Please Call Me by My True Names:โปรดเรียกฉันด้วยนามอันแท้จริง

Please Call Me by My True Names

I have a poem for you. 

This poem is about three of us.  

The first is a twelve-year-old girl, one of the boat  

people crossing the Gulf of Siam. She was raped by a  

sea pirate, and after that she threw herself into the  

sea. 

The second person is the sea pirate, who was born  

in a remote village in Thailand. 

And the third person  is me. 

I was very angry, of course. But I could not take  

sides against the sea pirate. If I could have, it would  

have been easier, but I couldn't. I realized that if I  

had been born in his village and had lived a similar life  

- economic, educational, and so on - it is likely that I  

would now be that sea pirate. 

So it is not easy to take  sides. Out of suffering, I wrote this poem.

 It is called  "Please Call Me by My True Names," because I have many names,  

and when you call me by any of them, I have to say, "Yes."

Don't say that I will depart tomorrow -- 

even today I am still arriving.

Look deeply: every second I am arriving 

to be a bud on a Spring branch, 

to be a tiny bird, with still-fragile wings, 

learning to sing in my new nest, 

to be a caterpillar in the heart of a flower, 

to be a jewel hiding itself in a stone.

I still arrive, in order to laugh and to cry, 

to fear and to hope.

The rhythm of my heart is the birth and death 

of all that is alive.

I am the mayfly metamorphosing 

on the surface of the river. 

And I am the bird 

that swoops down to swallow the mayfly.

I am the frog swimming happily 

in the clear water of a pond. 

And I am the grass-snake 

that silently feeds itself on the frog.

I am the child in Uganda, all skin and bones, 

my legs as thin as bamboo sticks. 

And I am the arms merchant, 

selling deadly weapons to Uganda.

I am the twelve-year-old girl, 

refugee on a small boat, 

who throws herself into the ocean 

after being raped by a sea pirate. 

And I am the pirate, 

my heart not yet capable 

of seeing and loving.

I am a member of the politburo, 

with plenty of power in my hands. 

And I am the man who has to pay 

his "debt of blood" to my people 

dying slowly in a forced-labor camp.

My joy is like Spring, so warm 

it makes flowers bloom all over the Earth. 

My pain is like a river of tears, 

so vast it fills the four oceans.

Please call me by my true names, 

so I can hear all my cries and my laughter at once, 

so I can see that my joy and pain are one.

Please call me by my true names, 

so I can wake up, 

and so the door of my heart 

can be left open, 

the door of compassion.

~Thich Nhat Hanh

 

 

[sr]

I am confused and troubled by this 'poem' and its introduction.

There are assertions:

A twelve year old Ugandan girl and refugee in a boat threw herself into the sea after she had been raped by a sea pirate.

The pirate whose heart cannot see (right or wrong) and love, was born in a remote village in Thailand,

...

Is this confusing poem a sum of experiences (conjured up after taking in bad news) of the world events?

Is there a fact (or need) in support of the use of Thailand and Uganda in this poem -- in this way?

The law of Kamma may be seen in modern terms as "a web of relations" (or a mesh of links among effects and causes), when conditioned (arranged) could 'self-organize' and become 'larger than life' (of any 'atta' -- individual of creed and 'labelling'). We may one day learn to recognize the dhamma of humanity and its many labels. Right now 6.3 billions of humanity is just far too much ( >80% in weight of all living creatures on earth) for us to process the 'data' about them. We don't want more confused data.

[sunny]

The same as I .. I am confused and troubled by this 'poem' for many years and try to understand its. what is the true meaning of this poem what is about the use of term .. why thailand and Uganda ??

But it is just a poem .. when we read it.. it will present many kind of meaning up to what we think what we feel at that time.

For a few days ago after protest turn deadly in BKK I have just realized something .

No difference about Thailand and Uganta .. because this is about human and humanity. The pain in the heart of thai people just like the pain in the heart of everyone in this world who will be cry in their heart when their country burning like this ..

anyway as you have said The law of Kamma or "a web of relations" (or a mesh of links among effects and causes), when conditioned (arranged) could 'self-organize' and become 'larger than life' (of any 'atta' -- individual of creed and 'labelling').

For me from this poem I have realized .. sometime it is not easy to take side and may be we can not do like that at all , everything is " a web of relation" because "this" cause something like " that "

because have "me" and then it will have "you"

" We may one day learn to recognize the dhamma of humanity and its many labels " I hope so. ^ - ^

thak you so much for come and share ..