Dreaming about Ru Gam...

(Baonghean) - “Every shore has waves of the Dinh River/ Every faraway place dreams of the Gam Ru”. I am sure that many people in the rice district of Yen Thanh know that verse. Many of them do not know who wrote those lines, they use them to express their feelings. Just like they used to sing: “When will the Gam Ru run out of trees/ The Dinh River run out of water, here and there run out of love”. Just by reading it, just by singing those words, they have met their homeland filled with love, they have met each other with the same pride...

Gam Mountain (Yen Thanh).

Mountains and rivers. What a charming land! Along with the majestic, strong, soaring Gam mountain, there is the gentle, soft curve of Dinh river. I am not a child of the rice district, but I have always been deeply attached to the land and people here. In my nostalgia, sometimes I seem to have no clear origin, I meet a childhood me, startled by the green of the fields, the sound of oars splashing water, the sound of birds chirping in the mountains and the rustling of the forest... Surely, it was also similar to the dream of Yen Thanh people far away from home?

And I, having passed by so many times, still wonder at the name: Ke Gam? Is it because of Ke Gam that there is Gam hill, Gam temple, Gam pagoda? Then, one afternoon in the quiet sunny temple yard, I heard the monk tell me that: On the old Gam mountain, there was a type of Gam fruit that helped the people of this area through several seasons of famine. Deeply grateful for the fruit that saved them through those hardships, the people named their village Gam village (later changed to Gam). I have always remembered the story, or rather the love between the people and the land, so that every time I return, I look for the old Ke Gam.

Standing at the foot of the mountain that people say is “the place where spiritual energy converges”, looking at the clouds on the top of Gam, I try to guess the changes of the earth and the sky like the way the people here have looked up for generations with faith that needs no explanation. For hundreds of years, thousands of years, the mountain still has the same appearance, deep and quiet, hiding within itself the vicissitudes of life and death. Poet and teacher Huy Huyen - a person I always respect - once confided: “For me and any other country people, Gam mountain is not only a famous mountain, a beautiful symbol, but it is also a whole world of memories, wrapping up our childhood. The whole childhood of herding buffaloes and cutting grass. When we grew up, we joined the army. When we returned from the war, when we reached Yen Ly, we saw Gam mountain. Seeing Gam mountain means we have returned to our hometown, to our home”.

Ringing the bell at Gam Pagoda. Photo: PV

Is there something that urges our steps, on each stone step of the mountain? Is it because of the love story that is being kept at Bach Thach temple, a small temple located near Gam mountain? The story goes that a young couple overcame all obstacles to fall in love. They made an appointment in the forest on the mountain, held hands and walked forever, and one day the villagers came looking for them only to find a pair of snakes entwined together. From then on, the green moss on the mountain suddenly turned white. The girl's mother, missing her daughter, wore white mourning clothes to look for her but she also did not return. The father, regretful and sorry for his wife and children, built two temples to worship his wife and children on the two sides of Gam mountain, Bach Thach (white stone) and Bach Y (white shirt) temples. Among the many legends about the sacred temple on the mountainside, this love story is the most known and believed by many people.

These days, I am busy returning to the temple yard - Gam pagoda. The red cotton flowers have fallen along the entrance. The flowers fly in the rain, the flowers fly in the sun, landing on the brick yard and then returning to the monk's hands who are busy picking them up and arranging them around the flower pots in front of the yard. The peaceful, ancient atmosphere makes people feel strangely at ease. The monk will stop and welcome visitors with stories about the temple and pagoda (this is the only relic complex in the province because the relic includes both the temple and the pagoda). In the past, a very long time ago, this place only had a small shrine and hermitage, made of wood and thatched roof.

