QUOTE (DAI_VIET @ May 28 2004, 01:01 AM)
QUOTE (July_Rain @ May 28 2004, 12:58 AM)
[Bài thơ này tả cảnh quê hay thật
Yah, that's why I really like it. And the most important part of this poem is that it was written by Trần Nhân Tông, one of Vietnam's greatest emperors.
READ HERE IF YOU WANT TO REALLY FIND OUT WHAT TRẦN NHẦN TỐNG'S POEM MEANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
First off the translation is horrible and after reading this you will know why.
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Very excellent indeed - but no one has mentioned the meaning of this poem. In order to understand it more clearly you have to know that Trần Nhân Tông left the throne to become a Monk and in order to do that he would have had much Buddhist thinking running through his veins before his decision. King Trần Nhân Tông is also known has Tổ Trúc Lâm (Ancestral Master of the Bamboo School of Buddhism). This is a very proud event for our people because through all of Buddhist history in all countries past and present, there has been no one other than the Buddha himself to give up the royal throne (the Buddha was the heir during his prince age) to become a spiritual practitioner except for our King Trần Nhân Tông. His poems are known as "thơ" but in Pagodas they are called "thi kệ" which is almost the same thing (thơ and thi are the same, but kệ means structured - like a cabinet). His poems are not simply descriptions of our homeland and calm scenery, though he did enjoy those times, but they are lessons and insights to his practice.
Also I think your missing the first line or either the title:
Phiên âm:
Thiên trường văn vọng
Thôn hậu thôn tiền đạm tự yên,
Bán vô bán hữu tịch dương biên.
Mục đồng địch lư quy ngưu tận,
Bạch lộ song song phi hạ điền.
Dịch nghĩa:
Ngắm cảnh chiều ở thiên trường
Trước thôn, sau thôn đều mờ mờ như khói phủ,
Bên bóng chiều [cảnh vật] nửa như có, nửa như không.
Trong tiếng sáo, mục đồng lùa trâu về hết,
Từng đôi c̣ trắng hạ cánh xuống đồng.
If you have any Buddhist background, King Trần Nhân Tông's poetry takes on a much more open and universal scope and his heart not only for the Viet people, but for all sentient beings is evident.
NOTE - THE ORIGINAL IS MORE POTENT THEN THE TRANSLATION
The first line indicates "Thiên trường". Thiên is the number one thousand, but in the past this number symbolized beyond infinity. What is meant by this is the endless cycles of life and death. King Trần Nhân Tông is setting an image of someone - perhaps his own experience - of reflecting and visualizing the endless stages (trường means stage - not neccessarily stage as in order but also stage as in location - example vũ trường is dance hall, while chiến trường is war field) of life and death infront of his eyes. "Văn vọng" is awesome - văn means dispersed, vọng means echo. These "thousand stages" are dispersed though echos (or echoed through dispersion) - that is intense imagery - not just your local pictures of "quê hương". In Buddhism a term describing this is "trùng trùng duyên khởi". "Thiên trường văn vọng" is describing the immense vastness and complexity of samsara (Cỏi Ta Bà) which is the interconnected "cycle" of life and death.
"Thôn hậu thôn tiền đạm tự yên". Thôn is a village, hậu means behind, tiền means infront, đạm is probably taken from the compounded term đạm nhiên, or đạm nhă which đạm by itself means simply/lightly/indifferently, tự means name (remember this is Hán-Việt so tự is more along the lines of "Thiếu Lâm Tự" than "tôi tự làm" - though it is possible it could mean otherwise), and yên means quiet. So we have a picture of a village behind, a village infront - thus a journey is pictured. In Buddhism if you are familiar with the term "Tịnh Độ" that means "peaceful / calm grounds". Though these grounds are peaceful and calm - they are only cities of imagination and one must proceed further. King Trần Nhân Tông means to say that the clumps of "civilization", thus village - meaning conglomeration of people, customs, language, food, everything, the works - thus karma in short. Karma behind us and infront of us naturally have of peace or naturally can attain peace - this is the spirit of liberation (which is why I love Buddhism - you can fix your past - cool! - but that takes a very long time to explain - just a jumper hint: Buddhism is bound by the concepts of time - thus past and present are up to you!)
