Night Storm a Vietnamese poem explicatedNight Storm a poem by Mai Van Phan in Vietnamese Translated by Pompen Hantrakool into English Explicated by Dr Ramesh Chandra Mukhopadhyaya Text A wind snatches at the roofs of houses The moon lies on the top of the storm To snatch means to take anything in a hurry. To snatch may also mean taking something by force. A wind snatches at the roofs of houses. Wind has mass and weight .It is a person. It takes by force the roofs of traditional houses of Vietnam .There are different kinds of architecture and different kinds of roofs in different parts of Vietnam. There are roofs covered with palm leaves. There are roofs of bamboo and so on. Also there are tile roofs dragon roofs. The Vietnamese people believe that they are the descendants of a dragon . The dragon brings rain. It is the yang representing universe life existence growth and prosperity. The roof symbolizes the inmost which is celestial. The sidewalls stand for the spiritual. The floor stands for the natural or things in the contingent. In everyday parole roof implies a shelter from the vagaries of nature. But when the wind is strong and violent on the surface it snatches at the roof that protects us from rains and heat and wind. And yes in Vietnam tropical wind sometimes becomes violent heavy with the load of water particles. Violent wind is called a storm. The wind is made to blow due to the rotation of the earth. The warm wind from the equator seeks to expand. At the same time the cold wind from the poles invade the atmosphere. When the cold wind and the hot wind encounter each other there is the storm. During a storm the wind howls, the sea is whipped into mounds—and the world as it were goes out of joints. While we tremble like a leaf in storm while the trees and plant the mighty built space of cities and every living thing is struck with fear the moon up above the storm is tranquil. Is it not strange and funny? But the scene is symbolic. A storm might mean a heavy shower of bullets. A storm might mean emotional outburst. A violent upheaval or disturbance in social or political or domestic affairs. A storm could also mean a violent sudden attack on a fortified place. These take place on the physical and mental levels. They speak of how the world of eye and ear and touch is ever in flux and transitory. But moon which stands for the reality lurking behind the show of things remains constant un hurt by the commotion in the contingent world be it an air raid a political or social upheaval or a natural disaster. In the heart of hearts of every being there is the purer mind below the mind This purer mind is least perturbed by the emotional upheaval. This purer mind is the moon that observes the storm from empyrean height.The moon shines in the roof of the existence or yang un dismayed. It is the dragon shining in the roof of the earth. One wonders whether the moon stands for the Bodhichitta that shines unmoved and unruffled.It caters love and kindness to all things both great and small. It caters love and light to the war torn and misery lorn existence of ours.The direct experience of this purer mind is possible only in the night when all other lights are put off, when our senses go to sleep and when the breath we inhale and the breath we exhale meet in course of pranayama or breath control

Night Storm a poem by Mai Van Phan in Vietnamese

Translated by Pompen Hantrakool into  English

Explicated by Dr Ramesh Chandra Mukhopadhyaya

Text

A wind snatches at the roofs of houses

The moon

 lies on the top of the storm

To snatch means to take anything in a hurry. To snatch may also mean taking something by force. A wind snatches at the roofs of houses. Wind has mass and weight .It is a person. It takes by force the roofs of traditional houses of Vietnam .There are different kinds of architecture and different kinds of roofs in different parts of Vietnam. There are roofs covered with palm leaves. There are roofs of bamboo and so on. Also there are tile roofs dragon roofs. The Vietnamese people believe that they are the descendants of a dragon . The dragon brings rain. It is the yang representing universe life existence growth and prosperity. The roof symbolizes the inmost which is celestial. The sidewalls stand for the spiritual. The floor stands for the natural or things in the contingent. In everyday parole roof implies a shelter from the vagaries of nature. But when the wind is strong and violent on the surface it snatches at the roof that protects us from rains and heat and wind. And yes in Vietnam tropical wind sometimes   becomes violent heavy with the load of water particles. Violent wind is called a storm. The wind is made to blow due to the rotation of the earth. The warm wind from the equator seeks to expand. At the same time the cold wind from the poles invade the atmosphere. When the cold wind and the hot wind  encounter each other there is the storm. During a storm the wind howls, the sea is whipped into mounds—and the world as it were goes out of joints. While we tremble like a leaf in storm while the trees and plant the mighty built space of cities and every living thing is struck with fear the moon  up above the storm is tranquil. Is it not strange and funny? But the scene is symbolic. A storm might mean a heavy shower of bullets. A storm might mean emotional outburst. A violent upheaval or disturbance in social or political or domestic affairs. A storm could also mean a violent sudden attack on a fortified place. These take place  on the physical and mental levels.  They speak of how the world of eye and ear and touch is ever in flux and transitory. But moon which stands for the reality lurking behind the show of things remains constant un hurt by the commotion in the contingent world be it an air raid a political or social upheaval or a natural disaster. In the heart of hearts of every being there is the purer mind below the mind  This purer mind is least perturbed by the emotional  upheaval. This purer mind is the moon that observes the storm from empyrean height.The moon shines in the roof of the existence or yang un dismayed. It is the dragon shining in the roof of the earth.  One wonders whether the moon stands for the Bodhichitta that shines unmoved and unruffled.It caters love and kindness to all things both great and small. It caters love and light to the war torn and misery lorn existence of ours.The direct experience of this purer mind is possible only in the night when all other lights are put off, when our senses go to sleep and when the breath we inhale and the breath we exhale meet in course of pranayama or breath control