A pilgrimage into the no-mind land (2)

To seek anything outside yourself is a peripheral pilgrimage.
Sages and mystics are people whose answers are always, somehow, aimed at throwing you back into yourself — at showing you where you went wrong and putting you on the right path of the most important pilgrimage: that is, going back, going deep into yourself.

There is a reason for the metaphor that all sages and mystics usually live in the mountains. They are rarely mentioned as living by the sea or even on deserted islands, although deserted islands are difficult to reach. But the sea? Of course, the sea has many learned and profound people — as many sages and mystics as any other land. But if you read Zen stories that have been passed down for thousands or hundreds of years, not one is mentioned as living by the sea; all are in the mountains — even the most remote and wild mountains.

A sage who begins a silent life often retreats to the mountains because there is everything that supports his life — and especially his silence. Life in the mountains is the closest to nature: one can live on vegetables, make friends with birds and animals. One can save a lot of energy in daily work to go deeper into the inner journey.

Then those who want to come to them, those who want to learn something from these sages, will have to travel from far away — they will have to make a journey. This journey will prove one’s sincerity, and from that sincerity, the sage — the mystic — will know who the other is, and where he is on his spiritual path.

Living in the mountains has certain benefits for practitioners and sages in all aspects. There, one develops their senses more easily, purifies the body more easily. In a clean environment, the sound of birds and the sound of flowing water cleanse one’s ears; the green of leaves, the blue of the sky, the deep black of night, the color of flowers and grass — these colors of nature cleanse one’s eyes.
The smell of flowers and grass, the smell of moist soil, the scent of the forest cleanse one’s nose. And especially, the silence of the mountains and forests has the ability to cleanse one’s mind of all the noise and dust of life — in a very friendly, very gentle way.

I love mountains — love them more than any sea, any river, or any plain. Perhaps for the simple reason that I was born in the mountains, my connection with them is deeper. If I had been born by the sea, or in the plains with fields and winding rivers, I am sure I would also have a deep love for them, and would also have developed my silence. I don’t know — because since I was very young, I often asked myself why I was born in this land, where there are no rivers or seas, only small hills, a big mountain, and a gentle stream winding around the village — where my friends and I often played, bathed in the stream, and enjoyed our heavenly childhood days.

People often have a deep desire to return to their childhood to feel the feeling of paradise again.
I have no intention of doing so at all. I had a perfect childhood. And now, I have a perfect and beautiful present — no different from my childhood — with no need to return to anything.

Now, my life is heaven in every way. Heaven is where you don’t have to worry — life takes care of all your needs, and you just relax and enjoy. My life is exactly like that. And the most important reason why I have this life is because I have made a pilgrimage to my own inner realm. I have found a treasure — and that treasure fills my life. That treasure takes care of my life. That treasure enriches me with a freedom and peace that no material thing or person can give.

I have found a treasure within myself — not the deepest treasure yet — but enough to make me free and blissful like this. If I dig deeper, I’m afraid I will explode — because there is so much grace that I cannot contain.

The inner treasure that I have found is my stillness — my silence and stillness — but somehow also the stillness of life, of this universe. It’s like you are a lifeless phone, with little value other than making and receiving calls — but then somehow, you are connected to the cosmic wifi. And from that cosmic wifi, the lifeless phone that you are can connect — and become a whole universe.

In other words, when you are connected, the whole universe and life start to operate through you.
You are just a tool, a channel — you are nothing, but yet, you are everything.

That treasure — that cosmic wifi — to put it simply, is the inner silence that I have found.
It is also the silence of this universe, of this life.

Noise has many forms. False silence has many forms. Many people can sit silently without saying anything, but in their head there is a whole universe operating — tiredly. I am not talking about that kind of silence, even though it is quite important and necessary. It is a transition.

But there is another kind of silence — where there is no thought, no thinker.
That real silence is of one kind — not many.

And when you have it, you realize: everyone else has it too, deep inside.

When you have it, you realize that every rock, tree, bird, animal, star, and ocean has it too.
It is the core of all life, pervading the entire universe.
You are part of it. You are it!

The sad thing is that there are no words to describe this vast and profound silence.
The more one tries to speak, the more it seems to go astray — away from the truth of it.
How can one speak of silence? Because all words are noise — taking one away from true silence.
Yet we live in a world of words, where words are used to convey everything — including the message of silence.
How strange and interesting!

