The Novice: A Story of True Love

What a wonderful book.

Written in Thich Nhat Hanh's characteristic uncomplicated prose, the story of novice Kinh Tam comes from Vietnamese Buddhist legend. A young woman living at a time when women were forbidden from taking monastic vows, she hid her gender and practised as a male novice for eight years. In her lifetime she was twice accused of great wrongs and learned to bear injustice with equanimity and compassion. Her commitment to monastic life paved the way for women monastics in Vietnam, and her commitment to magnanimity is an inspiration for those of us living under less than easy conditions today.

The Novice works on all levels--legend, personal story, and Dharma teaching. A moving and beautiful piece which I stumbled upon by show more accident, to my great delight.

Two nonfiction sections follow the novel: a short piece by Thich Nhat Hanh about the bodhisattva of compassion known as Avalokita, Kuan Yin, or in Vietnam, Quan Am. The novice in this story is a manifestation of that bodhisattva. Sr Chan Khong, Thich Nhat Hanh's student over fifty-two years, writes about the early years in Vietnam when they and other monastics and lay people did the work of this bodhisattva in bringing aid to people on both sides of the war, despite threats, torture, and killings. Immensely interesting and inspiring. show less

A devoted student and diligent worker at the Dharma Cloud Temple monastery, Kinh Tam is not who he appears to be. And yet the novice's true identity cannot be revealed without Kinh paying a terrible price.

To continue on the path to enlightenment, Kinh must suffer false accusations, physical hardship and public humiliation without complaint. With absolute grace, astounding compassion and unwavering resolve, the novice perseveres in the face of every challenge. Ultimately, Kinh Tam's moving fate will transform lives and offer hope for us all.

In these pages, Zen master, poet and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh retells an ancient Vietnamese folk tale, sharing Kinh's story as a teaching and proposing a real way of being in the the world that show more is utterly relevant now, in the twenty-first century. show less

This is a short book with a story of holy person who went through unfair treatment without retaliating. After this story, there follows the story of people in Vietnam who were helping those in need, but were persecuted for this. Their story follows that of the holy person in the book. The author of this book is one of those people, a monk, who went through those persecutions and was such a great influence on them. The story of the Novice is not an exciting tale, but especially when put together with the experiences of Thich Nhat Hanh, it has a powerful and lasting meaning for all of us.

Unfortunately, not as interesting as the story could have been -- but I did enjoy the brief glimpses at monastic life.

I have to confess: I didn't finish this one. I didn't even make much headway into it because the writing was so amateurish and annoying. The author has written several books and is a poet, so I don't know what went wrong here.

An example of what I mean by amateurish writing, pages 1 and 2:

Waves of turbulent feelings arose rapidly within. Novice Kinh Tam reviewed the precarious situation. "I've taken the monastic vows of a novice. I've just been accused of having a sexual affair with Thi Mau, making her pregnant, and not owning up to the alleged offense." The thoughts tumbled on. "Who can possibly understand the predicament I'm facing? Doesn't anyone see the great injustice being done to me? Even though my teacher, the abbot of my temple, show more loves me, even though my two Dharma brothers care deeply for me, who knows whether they have doubts about my heart? And now the baby is here. Stubbornly refusing to bring the newborn to its true father, Thi Mau has brought it here to the temple. Everyone who already suspected that I'm the child's father will surely misconstrue my taking in the newborn. They will say I've admitted my guilt. What will my teacher think? How will my Dharma brothers react? And the people in the village?"

Talk about telling rather than showing. Talk about slamming the reader upside the head with a huge chunky summary that would have better been dished out slowly. People don't think that way, in any case.

I tried to go on, but I can't get into the book, finding the signs of bad writing all over the place. show less

A folktale written with a message for us all...thought provoking

> Babelio : https://www.babelio.com/livres/Hanh-Le-novice/392537/critiques/359158
> Bibliographie : http://www.librarything.fr/work/254643/book/198902861
> Nuit blanche (no 128, p. 18-19) : https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/67770ac
> Critiques Libres : http://www.critiqueslibres.com/i.php/vcrit/35375