Sitting in the night shadow,

I listened to the winds chasing each other.

The atmosphere seemed so gloomily silent.

There were only the sounds of insects buzzing in the night.

I asked myself: to where would the Wind return

when it had reached the far ends of the earth and sky,

to where would a person return when he dies? 

How many times of losing and winning, of gain and loss.

Thinking of life’s unevitable end, one can but sigh. 

Do we ever ask who we really are

in this world where there are billions of people,

and our parents, our brothers, our relatives, our friends

are just stopping points in this samsaric world.

Will there be a time when the white clouds stop driffting

and the crickets at night stop singing

and human society not so competitive and muddied,

and a person’s life no longer be so hurried 

and drowned in human miseries.

Gazing through the shadow of the night,

I paced round-and-round on the Path to Enlightenment.

Some day not too far away, I will return to dust

is there any reason then to feel so depressed.

Rustling sounds of the night by the rows of leaning trees.

Hearing the night whisperings under the vast misty sky...

One day I’ll return. The Shore of Enlightenment’s waiting for me. 

The stream of Life ever flowing on and on...  

Translated by Vuong Thanh