We've been on Vietnamese soil for just over 3 days and already the team is feeling very full! The radical hospitality of these people and this land is truly beyond words, but I'll give it my best try by sharing a couple of highlights in the very short amount of time available.
On our first full day we traveled by bus, boat, and tram to reach the beautiful Perfume Pagoda near Hanoi. At the top of a lush mountain we made our way to the opening of a huge womb like cave todiscover large altars overflowing with incense, flowers and offerings to ancestorrs and Buddhists monks, nuns and novices drumming and chanting. The sounds were mesmerizing as the ceremonial vibrations penetrated the Earth, bringing a sense of healing and protection to a land which has known hundreds of years of war and trauma. Like a prayer from the inside out!
I learned that this is the place of pilgrimage that each Vietnamese Buddhist is expected to make at least once in their life time. Having traveled through the countryside and seen the extreme living conditions of the people, I can only imagine the hardship and sacrifice it might take for many to accomplish this dream. I was mindful of my own privilege in having arrived in this sacred place with ease, and I also sensed this powerful experience the blessing of our team and the pilgramage we're making.
A beautiful, and talented 26 year old Vietnamese woman named Quinn Pham has a special relationship with trip leader John Fisher. We were so happy that she was able to join us for our 1st 2 days. On the 2nd day she accompanied us to the countryside village where we were welcomed into the very humble home of her grandparents Pham Din Cgang, 89 and Nguyen Thi Quanh 75. Cgang (her Grandfather) was a soldier for decades fighting against the French, and also serving as the personal body guard of General Giep, the most prominent military leader in Viet Nam's war for independence, not only from the Americans but the Chinese, Japanese and French as well. He is a tiny, spry man with an uncontainable spirit and a smile that is beyond contagious. It struck me he seemed to be one of the happiest people I've met, despite the fact that he's seen so much war and destruction of his people and his land.
Our guide Anh explained it beautifully by saying "The way of the Vietnamese people is not to carry anger from the past into the present. What is in the past is over, so there is not room in our hearts to carry hatred. Love in the present moment is what matters."
I found myself imagining what the world look like if we all followed the way of Viet Nam, the Land of Love and Healing!
