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You are the last dream of your own invention, the first nightmare of unceasing Bliss.
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To be intensely alive is just a matter of instantly dying, dying to our cherished life...
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I'm sitting here, thinking and dreaming of things eternal. They are arriving; they are of nowhere, but of somewhere, anyhow.
Update 2018
It's been now 7 years after Papa passed into Pure Lands.
Munehiro Nomura just published a Japanese translation of Im lặng hố thẳm (Silence of the Abyss).
It is in our plans to have all the works translated into English eventually. They're very difficult to translate though. But we'll manage eventually.
Update 2015
Check the Gallery; new pictures uloaded!
March 8 2015, 4 year anniversary, Sarva Magalam !
Presenting this Website.
On March 8, 2011...
Phạm Công Thiện resolved to initiate new poetic errands and is now undoubtedly gracing with his zen musings and cosmic laughs the variegated multidimensional planes of this samsaric world.
Death is but the play of Maya - the Great Illusionist Mother. Beyond Nirvana and Samsara lies the Undying and Unborn, the Dharmadhatu.
Fellow pilgrim, know thus that Phạm Công Thiện's passing away is just a mirage and that his speech is still alive for it can still inflame the torch of your soul.
The goal of these webpages is to gather the numerous nectar drops haphazardly distilled by Phạm Công Thiện.
It is dedicated to those unafraid wanderers who yearn for the cathartic fire of wisdom.
Sarva Mangalam. May all be happy.
Update 2014
Latest updates (March 6 2014):
- three full books of Buddhist teachings (in menu Dharma teachings)
- LÀM THẾ NÀO ĐỂ TRỞ THÀNH MỘT BẬC BỒ TÁT SÁNG RỰC KHẮP BỐN PHƯƠNG (How to become a Bodhisattva illuminating the four directions)
- NHỮNG BƯỚC CHÂN NHẸ NHÀNG TRỞ VỀ SỰ IM LẶNG
- từ BÁT NHÃ đến PHÁP HOA
- one compilation of poems (in menu Poetry)
- one poem written originally in French and English (Of a tender half-moon / Sur une tendre demi-lune).
Sarva Mangalam !
Eulogy
Phạm Công Thiện
June 1st 1941, Mytho, Vietnam
March 8th 2011, Spring, Texas, USA
"All conditioned Dharmas
Are like Dreams, Illusions, Bubbles, Shadows,
Like Dew Drops and a Lightning Flash:
Contemplate them thus."
Prajna Paramita Vajracchedika Sutra (Vajra or Diamond Sutra)
Phạm Công Thiện left his body peacefully on March 8th 2011 in his home of Spring, Texas (USA). The famous Vietnamese mystic, poet, philosopher, novelist, translator, professor, scholar, mentor was 71 years old. Up to the end he kept his razor sharp mind and lifelong devotion to the teaching of the Buddha. His last words were to ask: « If you have any question on Dharma, I will answer now! Do you? » As his relatives could not find any question, he repeated once again: « If you have any question on Dharma, I will answer now! Do you? » No question was asked, and three minutes later his breath stopped. He had spent the previous hours in meditation, at times making mudras with his hands. Many auspicious signs suggestive of mastery over the dying process showed up later. For instance, immediately after his cremation, his children saw in the sky a cloud in the shape of a meditating Buddha or yogi.
A multidimensional genius, he was both an artist well-known for his unique and flamboyant style, a polymath and versatile scholar, with encyclopaedic knowledge in wide ranging subjects (Buddhism, Western and Oriental philosophy, litterature and poetry of all countries, art, science, philology, linguistics, psychology...), an extraordinary speaker, teacher, professor venerated by his students and also a spiritual mentor who endeavored his whole life to light the fire of Dharma in the hearts of those crossing his path.
Dedicated to transmitting his metaphysical and spiritual insights, ever since writing his first book at the age of 16, he leaves a host of books – which he usually wrote in just a few weeks, touching on innumerable topics although the single theme of spiritual transmutation unites all of them.
He also leaves children, all awed at the privilege and excellent karma of having met such a spiritual luminary.
They make prayers for his swift return from Sukhavati to spearhead again the propagation and perennity of the Buddha Dharma.
Contact:
contact (at) phamcongthien.com