This life — when your eyes are able to see deeply enough — you will realize that life provides you with thousands of teachers, the best teachers, to teach you about silence — the priceless treasure of life, more precious than gold and diamonds.

Trees grow in silence.
Sometimes, they sing a song when the wind blows through their leaves.
Leaves fall in silence.
The wind makes a rustling sound when the dry leaves rub against each other on the ground — but it takes a lot of silence to hear that sound.
Animals, when not agitated, are also very quiet and gentle.
Grass grows in silence.
Flowers bloom in silence.
Their fragrance spreads in silence.
Pebbles are silent. Vines are silent.
The moon shines in silence. The stars are silent. The sun is also silent.
Yet in that silence, all life flourishes and grows — beautifully and abundantly.

Mountains are also silent.
Even though in the mountains there are waterfalls, streams, birds chirping, gibbons calling their flocks, fruits falling, the sound of rain touching the leaves, the crackling of the fire at night, insects rustling, and sometimes even thunder rumbling…
Yet the mountain, with all those lively sounds, always remains silent.

The mountain is a symbol of silence — the most wonderful teacher of stillness and silence.
And how fortunate I am to have had my own Green teacher since childhood.

If children are able to meditate and learn about meditation from an early age, their lives will move in a very, very different direction.
And meditation for children is not about being forced to sit silently with their eyes closed.
It is simply the moments when the child finds silence — letting himself fall into a space where there is only him.
No one else touches or disturbs.
Just a vast emptiness and a very quiet, very peaceful feeling.

Osho said that in his childhood, rivers were his teachers of meditation — of silence.
The young Osho often escaped to the river from early morning until late at night, swimming in the water or lying quietly by the river for hours — just lying there, listening to the birds, the sound of flowing water; lying there watching the sun rise and then watching the sun set.
When hot, he jumped into the water. When he had bathed enough, he spread out on the sand to dry.
When hungry, he walked around picking ripe mangoes growing along the river.
When thirsty, he drank water directly from the river.

Adults will find it difficult to understand what it is about rivers and streams that makes children so fascinated.
Adults do not understand — because adults have forgotten how to live in paradise, how to enjoy everything around them without the calculation of winning and losing, and without the constant struggle of the mind.

The absurd thing is: adults have never left paradise.
Paradise is still there — the mountains and rivers are still there, the sun and moon, the birds and fruits — all are still there.
It is just that adults are too busy with their own plans and wishes, and so they forget how to see paradise — how to live in it again.

Being an adult is like a curse:
They lose more and more of their inner peace.
There is no longer any inner contentment or gratitude.
They also completely lose the ability to connect with inner silence — to surrender and trust life from within.

Being an adult seems to mean simply looking outward — but the more you look outward, the more lost you become.
Adults put themselves in this difficult position, and then are very aggressive in forcing small children to follow the same path — to follow that same way of life.

Few adults respect children’s privacy and quiet space.
Not only do they fail to create the conditions for a child to have even a little quiet space of their own, they also disturb them in all kinds of ways, day and night:

When the child is sleeping, they wake him up — because it is time to eat, or because they are afraid he will not be able to sleep at night, or because it is time to go to school.
When the child is playing, they force him to sit at a desk.
When he eats, they give him a moral lecture.
When he sits quietly, they ask him a thousand questions — just to make sure he is… okay.

But children are not okay at all when their entire private space and quiet are constantly disturbed by their parents.
Everyone needs some private space.
Children need private space even more than adults — because they are young, they are growing.

Just like a seed needs a lot of space to mature and grow into a tree — a tree is already grown, but the seed still needs a lot of quiet time.
Or like a fetus in the mother’s womb — it needs privacy and silence.
If one keeps it awake and does all sorts of things to it from outside the womb, it cannot develop normally.

Every growth in this life, in this world, needs its own space and silence.

Children today do not have many rights and opportunities to have that.
They may have their own room, but with a phone in their hand, no private silence can penetrate them.

Children in the past — especially children in the countryside — had many trees to play with, many rivers, many hills and mountains, lawns or vacant lots to nurture private silence.
Children today may have their own room, but all connection with nature seems to be gradually disappearing.
If their family is rich and has trees and gardens, then with technology, the connection is not as strong.
How many children are willing to put down their phones to go out and sit in the garden in silence?

Worse still, sometimes children want to go out and connect with nature — but it is their parents who prevent them:
“No rain, no sunbathing, no running around outside, no playing in the mud, no this and no that.”
How sad!

