Dragon Prince--Vietnamese Creation Story

Here is the Vietnamese Creation Story, first told by Thich Nhat Hanh. I made small modification at the end. Enjoy the story.


Long ago, when the earth was dark and cold, a great bird sat on this earth for million of years without stirring.  At last she laid two eggs:  one red, the other ivory.  The great bird flew away and disappeared into the dark space.

The red egg clapped, came with a crow carrying brilliant and dazzling light.  The broken shells burst into fiery fire that burnt continuously for 7 months, melting the rocks of mountains into sands and creating patches of deserts on the earth.

The ivory egg began to radiate a soft and gentle light.  When it was cracked open, came with graceful swan.

Both the crow and the wild swan flew away into the space on their own courses.  Yet, they would fly around the earth periodically.  When the crow came to the earth, it is hot, and dazzling bright.  When it is swan's turn, it would  be gentle and soft.  The earth is no longer dark, cold and colorless.  The earth has all shades of color.  The air is filled with pleasant aroma.

The goddess, specifically the goddess A-Bee (阿美)  at the 7th heaven took a note of this pleasant change of the earth.  A-Bee told her sisters that the earth has changed to the better that it worth for them to explore the new earth.  4 goddesses including A-Bee transform themselves into 4 white swans and flew from the 7th heaven onto earth.

When the first bird touched the ground, she fold her wings and transformed into goddess.  Other birds followed the same.  How soft and beautiful the earth was.  They laughed, sang, and danced along the purple slopes of a mountain.  After a while, A-Bee broke away from other goddesses and knelt down on the ground, scooped up a handful of sand, smelled it.  How delightful it was.  She then put some of the sands into her mouth.  The other goddess saw this; they came quickly and said loudly, "Do not eat them", they helped A-Bee spit out the sand; for if A-Bee swallowed the earthly sand, she would lose all her magic power and became as mortal as a human fresh.  

It was almost time for them to fly back to the 7th heaven, because the fiery crow had almost finished his visit to the earth and it is about the time for the gentle and soft wild swan to come to the earth.  

As goddesses transformed back to white swan and flew back to the 7th heaven, A-Bee fell behind and finally lost her power to fly because she had swallowed earthly sand.  A-Bee was no longer a goddess, she would never be back to the 7th heaven.

A-Bee was so sad that she cried.  She continued to cry for 7 years.  Her tears came out of her eyes became water flew into rivers, lakes and finally the oceans.  Everywhere, the water of her tears went, the meadow, shrub, trees and all animals thrive.  Of course, fish in the river, lakes, and ocean were also thrived while they were nourished with her tear water.  One of the fish, after swimming far from the other end of the ocean, jumped onto the shore and transformed into a handsome young man with a broad shoulder, bright eyes and strong, straight body.  This young man was actually a prince at the 6th heaven, sent by his father, the dragon king to find out what  was going on with the earth.  This young man (we now called him the dragon prince) followed the river flow upward and finally reached a mountain where the goddess, A-Bee was weeping.  The dragon prince spoke:

Sun shinning brightly
Sky and sea both blue
Butterflies flutter
By a river so new
Where have you come from?
Why do you weep alone?

Surprised by the prince's voice, she stopped crying and looked up.  She looked straight into his eyes and answered:

Bright golden crow
Fragrant new earth
As white swan birds
We flew below
A taste of new earth
No longer can I fly
My sisters departed
I wait alone and cry.
Lost in a strange land
My tears become a river.

Both the prince and A-Bee began to have hearty conversation.  In fact, they have already fell in love of one another.  They talked for a long time.  Suddenly, the prince noticed that something went wrong.  Because A-Bee was no longer crying, the river began to dry up.  The meadow turned yellowish, and the animal were dying.  

The prince said to A-Bee, "I need to do something to save the plant, the animal, without you continuously crying to nourish the earth.  I would fly to the crow and the wild bird to ask for their help to vaporize the water into the sky, and turned the water into cloud and rain.  After that, I will be back to see you."

