Hermitage Among the Clouds

October 15, 1993
%% This is a multi-book review: SEE also the title "Hermitage among the Sleeping Clouds." %% Three graceful translations of the work of a Vietnamese Buddhist monk. (See also the September 15, 1993 "Booklist" review of his spiritual exercises, "Blooming of a Lotus.")Thich Nhat Hanh's poems--which, with the help of friends, he has translated himself--deal with the ravages of war, but his voice is so sorrowful and gentle that it transcends ideology, even though he has been a peace activist for years. His heartbreaking "Boat People," for instance, is not an angry poem but simply a cry of despair. The lamentations of war flow easily into the later sections of this beautiful book, which collect Thich Nhat Hanh's lucid Zen meditations and his songs of joyous love."Hermitage among the Sleeping Clouds" is an elliptical historical novel about the spiritual--and political--journey of Amazing Jewel, daughter of the thirteenth-century king Tran Nhan Tong. The king led the defense of Viet against invading Mongols, then was ordained a monk, lived austerely, and became the Noble Teacher of Bamboo Forest. Amazing Jewel pursued peace with the southern (south of Hue) land of Cham and laid down the basis for a new country, Vietnam. Nhat Hanh thus tells a tale both true and mythical. It's lyrical and rewarding, though its indifference to Western notions of chronology make it difficult reading."A Taste of Earth," translated by Mobi Warren and subtly illustrated by Nguyen Thi Hop and Nguyen Dong, is a delightful rendering of folktales, many of which read like children's stories. The title piece, a creation myth, is typical. The goddess (of the 36th heaven) Au Co, a figure rather like Eve, is overcome by her desire to eat of the earth. This imprisons her in its sphere; the tears she sheds because of her folly form every river and water meadows full of flowers. Yet not all is lost, for she falls in love with a gentle dragon who becomes a prince. Their descendants are the Vietnamese. ((Reviewed Oct. 15, 1993))(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 1993, American Library Association.)