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A 4000 Audience And Supreme Master Ching Hai At The Musical Program: "A Journey Through Aesthetic Realms" In Washington, DC Excerpts from "Van Hoa" monthly news magazine, California, U.S.A. Jan & Feb, 1998 By Ly Kien Truc, January 1998 (Originally In Au Lac Language) |
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Washington,
DC (VH Magazine) - 4000 people were present at the musical program "A
Journey Through Aesthetic Realms," Saturday evening, December 27,
1997. It was winter on the U.S. East Coast, the chilling wind was blowing
in gusts, and the snowflakes were falling, dusting the program-goers'
hair and shoulders. They were talking among themselves, hoping that the
program tonight would warm up people's soul in this winter clime.
The theme of "A
Journey Through Aesthetic Realms" was depicted through the set on
the stage of Washington DC's number one theater -- the DAR Constitution
Hall. The theme was suggested by a very well known Au Lac musician, and
the organizers spent approximately half a million dollars in order to
enhance and to express the romantic atmosphere of the evening....
...Renowned artists
and musicians of all types came from various parts of the world. There
was musician Tran Quang Hai, who is well known from Paris to Moscow to
Little Saigon, with his presentations on his studies on Eastern music;
Jean Louis Beydon, an accomplished pianist who plays so many of the world's
beautiful love songs; then there were singers Dalena, Ai Van, Tom Mahieu
and musician David Arkenstone, et cetera, who all had contributed to the
program...
I wonder if the artists
had come together in a common interest, with the public, in the affinity
of the arts of the Au Lac people scattered everywhere on this small planet:
Kieu Hung from Germany, Bach Yen from Paris, Nguyen Dinh Nghia from Washington
DC, Europeans and Asians, the U.S. East and West Coast; all of them only
wanting to sing, to portray the most popular songs of the world in this
"evening of reflective music and romantic songs," December 27,
1997. The well known singer Bach Yen had said, "To sing and die on
stage is an artist's unimaginable happiness," or "The happiness
of an artist is to be able to stand under the stage lights."
In order to organize
the event systematically and elegantly, the organizers had rented almost
the entire Hilton hotel ... for ten days to arrange meals and lodgings
for about 4,000 people.
Hundreds of working
staff members took turns picking up guests from the airport and transporting
them to the hotel. These volunteers sometimes had to wait for many hours
on end, all night and all morning at the airport. Due to the freezing
weather and continual snowy conditions that obstructed many flights from
landing... The working staff worried that the artists and musicians might
be late for their performances, but eventually they all arrived.
Thousands of representatives
of the meditation centers from 40 nations came together. Their luggage
consisted of only a few carry-on bags, simple clothing, a meditation pillow
and a water bottle. They were all vegetarians, and were served, to the
last detail, by the 40 vegetarian kitchen staff members who arrived from
Formosa, with tons of vegetarian delicacies ... transported by a special
flight also from Formosa. This vegetarian kitchen staff served more than
4000 people through all the ten days at the Hilton... Furthermore, the
artists and musicians invited for the musical program "A Journey
Through Aesthetic Realms" also took vegetarian meals with the 'meditation
practitioners'.
Christmas night in Washington,
DC, was accompanied not only by the glittering Christmas tree from the
White House, with hundreds of thousands of residents in Maryland, Virginia...
attending the midnight celebration at the churches, but also by thousands
of 'fellow practitioners' rejoicing the birth of Christ with happy and
festive songs in Hilton's Hall, hosted by a spiritual master who has been
known for almost ten years in many places of the world, the Zen Master
Supreme Master Ching Hai. Thousands of 'fellow practitioners' respectfully call
her 'Master'... while the artists called her 'Poet Zen Master'.
...In order to observe
the method of practice of the Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association,
the writer had the opportunity to accompany many fellow practitioners
to eat vegetarian food for almost seven days, and interview them, both
old and especially the young from many different nationalities. Most of
the interviewed people said, "Keeping the five precepts and a vegetarian
diet for at least three to six months are the basic conditions to be accepted
into the Association, and to be initiated into the Quan Yin Method..."
The Poet Zen Master
officially appeared along with the guests on the Saturday evening, December
27, 1997, at DAR Constitution Hall. According to Washington, D.C.'s residents
who have lived there for a long time, this theater has rarely or never
been leased out to any private organization for musical performances,
because it is a traditional theater used for patriotic ceremonies. In
addition, according to the organizing staff, the theater's manager had
said that recently the theater has been completely renovated, with new
carpets, seats, stage, including supporting equipment that cost about
7 million dollars. Therefore, the acceptance of the Supreme Master Ching Hai International
Association to organize a night of musical performance is something not
easily done.
...Even without introductions, but on this night, there were probably
people who had just met her for the first time, some who had seen her
a few times at a distance, and all paid attention to every walking step
of this unique lady who speaks Au Lac language. People asked themselves,
"Is this the lady who has been and still is surrounded by the mists
of fantasies?...
...One detail that was
not part of the program, and was applauded enthusiastically by the audience,
occurred when the Zen Master Supreme Master Ching Hai presented $100,000.00 USD
to Jim Delgado, Director of Volunteer Services - Secretary of the General
Office Department of Veteran Affairs. According to Supreme Master Ching Hai, this
was only a small gift from the Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association
to the U.S. Veterans Affairs, to thank all of the U.S. soldiers who had
fought and sacrificed their lives in Au Lac.... Mark Katz, Director of
the Vietnam (Au Lac) Homeless Veterans, was also given $100,000.00 USD.
About this act, Supreme Master Ching Hai remarked that it was also an opportunity
for her to know another U.S. veterans organization of the Vietnam (Au
Lac) war, now also involved in humanitarian activities in Au Lac. The
act of giving the $200,000.00 USD to the different veterans organizations
was a noble act, enhancing the meaning of the 'evening of reflective music
and romantic songs' in Washington, D.C. organized by the Supreme Master Ching Hai
International Association.
..."A Journey Through
Aesthetic Realms" lasted until after am. During the 15-minute intermission,
an unexpected event for the thousands of attendees was the announcement
by the organizing staff: the Formosan vegetarian kitchen staff had prepared
plenty of vegetarian snacks, neatly packed, available in all the corridors
of the DAR Constitution Hall for everyone...
Washington
Chinese News, U.S.A.