Come back

… “What I have made me feel full without the dainty food is simply my mother’s white rice and tomato soup. What I need without beautifully embroidered clothes is merely casual clothes. What I need without lofty building or nice vehicles is plainly a cottage, where I can freely run on my grand’s field with my own bare feet”

 The social life has been developed and the material life has\r\nbeen improved; for these reasons, humankind has been captured by inanimate and\r\ncomfortable things which bound them with their attempt to rush toward those. It\r\nis taught: “So many things we want, but so few things we need.” Mankind craves\r\nfor material desire and attach in sensual pleasures; therefore they have\r\nforgotten the origin of their own pure souls, the source of their own\r\nfeeling. 

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Each person also has his/her own house, homeland and a\r\nnative source, from which many people have not realized those yet. They have\r\nexisted like trees only growing luxuriant foliages and forgotten to nurture\r\ntheir roots into the soil. There is a child who was born and grown up in a poor\r\nvillage. As a little boy, he received the love from many people such as his\r\nfather, mother, brothers, sisters and his relatives. He was brought up and\r\ngrown up with foods from fields, from the bowls of rice and vegetables, and the\r\ntomato soups from his mother; in addition, he played with Teo, Ti who were his\r\nneighbors. At noon, he bathed in the river in the shady coconut trees. He could\r\nrun on the green meadow with his bare feet. There was a garden of jackfruit and\r\nmango from uncle Ba and uncle Bay, where he could hang up the hammock to take a\r\nnap in the summer afternoon. His hometown is in a poor land. Many people attain\r\nlittle study because they have to work on field or in the garden.  Their\r\nway of life is normal and simple; moreover, their short speech seems to be\r\nrustic and honest. 

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At the age of 17 and 20, he became a robust man almost like\r\nan adult. He showed his mature and searched for new, unusual things such as:\r\nnice clothes, nice motorbikes, or jewellery, which are impossibly found in his\r\nhomeland. Since then, he has innovated himself, and left the poor countryside\r\nhis urban ambition. A rustic man in alum and cracked feet stepped up to the\r\nmagnificent city. He emerged in dream and hope. He began to make a living, hunt\r\njobs, and gradually overcome obstacles to earn money. Day after day, the life\r\nhas experienced and money has matured him. By his pursued effort, he gradually\r\nowns cars, budget, properties, and friends, as well as modern facilities as\r\nurban people’s. However, in his mind, he had never satisfied them. The current\r\nstyle and the spiral fashion had never been ceased in him. When possessing an\r\nexpensive car, he desired for a better one; furthermore, his belongings would\r\nsoon be obsolete. Those attracted him further and further. He swam in pubs,\r\nsped in feasts, theaters and so on. His hard work all day is for strenuously\r\ndebauched nights.

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 One afternoon, being tired of exertion, he walked on\r\nsmall road and came by a sidewalk tavern. Opposite was a small simple house. In\r\nthis house, there was a family who were sitting for dinner a dim lamp. Quietly\r\nglancing at them, he felt like their peace and happiness when sitting closely\r\ntogether around a frugal dinner tray. He felt lonely in life. He realized that\r\nhe had forgotten the way of calm life for a long time. At that time, in his\r\nmind, he remembered his memories, the images of village and of childhood. His\r\nformer thought and direction were changed, so he wanted to reminisce the images\r\nof countryside. He felt a little tired with his desires. He browsed ideas to\r\nrenounce and return to pure joy.     

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What I have made me feel full without the dainty food is\r\nsimply my mother’s white rice and tomato soup. What I need without beautifully\r\nembroidered clothes is merely casual clothes. What I need without lofty\r\nbuilding or nice vehicles is plainly  a cottage, where I can freely\r\nrun on my grand’s field with my own bare feet

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Now, he realized what he wants, what he needs, what the\r\npeace is and what the hurry is. The thing that he suddenly awakens and\r\nrecognizes is a flash of quiet and clear soul like muddy water to be stilled\r\nuntil the dirt in the glass will be deposited. He understands clearly\r\neverything he has had; he lives with a wise look in life, and knows less greed\r\nbut more enough. (The contention with few desires).

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 He lives in peace without desires, knows enough and\r\nhas a true life full of available facilities. He begins to have a new life.\r\nFurthermore, he feels peaceful and happy by himself. His happiness is when he\r\neats simple vegetable meals because he shares sweet taste of each grain of rice\r\nwith his brothers and sisters, parents in his homeland. His happiness is when\r\nhe walks beside the clear river and on the village roads edging with the trees,\r\nfields in light breeze. He feels pure and peaceful things in each step and each\r\nbreath.

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As a man, who naturally has a family and homeland, and a\r\npeace source to return? A perspicacious look, truthful living and tender care\r\nfor available belongings will appear happiness in the front.

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Tâm Liêm.    

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Translated into English by Nguyen Ngo Xuan Phuong.

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