, I found only the picture of Prince Tran Hung Dao - a famous general in Vietnamese history, during the TRAN dynasty. This great general led the Vietnamese people to defeat three times the invasi...