VIETNAMESE PROVERBS (TỤC NGỮ VIỆT NAM) Collected and explained by Pham Van Binh (3) 1 post by 1 author

Pham Van Binh (Binh Tam)

28 Sep

- B -

Ba bà, bốn chuyện

(There are three ladies but four tales)

Woman is talkative and gossipy

Cp: Two is company but three is none 

Ba bà, chín chuyện

(There are three ladies but nine tales)

As:  Ba bà, bốn chuyện

Ba mươi được ăn, mồng một tìm đến 

(He who has got  something to eat on the thirtieth of this month will come back to beg on the first of the next month)

As: ăn mày quen ngõ

Ba ông thợ da bằng Gia Cát Lượng 

(Three shoe-makers are equal to Zhù Gé Liàng *

A collective wit can beget good ideas 

Cp: Two heads are better than one

Ba tháng trông cây không bằng một ngày trông quả

(Three months’ longing for the tree’s growth is not worth one day’s waiting for its fruit born)

Everyone longs for the result of what he’s doing 

Ba tháng trông cây, một ngày trông quả 

(It takes three months to long for the tree’s growth but takes only one day to long for its fruit born) 

As: Ba tháng trông cây không bằng một ngày trông quả 

Ba thưng cũng vào một đấu

(Three gallons are also put into one bushel) 

In one group of people living together, everything contributed by each member will be in common use 

Ba vợ bảy nàng hầu, đêm nằm chuồng trâu, gối đầu bằng chổi

(He who has three wives and seven concubines sleeps in the buffalo shed with a broom as the pillow at night )

Following too many will get none

Cp: Dogs that put up many hares kill none

Ba vuông sánh với bảy tròn

(Three squares is compared with seven circles) 

Both sides are equal

Bà chúa đứt tay bằng ăn mày xổ ruột 

(A small cut of the queen’s finger is as bad as an open wound of the beggar’s belly)

The rich usually make noises about their small pains  

Bà chúa phải gai bằng thuyền chài xổ ruột 

(A thorn’s hitting of the queen is as bad as an open wound 

of the fisherman)

As: Bà chúa đứt tay bằng ăn mày xổ ruột 

Bà con vì tổ vì tiên, không phải vì tiền vì gạo

(Admitting of relatives is for the clan, not for money or rice)

People of a clan should think of one another for sentiment, not for benefit   

Bà cốt ngửi mùi tàn hương

(A sorceress smells incense)

One can easily be excited by what in his liking

Bà tiền, bà thóc, bà cóc gì ai 

(You are the lady of nobody but rice and money) 

Many people of high class are respected not for their talent or virtue but wealth

Bà vãi chẳng khỏi lần lên chùa

(A Buddhist nun can’t help returning to the pagoda)

Habits are difficult to alter

Cp: Habit is the second nature

Bá nhân, bá khẩu 

(One hundred people have one hundred mouths) 

Different people have different ideas  

Bạc ba quan tha hồ mở bát

(He who has got three quans* can open the gambling bowl at any time)

The rich can do what they want

Bạc chửa thâu canh đã chạy làng 

(He has stopped playing when the game doesn’t come to the end yet)

One may give up his work half way

Bạc thì dân, bất nhân thì  lính 

 (Common people are disloyal and troops are brutal)

In the thought of the authority, common people and troops are not believable

Bách nhân bách khẩu 

(As:  Bá nhân bá khẩu)

Bạch ốc xuất công khanh 

(Little huts beget high-ranking mandarins)

Talented people may come from poor families

Bạch vân thương cẩu  

(A white cloud changes into a dog’s figure)

In our life, things change continuously  

Bàn tay ai cũng có ngón dài ngón ngắn

(Nobody has all fingers of the same length) 

•  Every family may have a bad child

•  The members of a group may not have the same ability

Cp: Every family has a black sheep

Bàn tay không che nổi mặt trời 

(A hand can’t cover the sun) 

Nobody can conceal the truth 

Bán anh em xa, mua láng giềng gần 

(He who sells his distant brothers buys his near neighbours)

One should make good relations with his neighbours 

Bán chịu, mất mối hàng  

(He who sells on credit losses his customers)

So kind a method of business may be made used of and bring losses 

Bán gia tài , mua danh phận  

(He who sells his properties buys his fame) 

