Fwd: Tet-Ash Wednesday-Valentine's Day-Dien Bien Phu --Re: Monthly Tau Gathering
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Lance Woodruff
Feb 16, 2018, 6:27:35 AM2/16/18
to Fred Abery, Michael Rossouw, Michael and Jing Forrer, Peter Downs, Peter Masefield, Catherine Morris
Dear Franciscan companions on the way, and other companions on the way,
After five weeks in Vietnam I am experiencing a juxtaposition and confluence of spiritual traditions, of Australia, Vietnam and America, of Francis, of Jesus, Of Buddha, of French, African, Vietnamese and Black Thai soldiers at Dien Bien Phu, of the young Vietnamese lovers who come for their formal wedding pictures atop the A-1 bastion, of football instead of cannonballs...
Valentine's Day-Ash Wednesday in Ho Chi Minh City, formerly Saigon. A profusion of flowers here for Tet, Vietnam's primary traditional holiday, which is centered on the understanding that our families--every person who has ever been part of them in the past--live with us today, in the present. Americans often misunderstand this reverence as ancestor worship. Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh explains that we must cultivate loving-kindness and to learn ways to bring about the well-being of people--all people--as well as animals, plants and minerals. He believes that Buddhists and Christians are brothers and sisters, that all creation, all existence, is related, and sacred.
On this day I remember St. Valentine, a Christian who demonstrated compassion in the service of others. Christian or Buddhist, Jewish, Hindu or Muslim, the heart of Valentine's Day is loving-kindness. I think I first learned this in second grade in Salem, Ohio when my classmates and I made Valentine cookies, heart-shaped cookies with red, pink or white frosting, to give our teachers, our mother, sisters and brothers to celebrate love and connectedness. In a few days it will be Tet here in Vietnam. I have been in Dien Bien Phu, the site of an epic battle that in 1954 when I was told as a primary school student that there would be no more civilization if 'the Viets' defeated France, and local people instead of foreigners would resume control of their own country.. Tim Conry's song says that "We rise again from ashes, from the good we've failed to do." Indeed, we rise again...as Buddhists, Christians, Muslims, we fail and yet we can rise again. Peace and all good.
Lance Woodruff
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Love, not War -- A-1 Hill, Dien Ben Phu
Alex and Chris Woodruff, 1989--Hoabinh on the road to Dien Bien Phu
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Lance WoodruffTamarind House Writing, Editing & PhotographyPapermill Community of the Arts2825 Ormes St., Unit 4F2Philadelphia, PA 19134Tel: 267-902-4914
Lance WoodruffTamarind House Writing, Editing & PhotographyPapermill Community of the Arts2825 Ormes St., Unit 4F2Philadelphia, PA 19134Tel: 267-902-4914
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