The
full moon meant a good time for my family in the Highlands of Viet Nam. My father always told me interesting stories. The story of the bat was my favorite because it
always left me with curiosity about night life. I did not have books or the Internet as I have
nowadays. Now, I can read or search
around at the school library.
The
full moon was very bright so we didn’t need turn on the lights or make a fire. My father described to me the anatomy of a
bat, the wings were as beautiful as opened umbrella. I remember that the bat was a wonderful
animal. It had the ability to fly fast
in the dark of night. It had keen visual
ability at night. It also heard well. It can hear highly pitched sounds.
My father
told me a story about the bat and Buddhist lama. The bat heard that the Buddhist lama was
talented. He understood about
universe. He also practiced divinity so
that he could influence all the matter on the earth. This is the reason that the bat came to confront
the Buddhist lama. Because of the bat’s jealousy
of the lama, war happened. The war was between
two of most two equally talented beings on the earth. It was interesting because they used their
best skills, and because they were equal no one won. Year after year, the bat and Buddhist lama
fought and the war kept going. It was
making storms and dry seasons. The
weather was changing. The war affected
human beings. People who lived by the
weather and agriculture lost their crops and hunger was everywhere.
Finally,
the Buddhist lama commiserated with suffering human beings. The tears ran down the cheeks of the Buddhist
lama. The Buddhist lama had sympathy the
poor of human beings. The bat
surrendered to the Buddhist lama because the bat did not have a soul to
understand suffering. The bat was a good,
intelligent, and talented animal, but the bat did not have a human sense of love
as do human beings. The animal just
survived and went on with natural process.
The
war was finished when the bat surrendered by kneeling down. This was the way my
father explained to me why the bat sleeps with his head down. Also for this reason, human beings honor the
Buddhist lama by painting bats on the walls or tapestries behind the statues of
the Buddha. The talented Buddhist lama triumphed
over the bat because he had big heart to love and accepted the talented animal
which was also called the king of dark night.
When
there is the full moon, I recalled a good childhood with my father with his
stories which he told me occasionally when we harvested crops, corn, beans, and
rice and brought them home from the field.
The neighbors gathered together, elders, children, and young people. The children played hide and seek. I could not hear well so I was always the loser
because I couldn’t seek other children. My
father gave me a trick. I did not need
to move a lot to seek other children or hear their foot steps. I just stayed on
one place and moved my head around to see the bushes moving. I could guess where the children hiding. Their favorite place to hide was under the
bushes on the side of front yard within 3 or 4 meters of the area play.
The
musk of night gave off an aroma, cooling, quite, and the smell the earth, and
also at night I could hear sounds more clearly, the cricket and soft sound from
nature. The night breaks down the limitations
of time. The moon’s effervescence was like
champagne. The night is extraordinary, something
like a stream of consciousness, allowing me stronger perceptions of my feelings
as my mind floats. These intimations of
mine made me feel different from my friends who told me that I was crazy when I
told them stories.
After
the games, we got snacks of steamed fresh corn, steamed fresh peanuts or soy
beans from my mother.
Tam Nguyen of Tam’s Gardening Service (853-6111) is a
Master Gardener and a student at NAU and the 
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