The Tale of Kiều
by Nguyễn Du
Ch. 37: A New Nun in Hoạn-Thư's Temple
Translated by Vuong Thanh 

Chapter 37: A New Nun in Hoạn Thư's Temple 

Day and night, Kieu served her mistress.

Then one day, the lady asked her about her life.

She chose her words carefully then answered:

“I sometimes felt deep sorrow for my lot.”

The lady then asked her husband:

“My darling, please question the slave to get all the facts.”

His entrails felt like they were scraped.

But it’s not proper to explain the reason, but to question Kiều would pain his heart.

However, being afraid of causing trouble for her,

he, in a soft tone, proceeded to ask Kiều some questions.

Kneeling in the courtyard, with her head bowed,

Kiều handed up a sheet of paper that told, in brief, her life’s story. 

And presented it to the lady.

Upon reading it, she seemed somewhat touched. 

She handed the paper sheet to Thúc Sinh,

and said, “We should respect her talents, and pity her situation!

If Fortune favors her with wealth and rank,

a palace cast in gold would not be beyond her price!

A beauty drifting in life’s sea of woes.

She’s talented, it’s regrettable that she has such a fate!” 

Thúc Sinh said, “It’s really true as you have said: 

“A great beauty often bears a life of misfortunes!

In the olden times, many renowned beauties suffered perhaps just that much.

Show your mercy, please make her life easier.”

The lady said, “From what she wrote,

she wants to take her poor-fated self  into  a Buddhist temple. 

Alright, I will satisfy her desire, 

to help her break the cycle of woes in her life.

There’s a small Kuan-yin temple in our garden.

It has a tall tree that’s over a hundred feet high,

and flowers that bloom throughout the four seasons. 

Temple has many plants and flowers, 

a small pond and miniature mountain.

We’ll let her go there to watch over the shrine and copy the sutras.  

The next day, when dawn had just came,

with five offerings, flowers, and incense,  

she was brought to the temple. 

She pledged to live by the three vows and the five commandments.

Then, her green dress was replaced with a nun’s robe. 

And her religious name was changed to Pure Spring.

Morning and night, she will light up the oil lamps.

The girls, Spring and Autumn, were assigned to be her assistants.

Since she took refuge in the temple,

she was closer to the Purple Bamboo Grove,   *

and far way from the red-dust world. 

She no longer expects to have any love relationships.

It’s enough for her that she’s spared the shame of selling her charms.

Before Buddha’s statue, her sorrows were drowned and forgotten.

Each day, she’d copy sutra texts, and burns incense at night.

O The divine sweet dewdrops from Kuan-yin’s willow branch

will help extinguish human passions and lust.

Since she put on a nun’s brown robe,

the autumn moon’d passed the zenith a few times.

Behind bolted doors and a closed-mesh net, 

she’d talk to others, but wept when alone. 

Her temple and Thúc’s study were fairly close.

And yet the distance between them was ten times longer 

than the distance from their places to the faraway mountains. 

* Purple Bamboo Grove: where Buddha practiced his teachings.