One may lose everything for his vain glory

Bán hàng nói thách, làm khách trả rẻ  

(Sellers often overstate the price of their goods and buyers often lower it down)

Everyone wants a good bargain in business 

Bán rẻ còn hơn đẻ lãi  

(Selling on the cheap is better than paying increasing benefits)

One should circulate his capital in business quickly by any means   

Bánh đúc bẻ ba, mắm tôm quệt ngược cả nhà tan hoang  

(Her liking of rice cakes broken into three and dipped in shrimpsauce makes her house empty)

Gluttonous women never think of their families’ prosperity   

Bánh sáp đi, bánh chì lại  

(Wax cakes forth, lead cakes back) 

    The talking back may be worse than the blame

Bao dung hạt cải, rộng rãi trôn kim  

(His generosity is as small as a mustard seed or a needle eye)

A close-fisted man or a small-minded man may speak about generosity 

Báo chết để da, người ta chết để tiếng  

(A dead leopard leaves its hide, a dead man leaves his fame)

A man’s fame, though good or bad, is still alive even when he’s no longer living   

Bát đĩa còn có khi xô 

(Bowls and plates sometimes hit)

In their family life, married couples may have quarrels together 

Bát đũa còn có khi xô  

(Bowls and chopsticks sometimes hit) 

As: Bát đĩa còn có khi xô

Bát nước đổ đi rồi không hót đầy lại được  

(Nobody can get back a bowlful of the spilt water) 

Broken relations are difficult to be healed

Cp: A broken friendship may be soldered but will never be sound  

Bảy mươi chưa què chớ khoe rằng tốt  

(Don’t say you’re out of danger even though your legs haven’t been broken at the age of seventy) 

Nobody can foresee and confirm his future 

Cp: In the evening, one may praise the day 

Bảy mươi còn học bảy mươi mốt  

( A man of seventy can still learn something from a man of 

seventy-one )

   One must learn all his life

   One still learns something from a man of a bit greater talent

Cp: It is never too late to learn 

Bắc cầu mà noi, không ai bắc cầu mà lội  

(Nobody builds a bridge to go under it ) 

Everyone hopes to receive good results from his work 

Bắn bụi tre, dè bụi hóp  

(Beware of the reeds when you’re moving away the bamboos)

  When working on something, one should take care of others around it

 When fighting against a rival, one should watchful of his clique  

Bắn sẻ chưa thuận giương ná *  

(It’s not time to draw the bow to shoot a sparrow) 

A humble man is not worth a noble man’s punishment  

Bắn súng không nên, phải đền đạn  

(He who hasn’t hit the target has to pay the lost bullets)

One has to compensate for what he has damaged or lost in his work

Bắt chẳng được, tha làm phúc  

(He who can’t catch, says forgiving)

One often pretends to be kind-hearted when he’s not able to do harm

Cp: 'The grapes are sour', as the fox said when he could not reach them  

Bắt cọp khó, thả cọp dễ  

(It is easy to free a tiger but difficult to trap him) 

A dangerous prisoner should carefully be kept  

Bần nhân, trí/chí đoản  

(Short in size, short in mind/ will) 

A narrow-minded man has no great ideas/ will

Cp: A little pot is soon hot  

Bất độc, bất anh hùng  

(No cruelty, no heroes) 

To reach his aim, one may be savage and cruel to others 

Cp: All is fair in love and war   

Bất học diện tường 

(He who is unlearned seems to stand before a wall) 

Those who have no knowledge can’t understand anything   

Bất học, vô thuật  

(He who is unlearned has no art) 

Unlearned people don’t know how to behave themselves  

Bầu già thì mướp cũng xơ  

(When the gourd is old, the loofah gets fibres, too) 

As:  Ba vuông sánh với bảy tròn

Bầu leo thì bí cũng leo 

(When the gourd climbs, the pumpkin climbs, too)

People often imitate one another 

Bè ai, nấy chống 

(Each man poles his own raft)

Everyone often thinks of his own work only 

Bè lim, sào sậy  

(The raft is made of ironwood and the pole is made of reed)

The work is heavy but the ability of the worker is too small   

Bé con ông bác, lớn xác con ông chú 

(He is young but of the major branch, she is old but of the minor one)

In a clan, the members of the major branch are above the members of the minor one

Bé đi câu, lớn đi hầu 

(A fisher in childhood, a servant in manhood) 