That is why, the more the material world develops, the more complex the human mind becomes — the more rare and difficult it becomes to find silence.
Silence on the outside is already difficult — how can one find silence on the inside?

And without this inner silence, anyone who does not have a connection with this sacred stillness within will lose balance in life.
That person will never feel satisfied. That person will never feel peace and tranquility — let alone a feeling of gratitude and bliss.

That is also the reason why there are blessings in every situation of life.
The life of the poor is inferior to the life of the rich in terms of material things, but they have many abilities and opportunities to do things that the rich may not.

Simply put, it is like feeling hungry — and enjoying food when hungry.
The rich rarely know hunger, and therefore rarely know the taste of a hot loaf of bread in the hands of a sweaty worker who has just finished work.
That taste — the taste of food eaten when hungry — is not just food.
It carries the taste of gratitude, of thanksgiving, and a great deal of awareness.

So never look down on the lives of others, even those who are poorer than you.
They may be a little poorer in material things — but they are rich in ways you can never imagine.

The joy of a rural child who raises a litter of puppies and goes out with them every day around the fields,
goes out to the stream, bathes in mud and rain every day —
how many rich children have that privilege?

The joy of a poor wife whose husband comes home from the fields with a bag of freshly caught snails,
a bunch of green bananas, and a bunch of lotus flowers that have just bloomed in the fields —
carefully cut, wrapped, and put into a chipped ceramic vase.
Or the joy of a husband when he earns enough money to buy his child an old bicycle
and teaches him to ride the first laps on the village road full of the scent of ripe rice…
Imagine — is it sad, pitiful, just because they are poor?

Life is always full of such situations — filled with grace and love —
and they are shared equally among everyone, in all living conditions.
So never waste your time mourning for anyone’s life.

Instead, mourn your own life, see what gifts you have missed, what moments of grace you have unintentionally overlooked, pushed out of life time and time again for illusory goals?
This life operates beautifully, it is absolutely fair. If you only look at it from a material perspective, you will see that it does not seem fair, but do not look at life with your shallow eyes. Look deeper, you will see how beautiful the law of fairness is. Everyone has the same opportunity to experience the depth of life, to experience the feeling of peace and joy, to experience the feeling of love, sharing and especially to experience the beauty and depth of silence.
Life gives everyone the right to remain silent and if anyone can remain silent, calm before all the events of life, that person will find the treasure of life hidden in that silence. But you don’t like to choose silence, you like noise.

If you like noise, life will give you every opportunity to experience noise. Life is not stingy with you. Life gives you everything you want for yourself, if you really know what you want and stick to it.

The problem is that you don’t really know what you want, when you know what you want, you are not stick to what you want at all.

Today you want attention, you want noise and when you are surrounded by too much attention and noise, you feel annoyed, you wish for silence.

When life gives you silence, you feel bored and want to go back to noise. You change your mind constantly, that’s why your life keeps spinning like a broken kite, a pendulum that swings from one side to the other, never still, never still.
So: knowing what you want, being persistent with what you want, doing everything in your power to do what you want, that is the secret of all successful people in life regardless of the field.
We are not successful because we do not know what we want, are not persistent and do not want to do anything to get what we want. Without the light of awareness to guide us, everything we do ends up being a waste of time, meaningless and spinning around and around without any end.
When a situation happens over and over again, spinning around and around without stopping, like a wheel spinning and spinning forever. These spinning cycles in the language of Indian belief culture are called the Samsara cycle, or “wheel of rebirth”. So reincarnation is simply when we have to live the same kind of life over and over again – a life of suffering – with no way out.
The living context in each life may be different, the family is different but all of that is not important. What is important is awareness. When one has awareness, a situation never happens twice. When one has no awareness, a situation never happens just once. It happens again and again. Suffering happens again and again. Hatred happens again and again. Fear and greed happen again and again. Disillusionment happens again and again. Regret happens again and again.

All these things repeat in one lifetime, which becomes our present life. And when it repeats itself to us over many lifetimes, then it is endless samsara.
Samsara is there when one has not yet ignited the light of awareness within oneself. Samsara stops when one becomes aware and conscious of everything and everything that happens around one.

To be aware of what is happening around one, one must first be aware of how everything is happening again and again within oneself.

To listen and observe how things happen again and again within oneself, in one’s life. One must be silent, one must be silent in order to see.
The deeper the silence, the more one sees.
The deeper the silence, the more one knows.
The more one knows and knows deeply, the more one becomes silent.
This is perhaps the most beautiful cycle in existence. The more one knows, the more silent one becomes, and the more silent one becomes, the more one knows.