After many renovations, the relic has become increasingly larger. The temple and pagoda are divided into 2 different areas with 2 entrance gates of different shapes. The temple entrance gate is made of 4 symmetrical pillars, the pagoda entrance gate is made in the style of a three-door arched gate. Previously, Gam temple was a majestic architectural work. Later, due to wars, storms, floods and changes in the times, the temple has changed a lot. This is where the throne, tablets and Buddha names of the gods worshiped at the temple are Cao Son - Cao Cac, Uy Minh Vuong Ly Nhat Quang, Sat Hai Dai Vuong Hoang Ta Thon, Tu Vi Thanh Nuong and Ly Thien Cuong. Gam pagoda, also known as Chi Linh pagoda, was built to worship Buddha Thich Ca Mau Ni, Quan The Am, Tam The Phat. The pagoda has the architecture, sculptures, patterns and motifs according to the Truc Lam sect...

Following the monk, listening quietly, to see that each tree in the temple yard contains stories that blend religion with life, each carving on the rafters is a teaching. Some rafters have been found underground for dozens, hundreds of years. Time has eroded the carvings, but time has also added a deep note of the past. It is said that the people of Ke Gam will never forget the spiritual imprint of a Vietnamese culture that chose this land to be born and to flourish... And also in this place, important events in the village took place; the place where people in the area gathered to participate in demonstrations to demand tax reduction and return of land to farmers; the place where the Quan Hoa Party cell held meetings since its establishment in 1947, the place where it was used as a liaison station, transferring human and material resources to serve the battlefield in the South...

At the foot of Gam Mountain. Photo: Ho Cac

The present Venerable Thich Truc Thong Kien, a disciple of the Most Venerable Thich Thanh Tu, who restored the contemporary Truc Lam Zen sect of the Buddhist Emperor Tran Nhan Tong, was appointed by the Board of Directors of the Truc Lam Zen sect to do Buddhist work at the request of the Buddhist people of Yen Thanh district. At the pagoda, the campus has been expanded to serve the living and studying needs of Buddhists. Here, there are regular monthly retreats, and summer retreats for thousands of young people in the district to study and practice each term. There is also a martial arts school to train the health and martial arts of young people in the area.

And in just a few days, the quiet temple-pagoda yard, where you can hear the sound of falling leaves, will be bustling and noisy, but no less respectful and solemn in the festival atmosphere. The Gam temple-pagoda festival, the stone-laying ceremony of Truc Lam Yen Thanh Zen Monastery, the groundbreaking ceremony for the An Quoc Great Buddha statue. I imagined that in that bustling crowd, the national flag will flutter next to the Buddha flag, and the statues of Cao Son, Cao Cac, Buddha, the Four Holy Ladies... will be carried next to Uncle Ho's picture. That is the ceremony to carry people who will forever live in the hearts of the people, loved and worshiped by the people. In this temple yard, the temple yard, the divine horse will be carried back from Gam mountain. The Ke Gam opera artists, who have just taken off their brown shirts, their feet still smelling of mud, will go on stage again. They take off their brown shirts to put on royal robes. They will become kings, mandarins, Tran Binh Trong, Luc Van Tien, Kieu Nguyet Nga, Trung Trac, Trung Nhi. More than anyone else, they will talk about love for the country, more deeply and truly than any theory, in sparkling sequined dresses only a few days out of a year of 365 hard days of farming...

Before leaving Gam Pagoda, don't forget to ring a bell. This is the bell facing Spring. Spring with new buds, with fresh air, with cool wishes, with a hopeful start... The bell's resonance lasts for more than two minutes, as if echoing from somewhere far away but also as if echoing to the depths of your heart. The bell's sound is an awakening. The bell's sound is echoing from a previous life, reminding us not to forget our homeland, our roots, like a tree that must stand firmly in the ground...

Suddenly I feel small in the vastness, in dire need of a place to lean on, to bow my head, as if the verse of the child far away from home speaks for the hearts of many people in the rice fields:Every shore has the waves of the Dinh River/ Every distance has dreams of Gam Hill", (Nguyen The Ky).

PV