Those who are vagabonds in their childhood will live in misery 

Cp: Live and learn 

Bé không vin, cả gẫy ngành  

(The tree that is not bent when young will break in its later bending) 

A child who is not well educated will be depraved when grown up 

Cp: Train up a child in the way he should go  

Bé người, to con mắt  

(His body is small but his eyes are big) 

Men of no ( great ) talent are usually thirsty for a high 

position  

Bé thì con mẹ con cha, lớn thì con vua con chúa  

(When a child he was his parents’ son, when a youth he is his King’s)

Everyone must be in service of his country

Bẻ đũa chẳng bẻ được cả nắm  

(He who wants to break the chopsticks can’t break them in a bundle)

Nobody can win those who are united together

Cp: Union is strength 

Bênh con, lon xon mắng người / láng giềng 

(She who takes the side of her child, scolds others / her neighbours aggressively)

One may offend others for petting his children too much

Bệnh nào, thuốc ấy 

(Such disease, such medicine)

Everything must be used according to its uses.

Bệnh quỉ, thuốc tiên 

(A devil’s disease needs fairies’ herbs)

  Desperate diseases need special treatments

   Puzzling problems need artful settlements

Cp: Desperate diseases must have desperate remedies

Bĩ cực, thái lai  

(Prosperity  will come  when  misfortune  has  reached  its 

limit) 

Nobody is in poverty all his life 

Cp: After rain, comes fair weather

Biết đâu là tổ con chuồn chuồn 

 (Who knows where the dragon-fly’s home is) 

Nobody knows others’ scandals    

Biết đâu mà há miệng chờ ho  

(Who knows when the cough comes out to open his mouth)

Nobody knows when an event takes place to wait for it

Biết mùi, chùi chẳng sạch 

(He who has known the flavour can’t erase it away) 

One can’t erase the trace of his wrongdoing  

Biết sự trời, mười đời chẳng khó  

(He who knows the secret of Heaven gets enough wealth for his ten generations) 

Everything is made by Heaven 

Biết thời thế mới là tuấn kiệt  

(A hero must accept his case) 

One’s behaviour should depend on the outside situation 

Cp: Wait for the cat to jump 

Biết thời thưa thốt, không biết thời dựa cột mà nghe 

(Speak when you know, lean against the column and listen when you don’t ) 

One should speak only when he knows thoroughly the things he’ll speak about 

Bìm bịp bắt gà con  

(A boucal catches chicks)

The strong often bully the weak  

Bìm bịp lại muốn leo nhà gạch 

(He who is a boucal wants to climb into a brick house)

One is blamable to try to get noticed as a famous person when he is a humble man  

Bò ăn mạ thì dạ bò hay  

(The cow that grazes the rice plants, herself  knows it) 

Nobody but an evil-doer knows best about his evil-doing 

Bò chết chẳng khỏi ăn rơm  

(No dead cows avoid being burnt with straw)

Nobody can live independently from his sponsor

Bò đàn, rơm mục 

(Many cows have to chew rotten straw) 

Food will not be enough for too many people 

Bó đũa, chọn cột cờ 

(Choose a flag pole among the chopsticks)

Among the ordinary things (people), a little good thing (talented man) can be the best

Cp: Among the blind, the one-eyed man is king 

Bó mo thì thiếu, bó chiếu thì thừa  

(To wrarp it, an areca-palm sheath is too small but a mat is too large)

It’s not easy to meet with the demand 

Bỏ thì thương, vương thì tội  

(Abandonment causes pity but  love makes trouble heavy)

Nobody can drop what or who he still loves easily

Bọ nẹt, có giẻ cùi 

(When there is a caterpillar, there is a blue magpie) 

Nobody and nothing are invincible  

Cp: Diamond cut diamond 

Bóc bánh, chẳng được dính tay 

(He who’s peeled the cake but his fingers are still clean)

One may get nothing after a hard job   

Bóc ngắn, cắn dài 

(Short in peeling, long in biting) 

One may spend more than his earning  

Bói ra ma, quét nhà ra rác  

(The more he tells fortunes the more ghosts appear; and the more he sweeps, the more rubbish comes out)  

Fortune-telling breeds just anxiety and is not worth believing.