Ever since I was a child, I was a rather quiet child, even though I loved selling and had to talk and communicate a lot with customers.
Except for those times, I often sank into my silence — not only when I looked at the mountains but also when I played alone, tinkered with my crafts, or read books by myself.

I liked the feeling that I did not exist at all.
I liked to hide at the side of the house, under the shade of the old tea trees, and play with toys.
I also liked to hide in the attic, cover myself with a blanket, and turn on the flashlight to read stories without letting anyone know I was there.
I liked to sneak away whenever there were guests, so that no one would ask me anything or order me around.
I liked to hang around the kitchen before each party, sneakily eat a little bit of everything, and then quickly disappear before the official gathering with so many people eating, drinking, and chatting noisily.

Life has been so kind to me, giving me countless opportunities to go deep into silence — to go deep into the solitary pilgrimage within myself.

When I was with my parents, they never bothered me at all when I was silent.
They never told me anything or asked me to do anything, nor did they disturb me when I was concentrating on my creative work.

The only person who bothered me when I was alone — the only one who disturbed my privacy — was my second brother.
I was never at peace when my second brother was at home.

That was one of the reasons why, when I was ten, I insisted on moving out.
I was so conscious of my privacy that I would rather be alone, do everything by myself, and be free — than live with my parents, who took care of everything, but cost me my freedom and privacy.

If there was a kind of consciousness that arose in me from childhood, it was not only the consciousness of the peace of silence,
but also the consciousness of independence and freedom.
I did everything I could within my power, even from those early days, just to pursue a single goal — that I did not yet know how to name.

Now I know.
It was my freedom.
It was almost the ultimate goal in life that I had pursued since I was a little kid — sometimes even without knowing what “freedom” was.

For me, freedom came from the need for privacy — for private space.
And private space, somehow, came from the beautiful and vast attraction of silence.

That Blue Mountain was my teacher, my proof, my first guru in life — about the beauty and depth of silence.

We may never expect the meaning and value of the very small and simple things in life to affect us so deeply.
I also never thought that the quiet Blue Mountain in front of my house would shape my life in such a profound way.

I probably would not believe it if someone came up to me and said:
“It was that mountain — passively — that left an impression on you and shaped the direction of your life to become who you are today.”

Well, I would laugh at that person and say that what he said was nonsense.

But I meditated — and I saw…

When you meditate — when the mind is put aside, when all knowledge disappears and you are left with a pure view of everything that has happened — you will be able to see things that no one else can see.
You will be able to see the connections — the causes and the reasons — behind everything that has happened, is happening, and even things that will happen in your life.

You simply know it.
There is nothing to prove or justify — you simply know.

Your knowing is yours.
No one else will know in the same way as you do.
Just as knowing belongs to each person — whoever uses their own knowing, uses it. Whoever does not, does not.
No one can know for anyone else — just as no one can eat for anyone else, sleep for anyone else, or love for anyone else.

We are all alone in our own enjoyment — and alone in our own responsibility for our journey.
Others may walk a step or two with us, but no one can walk for anyone else.
It is the curse, but also the grace — and fairness — of this life.
How wonderful.

There are many paths up the mountain.
Whoever reaches the top will realize that the path was different — with different difficulties, obstacles, and beauties.
But if one keeps going — and going — in the upward direction, then one day, one will reach the top.
There are many paths, but the top is only one.

A wise person is one who does not worry about the many paths at the foot of the mountain of others — nor does he bother to criticize or teach anyone.
He only focuses his energy on climbing the mountain — with his own feet — on the path he has chosen.

The reason why not many people reach the top of this mountain of awareness is very simple:
They are too busy arguing at the foot of the mountain —
arguing about whose path is more correct,
which path is more beautiful,
which is easier to walk,
which path has better arguments,
which one is more valuable.

This argument takes so much energy that people are exhausted — and have no strength left to climb the mountain.

Another reason why not many people can climb the mountain is because they carry too much luggage.
Bulky luggage — filled with all kinds of assets, ambitions, dreams, and fantasies.
Luggage heavy with knowledge, predictions, relationships, worries, and fears.
This luggage truly hinders people’s steps.
Who can climb a mountain with tons of responsibilities and obligations on their shoulders?

Another reason why people — even with little luggage, even with a path — still find it difficult to climb the mountain,
is because they are too weak.

