Washington,
DC – Four thousand people were present
at the concert “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 snowflakes were falling, dusting
concert-goers’ hair and shoulders.
They were talking among themselves, hoping
that the program tonight would warm people’s
hearts in this wintry climate.
The
theme of “A Journey through Aesthetic
Realms” was depicted through the colorful
set on the stage of Washington DC’s
number one theater – the DAR Constitution
Hall. The theme was suggested by a very
well-known Aulacese composer, and the organizers
spent approximately half a million dollars
in order to enhance the romantic atmosphere
of the evening…
…Renowned
artists and musicians of different genres
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 of his studies of Eastern
music; and 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, musician David
Arkenstone, and many others, all of whom
contributed to the program.
I
wonder if the artists had come together
for the arts, for the public, in the affinity
with the art-loving Aulacese people, who
are scattered everywhere on this small planet:
Kieu Hung from Germany, Bach Yen from Paris,
Nguyen Dinh Nghia from Washington, DC…
Some are from Europe while others are from
Asia, some from the US East Coast, and others
from the West Coasts: all of them wanted
to sing 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 said,
“To sing and die on stage is an artist’s
unimaginable happiness…. 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 rented almost
the entire Hilton Hotel for ten days to
arrange meals and lodgings for about 4,000
people.
Hundreds
of 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 volunteer staff were concerned that
the performers and musicians might be late
for their performances, but eventually they
all arrived.
Thousands
of representatives of meditation centers
from 40 nations came together. Their luggage
consisted of only a few carry-on bags, simple
clothing, a meditation cushion 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
4,000 people through all the ten days at
the Hilton. Furthermore, the performers
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 from Maryland, Virginia attending
the midnight celebration at the churches,
but also by thousands of practitioners rejoicing
at 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 parts of the world,
the Zen Master Supreme Master Ching Hai.
Thousands of 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, this writer had the opportunity
to accompany many 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, DC 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, Supreme Master Ching
Hai is known, 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 Aulacese-speaking
lady . People asked themselves: Is this
the lady who has been and still is surrounded
by legends?
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
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 war, now also involved in
humanitarian activities in that country.
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, DC, organized
by the Supreme Master Ching Hai International
Association.
“A Journey
through Aesthetic Realms” lasted until
after 2 a.m. 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 corridors
of the DAR Constitution Hall for everyone...(Excerpted
from Supreme Master Ching Hai News Magazine
#89)
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