Bói rẻ còn hơn ngồi không 

(Better tell fortune for someone at a low price  than sit idle)

Better get a small benefit than get nothing

Cp: Better a mouse in the pot than no flesh at all.

Bòn nơi khố bện, đãi nơi quần hồng  

(He squeezes  the people of  loincloth to treat the people of red clothing)

It is blamable for those who exploit the poor to serve the rich

Bồ còn, thóc hết  

(The silo still exists whereas the rice doesn’t)

The form exists but the substance doesn’t

Bồ dục chấm nước mắm cáy  

(The kidney is eaten with spider-crab sauce) 

     It’s a pity that a good thing should go in pair with a bad one

Cp: Extremes meet.

Bồ dục đâu đến bàn thứ năm  

(The kidney is never brought to the fifth table)

Men of lower ranks never get good shares

Cp: The race is to the swift

Bồ nông dài mỏ khó kiếm ăn 

(The pelican is difficult to catch fish for its long beak)

Men of high positions shouldn’t be wrong-doers

Bố đĩ giàu bố đĩ tiên, ông tổng không tiền ông tổng tểnh  

(When a common folk is rich, he is a god and when a canton chief is poor, he is a beggar)

Money makes a man important and noble

Bồi ở, lở đi  

(The riverside that banks up will remain and the  riverside that caves in will disappear) 

Money can change one’s relation ties

Bống có gan bống, bớp có gan bớp  

(If the gudgeon has its liver, the goby has its liver, too)

Everyone has his own courage

Bơ bải chẳng bằng phải thì  

(Better in time than haste)

Everything should be done in its proper time

Bới bèo ra bọ 

(The marsh lentil becomes worms after being stirred up)

One looks with the eyes in his heart, not with the eyes in his head 

Cp: Faults are thick where love is thin

Bợm già mắc bẫy cò ke  

(An old crook fell into a trap) 

Nobody is the cleverest man.

Bỡn quá hóa thật  

(Too much jest turns into reality)

Overcoming its limit, a joke of something may bring it into reality

Bớt bát, mát mặt  

(Less the bowls, cooler the face)

The less eaters in a poor family the happier the others

Bụng đói, cật rét  

(The empty belly makes the back frozen)

Hunger makes a man colder

Cp: There is no ill in life that is no worse without bread

Bụng đói, củ chuối cũng ngon

(He who is hungry has a good appetite with the banana bult)

A hungry man denies nothing

Cp: Hunger is the best sauce

Bụng đói, đầu gối phải bò

(He who is hungry crawls on his knees)

A hungry man has to do even a humble job

Cp: Hunger breaks stone walls

Bụng đói, tai điếc  

(He who is hungry is deaf )

When in poverty, one may not care about laws and reasons

Cp: A hungry belly has no ears

Bụng làm, dạ chịu 

(His  stomach  endures  the  result  of  what  his  belly  has 

done) 

Nobody but the doer takes the consequence of his work 

Cp:  Nobody’s  enemy but his own.

Bụng trâu làm sao, bụng bò làm vậy  

(The buffalo and cow’s bellies are alike) 

People often think the same 

Buôn có bạn, bán có phường 

(Buying needs companions, selling needs corporation) 

One should have partners and companions in his business  

Buôn tầu bán bè chẳng bằng ăn dè hà tiện 

(Even trading by ship is not so good as thrift)

Thrift is the best way to run a steady life 

Cp: A penny saved is a penny gained 

Buôn thủy buôn vã chẳng đã hà tiện 

(Even trading by sea and by land is not so good as thrift) 

As:  Buôn tàu bán bè chẳng bằng ăn dè hà tiện 

Buồn ngủ lại gặp chiếu manh  

(A sleepy man comes across a mat) 

One may luckily get what he is longing for 

Buồn thì đi ngủ, chớ có bầu chủ mà chết 

(When you are sad you should go to bed, not to come to the Death by guaranteeing a lender)

Guaranty of a debtor is an unwise deed  

Bút sa, gà chết 

(Writes down the pen, gets killed a hen) 

Nothing can be changed after a written agreement has been made 

Cp: Never write what you dare not sign   

Bụt chê oản chiêm 

(Buddha refuses the sacrificial truncated-cone shaped cookies made of summer rice)

Even a poor man sometimes refuses a poor thing 

Bụt chùa nhà không thiêng

(The Buddha in the villagers’ own pagoda is not sacred to them) 