Daily life, work, and play drain people’s energy in all kinds of ways.
People waste their energy at every stop along the way.

Each sense on the body is a stop.
People can either drain all their energy at that stop —
or recharge for the journey.

Most people use their senses only to waste energy and vitality, not to recharge at all.
That is a sad thing.

A simple example is eating.
Smart eaters will use food as a way to increase energy for internal vitality.
They eat just enough, eat simple food — and the more they eat, the healthier they become.

The way most of us eat is to only use taste as a way to enjoy, to trick the body, to force the body to eat all kinds of food — eat more than it needs, eat extra, and eat very toxic and difficult-to-digest things.

The energy the body uses to digest food is more expensive than the energy the food brings — a completely failed “investment.”

Eating wrongly makes people more tired — the body heavy, sluggish.
Because when the stomach is full of food, all the energy will have to focus on the stomach.
Where is the energy left for the muscles to move flexibly?
Where is the energy for the mind to think?
Where is the energy for the other senses to develop?

So, meditation — sitting still with eyes closed in a quiet place — is actually closing the senses to store energy.
Next to digesting food, thinking is the second most energy-consuming thing in the body.
Because digestion only takes a few hours a day — but thinking?
We think almost 24/7, even when we sleep.

The stopping of thinking in meditation helps store the body’s energy to the maximum.

And when the body is full of energy, then this energy is like a drill — going deep into our being, digging to the deep underground well,
where the priceless treasure of silence is waiting to be poured out —
to water our lives with blessings and grace.

So, there are many reasons why many travelers climb mountains — but few ever get anywhere.

Realizing this, throw away the burden of luggage, throw away illusions, ambitions, and desires.
Give up verbal arguments.
Focus on your own path.
Use silence as a boat to take you to a land where no one has ever set foot.

That is heaven —
the sacred land that you have been trying to find for countless lifetimes.

If you still refuse to go in this life —
then when will you?

If we can’t even do it by consciously keeping ourselves immersed in silence for a few minutes at a time, a few times a day — is it because of us, or because of anyone else?
Who can we blame when we can’t be silent for even a few seconds?

We have been blaming for many lifetimes.
Try not blaming, and taking full responsibility for ourselves — to see if the situation is any different.

There are many ways to create an atmosphere of silence around us.
Be creative — and make those moments sacred and flexible.

Don’t just stick to the idea that meditation and silence mean sitting in the lotus position — back straight, hands in mudra…
No. Meditation is not that rigid.
There will come a time when you reach that point — the point where you have to sit in the lotus position, close your eyes, straighten your back, hands in mudra…
Then you will feel — satisfied.
Satisfied.

And now, while you are still new, while you are still young, be creative — and create many sacred moments in your own day.

For example:
Find a meditation song that you love.
Commit to being silent every time that song plays — at least for the duration of that song.
You can choose meditation music, mantras, or even classical music like symphonies, instrumental music, or music with lyrics…
All are fine.

Then every morning before waking up, spend five minutes lying quietly in bed, listening to that music.
Or when going to a coffee shop in the morning, you can put on headphones and listen quietly with your eyes closed to feel it — or keep your eyes open to observe the hustle and bustle of life around you.
Which is also very good.

When driving on the road, you can also play that music.
When taking a bath, or in the evening before going to bed — listen to that music quietly, and commit to being silent during this time.

At first, just be silent in words.
You will see that your mind is still full of wandering thoughts — it’s okay.
Every journey begins with small steps.

There will come a time when you find yourself in a state of stillness without thinking — a state of empty awareness.
That is the “mountaintop.”
You have a glimpse of being on top of the mountain.

Collect more of those glimpses, those moments.
Gradually — like collecting diamonds — soon the bag will be full,
and you will realize how rich you are.

This life is very generous and rich.
Life offers us countless opportunities to enrich our lives.
Many choose to enrich themselves materially.
A few choose to enrich their mental and emotional bodies.
And even fewer choose to enrich themselves spiritually — to enrich their silence, their awareness, their contentment, gratitude, peace, and bliss.

In the end, only our spiritual wealth remains with us.
Everything else gradually fades away.

This spiritual wealth — this peace, awareness, and silence — is the only thing that will help us buy freedom.
Ultimate freedom from all samsara and reincarnation, from birth and death.

Do not waste this wonderful opportunity to enrich yourself any longer.
No matter who you are, what you have, or where you are from —
you all have the same opportunity to “enrich” yourself in this spiritual realm.

