Living in the world, joyful in the way

Ảnh: Trúc Lâm Đạo Sĩ Xuất Sơn Đồ

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

One of the most famous Vietnamese Zen writings is Cư trần lạc đạo phú (“Living in the World, Joyful in the Way” Meditation) by Trúc Lâm Zen Founder Trần Nhân Tông. It is a long poem, which I classify as a “meditation” – a long meditative poem, on life and Zen in this case.

The mediation has 10 chapters (10 hội), each chapter is a medium-length poem. Most people, however, only remember the short, four-verse poem that concludes the meditation, at the very end. This concluding poem, though short and simple, embraces the full spirit of Zen.

We talk about this concluding poem today.

Cư trần lạc đạoCư trần lạc đạo thả tùy duyên Cơ tắc xan hề khốn tắc miên Gia trung hữu bảo hưu tầm mịch Đối cảnh vô tâm mạc vấn thiền(Trần Nhân Tông Trúc Lâm Zen Founder Hán Việt)

Sống đời vui đạoSống đời vui đạo hãy tùy duyên Hễ đói thì ăn, mệt ngủ liền. Trong nhà có của, đừng tìm nữa Nhìn cảnh, vô tâm, hỏi chi thiền(Nguyễn Hữu Vinh dịch)

Living in the world, joyful in the wayLiving in the world, joyful in the way, let’s go with causation flow When hungry, eat; when sleepy, sleep Jewels in the home, search no more Facing things, no mind, why ask for Zen(Trần Đình Hoành translated)

As the title say, the poem is about living in the world and having joy in the way of Zen.

1. Living in the world, joyful in the way, let’s go with causation flow – Sống đời vui đạo, hãy tùy duyên.

The operative word in this verse is tùy duyên, translated to “go with causation flow.”

What is duyên? Say, you sow a jackfruit seed – you bury the seed under the ground, water it every day, make sure no dog or cat dig the seed up and play with it, make sure when it rains the water flow doesn’t pull the seed up and push it away… These are the primary causes that generate a jackfruit plant, growing up into a jackfruit tree. People call these activities “primary causes”, or simply one word “causes” (nhân).

In addition to the primary causes, there are other things affecting the growth of the jackfruit plant/tree, such as the sun, the light, the rain, the wind, the temperature, the weather… These are called secondary causes or “conditions” (duyên).

All the primary and secondary causes together are called “nhân duyên” (causes and conditions). We hear “duyên” or “nhân duyên” very often in Vietnamese daily language.

But that is theory, in practice, we Vietnamese usually use only one word “duyên” for nhân duyên (causes and conditions), like duyên tiền định (conditions have predestined, predestining conditions), or like in cải lương, talking on deathbed: “Nếu có duyên, kiếp sau ta sẽ gặp nhau lại” từng từng tứng tửng từng tưng…ơ… ơ… (If the conditions are right, we will meet again in the next life).

So, in practice, duyên talks about all causes and conditions together.

“Tùy duyên” means “depending on duyên” or “according to duyên” or “in accordance with duyên.” “Tùy ý bố mẹ muốn con làm gì, con sẽ làm” means “I will do in accordance with dad’s and mom’s wishes.”

Sống đời vui đạo, hãy tùy duyên. “Hãy tùy duyên” means “do according to duyên”, do according to the causes and conditions.

But here, duyên, in practice, has another larger, more comprehensive meaning – it means “the causation principle of cause and effect,” (nhân quả, causation principle). That is why I have translated “hãy tùy duyên” as “go with causal flow” here.

Hãy tùy duyên means live NATURALLY – whatever comes to you, it comes because previous causes and conditions have predestined it to come to you now, so live with it and enjoy life with it. That is “sống tùy duyên”, to live in accordance with the causal flow.

Sống dời vui đạo hãy tùy duyên – Live in the world, joyful in the way, let’s go with causal flow.

Trúc Lâm Đại Sĩ Xuất Sơn Đồ, phiên bản sơn mài mới, tranh khám xà cừ (Dương Đình Vinh, Lại Thanh Dũng và các nghệ nhân Huế – 2014)

2. When hungry, eat; when sleepy, sleep – Đói thì ăn no, mệt ngủ liền.

This is very NATURAL. When you’re hungry, eat; when you’re sleepy, sleep. This is living naturally. And living naturally is living tùy duyên, going with causal flow.

Notice that hunger, eating, sleepiness, sleep, all are natural phenomena and activities – we are born with them. Trần Nhân Tông used natural living to explain living with the causal flow.

He did not say “When angry, beat them” because beating when angry is not natural. That is the behavior we learn from the culture and other people. We are not born with beating people when we’re angry.

Sống tùy duyên (living with the causal flow) is living naturally, not living with cultural habits.

3. Jewels in the home, search no more – Trong nhà có của, đừng tìm nữa.

In us, there is happiness already – that is sống tùy duyên, go with the causal flow. That is our constant source of happiness, every day, all our life. We don’t need to search for happiness elsewhere.

4. Facing things, no mind, why ask for Zen – Nhìn cảnh, tâm không, hỏi chi Thiền.

No mind, vô tâm, tâm không, means non-attachment in the mind. We look at things and see things, but we don’t grasp onto anything. Ex: We see a flower, we know that is a flower with its own color and beauty. But we don’t attach ourself to it to think: “Well, we need to have a garden for this kind of beautiful flower” or “Probably it sells for good money. Need to think about planting more of it”… No mind, vô tâm, tâm không, means seeing things “as they are” and doing nothing else – our heart/mind is not judging , calculating or planning anything. No attachment.

Đối cảnh, tâm không – facing things, no mind, why ask for Zen? Facing things with no mind is Zen. You already have Zen. Why ask for Zen?

Brothers and Sister, that is the essence of Zen: Live naturally (Go with causal flow). When seeing anything, the heart/mind only looks, with no attachment to the thing we are looking at.

That is Zen. Đó là Thiền.

Wish you all have Zen.

With compassion,

Hoành

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Trần Đình Hoành
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