Familiarity may lessen respect

Cp: No man is a hero to his valet 

Bụt không thèm ăn mày ma 

(Buddha never begs anything from the ghost) 

An honourable man never begs a favour from a cad

Cp: A gentleman keeps his integrity even in poverty

Bụt Nam Sang lại từ oản chiêm 

(The Buddha of the Nam Sang area refuses the sacrificial truncated-cone shaped cookies made of summer rice)    

As:  Bụt chê oản chiêm

Bụt nhiều, oản tí 

(Many Buddhas but few truncated- cone shaped cookies) 

The greedy are always more than gains    

Bụt trên tòa, gà nào mổ mắt ?

(Which cock dares to peck Buddha’s eyes  when  he  is  on 

the throne ?) 

The inferiors dare disobey their superior for he doesn’t conduct himself well

Cp: He is not fit to command others that cannot command himself     

Bước chân đi cấm kì trở lại 

(Remember not to return here when you’ve left) 

One never wants to link again the relation with those who’ve left him

Bương già, nhà vững 

(The older the bamboo is, the stronger the house will be)

Seniority makes good quality

Binh Tams Poetry

Binh Tam's Poetry

Pham Van Binh (Binh Tam)

28 Sep

45. Xanh

Trái đất triệu năm xanh bởi có mặt trời

Triệu năm tỏa sáng

Cây chò Cúc Phương ngàn năm xanh nhờ lòng đất

Ngàn năm chiu chắt mỡ màu

Còn tôi trăm năm xanh là do tình yêu

Bền bỉ ba vạn sáu ngàn ngày trong tim vỗ sóng...

45. Green

The Earth has been green for millions of years thanks to the Sun

Having shone for millions of years

The parashorea in Cuc Phuong forest has been green for thousands of  years thanks to the Earth’s lap

Having accumulated essence for thousands of  years

Whereas I have been green for one hundred years thanks to the love

Having enduringly produced waves in my heart for thirty-six thousand days...

46. Tình tương tư

     Anh đất Bắc, em trời Nam

Nhớ dâng khi tỉnh, thương tràn khi mê

     Xác thân dẫu chẳng liền kề

Hồn nương theo gió, ta về bên nhau...

46. Lovesickness

My darling, I am in the North but you are in the South

So that I always miss you when waking up and love you in dreams

Though we are not with each other in reality now

We can come to meet one another when our souls fly in the wind...     

47. Đợi chờ

     Thầm thương một mái tóc thề

Trái tim cháy lửa đam mê đến giờ

     Bao mùa phơi nắng dầm mưa

Xác thân hóa đá vẫn chờ duyên em...

47. Expectation

Silently falling in love with a girl having hairs touching her shoulders

So far my heart has been blazing in a flame of passion 

Experiencing sunshine and rain for a great season number

Though my body has turned into a rock, her love is still in my expectation...

48. Chạy trốn

Trời đất sinh ta, rượu với thơ

(Tản Đà)

Chạy trốn em, 

                 anh ẩn mình trong rượu

Chạy trốn em, 

                 anh tìm đường về thơ

Chạy trốn anh,

                 em có bơ vơ ?

48. Fleeing

God gave birth to me together with alcohol and poetry

 (Tan Da)

When fleeing away from you, 

                        I had to hide myself in alcohol, lassie

When fleeing away from you, 

                        I had to look for the way into poetry

When fleeing away from me, 

                        do you feel lonely ?

A Close Reading of Sarojini Naidus Palanquin Bearers by Dr Ramesh Chandra Mukhopadhyaya

 Palanquin Bearer by Sarojini Naidu 

Lightly and lightly we bear her along

She sways like a flower in the wind of her song

She skims like a bird in the foam of a stream

She floats like a laugh from the lips of a dream

Gaily and gaily we glide and we sing

We bear her along like a pearl on a string

Softly and softly we bear her along

She hangs like a star in the dew of her song

She springs like a beam on the brow of the tide

She falls like a tear from the eyes of a bride

Lightly and lightly we glide and we sing

We bear her along like a pearl on a string

The word palanquin has been derived from Sanskrit paryanka or bed and pallanka in Oriya and paalki  in Bengali. In other words the word palanquin suggests some bed which is light and comfortable. But palanquin is a kind of carriage. The use of the word palanquin at once transports us to those days in India when the nobility were transported in a palanquin and everywhere in India palanquins could be espied. A palanquin is a coach having doors and windows with silken curtains but without wheels. Palanquins are coaches held on poles and carried by men. Even today palanquins are seen in some parts of India. At least some four men are needed to carry a palanquin. And a palanquin has to carry its rich treasure of passenger from  one place to another which is far.The palanquin bearers while carrying their palanquin sing songs in harmony with their steps of walking.They do it to make their manual labour enjoyable. Here is a song sung by a group of palanquin bearers while carrying a palanquin to some far country.