Of course, greed is not good.
And seeing this inner practice and pilgrimage as a way to “get rich” is not a good idea either —
because how can it be called rich when the richness is emptiness?

What does it mean to be rich in emptiness?
Yet there is such a kind of richness.
A richness that surpasses all riches.
A wealth that is infinite and priceless —
and no one who has it will ever lose it or want to exchange it for anything.

Don’t waste this life any longer.
Don’t waste this opportunity any longer!

Don’t waste an opportunity like my Blue Mountain in the past — when groups of people still came to make pilgrimages with sincerity and enthusiasm from the most distant places.

If the government and religious leaders had more foresight and a better strategic perspective,
who knows — they might have helped transform the economic model and the psychological mindset of this entire land.

Supposing everything had gone according to the best scenario:
The Green Mountain could have remained completely covered in green forests,
the streams would still be babbling, wildflowers blooming,
and the wild fruits ripe and fragrant — to feed the thick-faced monkeys…

But in the end, none of that happened.

Life rarely goes according to the scenario.
But people still have to make a living.
And when they can no longer make a living from tourism or forest services,
they will gradually destroy the forests — to grow more “economic” crops.

That is exactly what happened to the Green Mountain —
which gradually became the Red Mountain,
as bare land with the dark red color of basalt slowly replaced the green areas of forest.

My “Green” Mountain gradually faded and died in some way —
before being dyed again with the poor green of industrial plants.
I call it poor green,
because no monkeys, birds, or deer are alive to drink the tea…

Faster than the disappearance of wild animals was the disappearance of the lovely pilgrims.
I loved them very much, because they brought with them many new things for a village girl.
They had different voices, and their behavior was also somewhat different from the villagers —
although their sincerity, courtesy, friendliness, and openness were not different at all.

The days when the Virgin Mary was still on the mountaintop waiting for pilgrims —
watching my mother’s shop every day really made me live happily, like during a festival.
I even liked to wear new clothes, because — who knows —
sometimes there were some pretty boys in the group of visitors.
After all, I was only a nine-year-old girl
who suddenly found herself strangely useful for the first time,
when she had the opportunity to show the way to strangers every day —
because my house was right at the crossroads.

Perhaps no pilgrim ever remembered or cared about the skinny girl —
the daughter of the aunt who sold groceries on the road.
Just like how no one remembered the Green Mountain once the statue of the Virgin Mary was moved to the church in the village.

I no longer wore new clothes or eagerly waited to watch the groups of people passing by my house —
because no one passed by anymore.
No one.

Pilgrims not only stopped going up the mountain,
they also stopped visiting the church.

That’s right —
who would bother to go all the way to a concrete church
to visit a statue that had been repainted beautifully?

The statue of the Virgin Mary in the church was soon forgotten.
And the Green Mountain was also forgotten — in the hearts of travelers.

People quickly returned to their daily lives —
which meant that more and more green forests were cut down,
rocks were split, birds and animals disappeared
along with the sad gray smoke constantly rising from the ground.

If a mountain no longer has forests,
no trees, no flying birds or animals,
no babbling streams…
would it still be a mountain?

Still nine years old,
I no longer wanted to sit in my mother’s shop and look at the mountain.
It was sad, even for a child,
to witness the scene of the carefree and calm mountain
now surrendering to the “economic” dream of the poor
who wanted to reclaim the land.

When the forest turned into fields,
the mountain also lost its soul.
Suddenly I realized — I myself no longer cared about that land.
I also wanted to leave.

Or maybe it was the strange groups of visitors
who stopped by my mother’s grocery store —
somehow sowing in me a desire to leave the village,
to see more things I had never dreamed of,
to expand my limits beyond the borders of a village.

So, at the age of ten,
I knew for sure that I wanted to leave the village —
leave my parents’ house.

So, at the age of ten,
for the first time,
I knew that I could decide my own life.

That I had wings —
and I could fly.

And I did indeed “fly” away —
after inheriting a piece of the mountain’s soul.
A piece of soul that was silent,
very quiet,
and also very sacred

A piece of the green Buddha has lived inside me since then!

“vâng, tôi là con gái của núi xanh” – Yes, here I am, a daughter of the Xanh Mountain!

Phi Tuyết, 2021

Namaste!!! and thank you for reading

this is from a book names “Philosopher, poet and mystic” that I hope it would be published one day…