People of Old

Thích nữ Trí Hải · Vietnam Buddhist Studies Institute

Sinh was a poor scholar, penniless and far from home in pursuit of his studies. He lodged at a pagoda, poring over the classics day and night in preparation for the imperial examinations. The district magistrate, himself an outsider appointed to the post, often visited the pagoda, being a devout Buddhist. The magistrate had a daughter in the full bloom of youth, of ravishing beauty.

One day, on the occasion of the Vu Lan festival, the young woman accompanied her father to the pagoda. The moment Sinh saw this jewel of a girl, he fell secretly in love. But he already had a wife and children back home, and came from a poor family, while she was in the flower of her youth, of noble and wealthy standing. Such a match seemed an impossible dream. Their love, hindered by circumstance, only grew more intense, though not a word had passed between them — a love entirely one-sided. He could only swallow his sorrow and murmur these verses of a “hopeless love”:

In my heart I have buried a love,
A love of one instant become eternity.

… continued …

(Adapted from a Liêu Trai tale – as told by Ven. Già Lam)