The palanquin is a container and hence it stands for feminine gender The bearers say  that  lightly  lightly do they bear her along.Lightly is a mounting and descending sound and when it is repeated it gives us the notion of something swinging lightly. It also suggests the light foot steps of the palanquin bearers as well. The palanquin bearers carry the palanquin lest it is not injured while being carried.While being carried the palanquin or the noble princess seated inside the palanquin sways like a flower in the wind of the palanquin bearers song. Here the attitude of the palanquin bearers is noteworthy. The burden of the palanquin is not a liability with them. They are carrying it as if they are carrying a flower. And flower sways by the wind of their song.Here the song of the palanquin bearers and the movement of the palanquin become one..The wind of their song only suggests that the palanquin  is being carried fast as it were by the wind. The palanquin bearers are as it were the minions of wind. The palanquin is being carried faster still. She  skims like a bird in the foam of a stream.In other words the palanquin moves swifter.The stream is swift. In its urgency to go fast the waters of the stream are agitated and bubbles show up.The palanquin is the bird swifter than the stream..It lightly touches the foam of the stream.Everything under the Sun is in flux. Our existence is a stream as it were. May be on the road there are localities or shopping malls which the palanquin goes past and those localities might seem like a foam on the stream. Or they are laughters from the lips of a dream. In other words the sights and sounds that the palanquin goes past are as it were laughters of the subconscious.The world in the contingent we perceive as the objects of the conscious realm: it is transformed into the stuff of the dream and the subconscious when looked upon by people who are in motion.The journey with the load of the palanquin is as it were a journey in a dream.The palanquin bearers perceive laughter all about them. They have as it were leaped from the lips of a dream. May be although the surface of the world is harsh the subconscious of the world  seeks to convey that  the world of appearance is at bottom  funny. May be  the palanquin bearers are transformed into fairies—the figments of a dream.The palanquin bearers in the dream exclaim that gaily and gaily they glide and sing  carrying a pearl on a string. The palanquin itself could be the pearl that stands for accumulated wisdom purity balance of mind and so on. The palanquin at the same time could be an instance of  synechdochee  . It might stand for a beautiful bride as red as rose who is being transported to her husbands house in the palanquin.

The first stanza opened with  carrying the palanquin lightly lightly. The second stanza opens with the palanquin bearers carrying their treasure softly softly. She hangs like a star in the dew of the song of the palanquin bearers ,What is audible is compared to what is visible. This is a case of synaesthesia.The palanquin is as it were the distant star of knowledge and wisdom reflected in the dew drop of the song of the palanquin bearers.In other words no real palanquin is not being carried. It is a star reflected on the song of the palanquin bearers. That is whatever a song seizes  to be illuminating like the star  is true.

In the tide of life this star is reflected like a sudden ray of light.That is the palanquin or the passenger in the palanquin now smiles .But now she is in tears. She falls like a tear from the eyes of a bride. She rises and falls  being carried on the shoulder of the palanquin bearers.She smiles when she imagines that she is going to a new place—may be to the bridegrooms. But at the same time she is scared of going to  a new place with the prospects of living with strangers.She is then a tear that has fallen. She has been earlier compared to a pearl and a dewdrop.In many a myth the dew drops have been described as tears of god. And Keats described dew drops as angels tears. The poem is clinched up with the couplet—Lightly  O lightly we glide and we sing/ We bear her along like a pearl on a string. The first line of the first stanza accompanied with the last line of the first stanza recurs here and they together serve as the frame of the poem.The poem is a dream figment where sights and sounds mingle into a kinetic imagery. It is a unique experience for the readers.

