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The Novice: A Story of True Love
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Fans of Thich Nhat Hanh’s Peace is Every Step and Anger, and Deepak Chopra’s Buddha, will appreciate Hanh’s wisdom and storytelling in his novel The Novice, which contains universal themes that transcend all boundaries of faith, creed, country, and era.
Through the parable of a young woman who stays true to herself and her faith in the face of adversity, Vietnamese Zen Buddhist master and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh enables readers to embark on their own path of introspection and self-discovery.
With his trademark insight, Hanh presents a path to greater awareness of the means to manifest peace both inside oneself and in the world at large.
Book Actions
Start ReadingBook Information
The Novice: A Story of True Love
Description
Fans of Thich Nhat Hanh’s Peace is Every Step and Anger, and Deepak Chopra’s Buddha, will appreciate Hanh’s wisdom and storytelling in his novel The Novice, which contains universal themes that transcend all boundaries of faith, creed, country, and era.
Through the parable of a young woman who stays true to herself and her faith in the face of adversity, Vietnamese Zen Buddhist master and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh enables readers to embark on their own path of introspection and self-discovery.
With his trademark insight, Hanh presents a path to greater awareness of the means to manifest peace both inside oneself and in the world at large.
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Reviews
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 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.
Rating: 5This 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.
Rating: 4I liked this. It's a love story, but not romantic love.
Rating: 4I 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, 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.
Rating: 2A folktale written with a message for us all...thought provoking
Rating: 5
A Vietnamese Buddhist fairy tale about 70 pages long. The last 30 pages or so are about the history of the story, Buddhist teachings, and Buddhism in Vietnam, specifically centered around the life of one of the authors who is a master/teacher.
Rating: 3Very moving story with illuminating commentary. It was a short read but worth the purchase.
Rating: 5Please read this book about living mindfully, so that you can find the compassion and love in your heart and help others to do so as well.
Rating: 5