The prince talked to the fiery crom, asking him to stay above the ocean a bit longer.  The heat from the crow would then vaporize water in the ocean to the sky.  As soon as this happened, the prince asked the crow to leave and the wild swan to come.  With the cool air, it condenses the vapor into cloud.  On further cooling, the cloud turned to rain.  For the first time, the earth had water, replenish itself through vaporization, cloud, and rain.

While the prince was busy working with the crow and the wild swan, the dragon king sent a messenger to warn the prince not to marry A-Bee who was no longer a goddess.  The dragon king said that if the prince married A-Bee, he could not come back to the 6 th heaven, and would lose his immortality.

Well, it was too late.  The prince had already made up his mind, and the goddess, A-Bee loved the prince.  They loved each other, and they loved the earth.  This love worth more than the immortality.

As the story goes, the prince and the goddess were happily married.  Since they were no longer immortal, they died after many years of happy life together.  Today, we now inherited such a beautiful earth with nurturing water, lush meadow, grass, and trees, and all sort of animals.  What shall we do with such bounty inheritance?

Mindful living; the thought of Thich Nhat Hanh

During my Richland retreat at the end of May, I was introduced into Thich Nhat Hanh (pronounced as Tik Nan Han) writing about mindfulness. Mr. Thich is a well-respected scholar, and poet. He was born in 1926 in Vietnam. At age 16, he became a Buddhist monk. During the 60s, he came to the U.S. and studied at Princeton University. He became very outspoken against the Vietnam War.

The following notes were taken from an audio tape 'mindfulness' of Thich Naht Hanh.

On Buddha,

Buddha is not a god, but an awakening person.  Everyone has a potential to be a Buddha. Most of us are Buddha from time to time; but not all the time.   This is because most of us are distracted or pre-occupied by the worry of either the past or the future, but not at the present.  Only we are mindful at the present, we can be awakening, and can become a Buddha.

On Kingdom of the God.

Some says that we enter the kingdom of the God when we are dead.  I disagree.  I would say that only we live at the present, we can witness everything in the kingdom of god.  Why?  If we are mindful of the present, and we look at a piece of paper, we should also see cloud; because if there is no cloud, there will be no rain.  And if there is no rain, there is no tree, and no paper.  Similarly, if we are mindful of the present and see a piece of paper, I see the sunshine; for if there is no sunshine, nothing can live and there will be no trees and paper.  Thus if we are mindful of the present, we witness everything of God's creation, or the kingdom of the God.

On Emptiness (空)

Emptiness means 'emptiness from connection' of everything.  Look at this piece of paper.  Would this piece of paper exist if there is no tree?  Would this tree lives if there is no rain, or sunshine.  Nothing in this world can be standing alone; we are all dependent on one another.

On Fear of Death

We are all afraid of death, simply we are afraid of turning 'something' into 'nothing'.  This is absurd.  In this world, we would never be able to turn 'something' into 'nothing'; we cannot turn 'nothing' into 'something' either.  Look at this piece of paper.  Where it is from?  From a tree, of course.  But where is the tree from?  From the elements of the Earth, of the air; and of course of the water.  It cannot come from 'nothing'.  Similarly, when this paper is burnt, it releases all elements into the air and the Earth.  It does not turn into 'nothing'.  One day, I was walking with a nice kid of approximately 6 years old.  She asked me, "Mr, Thich.  What would be your next life." I smiled and said, "I am too much focused on this life, having no time to think about the next life.  Well, my next life could be a beautiful butterfly.  So, next time when you see a butterfly, do not kill it, because it could be the next life of someone you love."

Vegetarian, but not vegetarian junk--Part 4. Conclusion

HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup) which is present in soft drink, fruit juice, and most of the processed food, when digested, it is metabolized to produce uric acid and triglycerides; both are markers of insulin resistance which can lead to many health complications, including hypertension, diabetics, and cancer.

The safest vegetarian diet is to eat plenty of vegetable, fruit, nuts, and avocado. Limit animal protein to approximately 5 gm per day. This type of diet will keep you healthy, and avoid many physician visit. After all, it is our responsibility to keep us healthy.