The poet of the text of the Vietnamese poem hidden face flower by Dr Ramesh Chandra Mukhopadhyaya

The present author for the purpose of studying hidden face flower does not believe in any extra textual entity of the poet. The poet Mai Van Phan is one who has composed the poems of hidden face flower. What are the poems in hidden face flower? They are what the poet Mai Van Phan has written

Now let us  hereby seek to describe the poet Mai Van Phan as revealed through the poems. He frankly tells us that he is a humble lake on  which the peak of a mountain is reflected. A true poet always seeks to reflect the nobler thoughts in his write up. He is a gong stick wrapped up in shirt to give a tongue or sound of the bell to the  groans of man. He digs the soil of the collective mind to unearth the gems and images of the past. The poet is like the moon who spreads the fragrance to announce the coming of the Sun or the flower of flowers.He announces the coming of a brave new world. Storms might take place. But it will not hurt the flower the poet assures us Small things of Nature the twitter of a bird an arousing fragrance  make the poet  pray for the new leaves to comeThe rishi of the Vedas chanted in ecstasy---The wind is honey  honey oozes from the seas  every dust of the earth is honey.With Mai Van Phan the wind wherever it blows from carries the sweet essence of the lotus flower.This is archetypal. The poet unlike others seeks to gather moonlight.If they are scattered what else remains for him to gather. This reminds us of an Indian sage of a woman named Maitreyee who said that what would she do with things that do not give  nectar. The poet is the type of the seer whose roots are extruded aiming at the sky. This is also archetypal. It reminds of the Bhagavadgita a Hindu scripture that describes the world as an inverted tree with its roots in the heaven. We must take our sustenance from the heaven. The poet reminds of Shakespeare who was wont to find books in running brooks and sermons in stone. The poet finds a colony of bats in a cage of light. And mark you it is light in darkness. A wonderful imagery.Does the poet espy angels or liberated souls  in the bats? Poetry and dream are similar . But poetry has a medium dream has none. And in any dream whatever the dreamer must be present in some form or other.Is not the poet the self of the bird that sips some bright clouds.The poet is a visionary . He finds a flame invisible to the mundane eye that bakes the world of phenomenon. That is why the world is never static and stable perhaps. The poet is a seeker of truth. He asks—Who bakes in the trunk of a tree by another flame? Does the poet espy a saint in red skirt or shirt circumambulating the fire that lurks behind the show of things? His or her scarf is a Christmas flower flowing ….permeating …radiating splashing…Does the poet espy Jesus Christ in a never seen before attire? Does the poet  read the votaries of fire in the flowers of Nature?  We have already referred to the mountain that has been reflected on the heart of the poet. The poet seeks the road to reach the top of the mountain..And there is fragrance spread all over his being. Seeking the source of the fragrance the poet reaches a certain stony slope .Going up the slope the poet can find the sky or nothingness which has no trace of clouds or the sorrows of existence.Going higher up from empyrean heights the poet finds the earth as beautiful and as delicate as a dewdrop. This reminds of Lord Buddha who posited that human life is full of suffering. Our world is a vale of tears. We must follow our poet and climb up the mountain The poet is as humble as grass along a walkway. Being as humble as a blade of grass the poet drinks a full glass of sunlight.The poets beloved is the indeterminate that breathes in a bush or that which bakes with another flame in the tree.The blue sky symbolic of the nothingness seems to chisel the silhouette that hides the flaming truth. While the poet walks side by side with his beloved the flame of poetic imagination  the bole of a tree is lit up into a galaxy. A fresh creation myth indeed. Thus the more we read the poems of the hidden face flower the more we are  acquainted with fresh aspects of the poet that are time and again.

But look at the poem----A n evening  A rat and I Rush across a road. The poet Mai Van Phan does not think that a man is superior to a rat. The poet as well as a rat rush across a road. Here is a poet and man  with whom the meanest living being that breathes, the meanest worm or an insect that breathes can give thoughts too deep for tears