Bán vô bán hữu tịch dương biên: Bán means half, vô is a negation so vô bán means not-half, hữu means to have, tịch means pass away, dương means positive or rise, and bien means edge/border. The more I read the more amazing it gets. The reason why King Trần Nhân Tông doesn't say "half and full", but says "half and non-half" is beacuse this is the non-dualistic nature of Buddhist dialogue. To say half and full is to state and absolute between to opposites (half - full) and to have opposites carries and inherent meaning of opposition (duh!) and struggle. If you enter Buddhist thinking with this mindset you get stuck big time. But if you state the term "non-half" you are safe because it doesn't mean "full". Technically it could mean absolutely anything - even "hoola dancers in the arctic". Why? - because it fulfills the logic of "non-half". As long as "hoola dancers in the arctic" does not equal "half", then it's considered non-half. In the Prajna Paramita Sutra (Kinh Bát Nhă) this is everywhere with the terms no-birth, no-death, no-defilement, etc, etc. So by simply stating "bán vô bán", King Trần Nhân Tông has effectively gather all there is to "all there is" but retaining a simple enough structure of words that fulfils his previous line of being "naturally" and "simply" peaceful to the ears and eyes of the reader. Hữu and tịch are contrasts but are also interdependent concepts - sheesh this is getting to be a long post!. Hữu can be recognized in this sense as "có" while tịch as "không". So the lines describes half (incompleteness) and non-half (non-incompleteness) to appear/disappear (hữu/tịch) at the manifestation/rise (dương - rise - come into view) of endings (biên - "border" of your country is the "end" of your country) - whoa - that is some deep philosopy type stuff coming here! This line ties into the complexity of dharma, nature, life, death, etc. It covers everything, while at the same time non-covering all while exhibiting the characteristics of fluctuation and simultaneously tagging to the rise and decline of existence! - Shiznits dude (oh if you don't know what shiznits is go to urbandictionary.com)
Mục đồng địch lư quy ngưu tận:DAMN THIS LINE IS HOLY CRAP INSANE MEANING. Mục đồng is a young buffalo watcher/herder. Địch means foe or advesary (I don't know how they got tiếng sáo - someone correct me if I'm wrong - but since this is Hán-Việt, I'm pretty sure địch lư can't mean tiếng sáo - I think the translators didn't understand Buddhism - I took this poem up to the Pagoda so I got some insider tips - if ya know wad I'm sayin - but I may be wrong - I could't catch what all the Novice were saying - too much info at one time), lư refers to the characterists of something and this something is ngưu which is buffalo. Tận means end - total end, end of all ends. If you are familiar with Buddhist tales for children, you might recognize the 10 stories of taming the buffalo. This is a long story so if you don't then ummmm.... try and grunt through the explanation. The buffalo is a wandering animal, and is quite innocent, does whatever the boos wants and usually is simple minded - dumb. If left alone it will do wild and eat everything - even gardens, so it take a herder to take care of them. The term "ngưu tận" means the buffalo is endings, or more recognizable without the poetic terming as our habit energy that leads us to suffering. So a young herder faces the task of leading the habit energy (karma of doom!!!! - or karma of end - in Buddhism there is no-ending, no-beginning, so to have a concept of "end" from a Buddhist Master" means to tell the reader to even further smash their attachement to the notions on "non-this", "non-that" and realize the lesson that our karmic habits are not to be taken for granted because they indeed - if unwatched and unherded - lead to our "end".) to a safe place. This sounds easy, but once you combine the imagery from the previous lines, its not easy at all. Take all those "thiên trường", the bulk of the next line (with the villages of karma) and third with the complexity stuff and now you will understand why the word "địch" (adversary) is used for a mistakenly simple setting of a young herder and his/her buffalo. The poem is a lesson that we have a long road to gain peace and if you do not take care of your "buffalo" then you will be stuck in all cycles of life and death.
Bạch lộ song song phi hạ điền: Bạch means white, lộ means to open-up/reveal, song song means parallel, phi means beyond/abnormal, hạ means lower, điền means field/pasture. In Buddhism as like many other culture, the culture white is a nice way of refering to purity. This line means that purity is reveal (after the herder - which is a symbol for all of us - completes the daunting task of herding buffalo) in parallel or simultaneously the confines of the lower pasture. The lower pasture means the direct place we are living in - our surrounding - our earth. This poem is a poem of respect to the Buddha. When a being achieves Buddhahood, the wisdom and compassion eminates in all directions and planes to reach all beings. So the last line is the conclusion. After awakening is achieved, purity apears at the same time (song song) and concurrently beyond (phi) what we experience (hạ điền - our pasture - our world). So this poem says: (through my crude summary) the awakening of a being to become a Buddha is unbelievable work, but once achieved all beings and everywhere is touched.
Now you see why this poem is translated badly. These people that do the translations aren't deep into Buddhism like the Monks I talk to. If you read the poem literally (poems, especially Viet ones aren't supposed to be read literally dudes/dudets) or if you read the translation your missing out big time. This is also why Buddhist thinking is so rich. I'm sure I missed alot because I only remember what I can from the Pagoda, but its a lot more than just nostalgic memories of our homeland.
Sorry for the long post - but anything shorter would be missing.
check here for more of his poems
http://www.thuvienhoasen.org/tho-trannhantong-3.htm 
) will show us how 2 write poems.. anyway, if u guys got some cute poems, post them up n share ^_^
instead of uống => nhấm would rhythm better 
Oh không Hy, "lơ đăng" không phải "lẵng lơ". Bước lơ đăng = đi mà không chú ư đến xung quanh. 