The Pure Sky of an Early Morning a vietnamese poem explicated

A POEM ENTITLED

THE PURE SKY OF AN EARLY MORNING

BY MAI VAN PHAN

TRANSLATED INTO ENGLISH

BY POMPEN HANTRAKOOL

EXPLICATED BY

DR RAMESH CHANDRA MUKHOPADHYAYA

TEXT

A small cup of tea

Half a cup is drunk

Sunlight shines in sodden leaves

A true poet perhaps could find great things as trifles and trifles as great things. A poem on drinking tea could sound trifle with the western cultures. True that the East is East and the West is West. But both the East and the West agree over a cup of tea and it is the contribution of the Far East to the world. Drinking tea is a way of life in Vietnam. On every occasion tea is served .And with the people of Vietnam every time is perhaps tea time. Tea is served at the roadside stalls along with a dish of sunflower seeds. There are teahouses . The architecture of the tea houses are unique so that one knows a tea house by its architecture. And there are myriad kinds of tea served in Vietnam.During the 13^th and 14 th century it was very polite to take tea. Scholars used to take tea to concentrate on the subject matter of deliberation. Drinking tea purifies the character and lifts up the morals- so did the elders believe. Vietnam if the writer of the present essay is correct has the oldest tea plant  that dates back to 1000 years.And  some scholars do claim that tea plants originated in Vietnam. Tea drinking is a tradition of the Vietnamese people for over three thousand years. Chinese people have been drinking tea since 2500 BC perhaps. There was a king who unknowingly took some poison and fell sick. Then he took some tea and at once he was hale and hearty. The effect of the poison was done away with. So earlier tea was taken as a medicine. Later the Buddhist monks opted for tea so that they could be mindful in zazen. It was during the Tang dynasty that tea drinking became universal in China.This is not all.Tea became one of the major themes and motifs in Chinese literature. The cup that cheers but never inebriates—Hurrah! But the introduction of tea is mingled with different legends. Bhagavan  Bodhidharma the first patriarch of Zen  it is said fell asleep while meditating. When he woke up he was so angry with his eyelids that he at once cut them off and lo! As soon as they fell on the ground a plant was there. Bhagavan Bodhidharma ate its leaves and was at once charged with fresh vitality. And it was Bhagavan Dogen who introduced tea in Japan.And there are many Zen tales around tea and tea cups

This poem of Mai Van Phan seems to spring from the very cultural backdrop of the Far East that we have referred to..

Well it is morning.True a stork swoops upon its prey. A dirty  morning indeed. But at the same time a bird sips from the clouds abloom in the morning Sun. And morning tea is being served all over Vietnam in every family. And the poet observes a small cup of tea. The cup itself is the earth element and receptacle. The tea stands for the water element and the earth element.The teaplant springs from the earth. A cup brimming with tea is like a person overflowing with love. It is like a cloud heavy with water particles. But  nay. If the cup is full there will be no room for fresh knowledge and wi sdom.This alludes to a zen story. In fact the mind has to be emptied. When the furniture of thought provoked through the senses by the outer world is expelled there are revelations from within, The  bird  drinks from the cloud  laden with water particles. Bard is a homonym of bird. So the poet is the bard and bird in one. He sips the tea slowly. And in course of time half of the cup becomes empty.The poet does not follow the zen guru literally. He does not drink the whole tea in the cup and empty the cup. He sips from the small cup and it becomes half empty. And there is the void. The void now mingles with the earth and  the water . Unless the void is there no sound could show up.A cup with a half cup of tea And lo! Sun light  fills the void. The sunlight could be the symbol of pure consciousness that rises with the waning of the consciousness of the outer world.And now earth air water and fire the four elements mingle.The cup becomes the microcosm of the universe. Since half of the cup is drunk the tea leaves are now distinctly visible. They are soaked in the water.The earth element is soaked in the water element.Now the sun shines upon them. . Why does the Sun shine upon the tea leaves.Why does the Sun take care of the tea leaves.People could forecast the future looking at a tea cup and looking at the tea leaves  at the bottom of the cup.Descrying the tealeaves at the bottom of the cup the foreteller can comprehend the remote future. The Sun is the seer. One wonders what  the Sun reads about our future and about  the future of the world.What does the Sun prophesy? There is no answer.The poet is here content to depict a situation.But the Sun seems to stand for happiness success and power. So let us rejoice at the sight of the Sun shining on the  soaked leaves of the tea.

Now looking at the title of the poem another level of the meaning of the poem becomes obvious. The sky is itself the cup. Darkness is the tea. Half of the tea is drunk.So it is  dawn  the hour when light and darkness meet. The Sun however shines on the soaked tealeaves or the Nature. A very  unique way of describing dawn. The poet Mai Van Phan  is always fond of the moments  when opposites meet.