This entry is written by Sydney Plum who visited Hue in July. She and Nhi?n toured many of the Buddhist sites.
I spilled off the back of the motorbike at the foot of a stairway and watched as Nhi?n bought incense sticks and a bottle of water from the vendor, who also told her where to park her bike. Then she lit the handful of incense sticks and split them between us ? the water was for Quan Am, or ? as she said ? ?Phat Ba?, the lady Buddha. We climbed the first tier of steps, reaching a slight landing where there were letters carved into rock stele at either side. Nhi?n bowed from the waist three times, her hands holding the incense so that the smoke and scent floated in front of her, repeating what I thought must be the prayers on the rock stele. Then she put one stick of incense into one of the small holes on the stele. I did the same on my side of the stairway. There were many burnt incense sticks poking from the stele and the stairs. When one isn?t able to push another stick of incense into a crammed opening, it seemed to be the practice to lay the stick gently on top of the prayer or the step. Up we went; one set of steps at a time. Quietly following the ritual of silent prayer and offering.
We seemed to be the only visitors climbing the stairs, although we were asked by numerous vendors to purchase more water and more incense ? sometimes we were simply asked for money. Eventually we reached the top of the steps and there was Quan Am towering above us, robes flipped up as if from the breeze created by walking across the hillside. There is an urn just below the pedestal of the statue, where we placed the last of our incense and the opened bottle of water. There is also a small altar built into the pedestal of the statue, where Nhi?n prayed briefly, while I admired the dovecote at Quan Am?s feet. The site is maintained by Buddhist nuns, but all that was moving aside from Nhi?n and myself were the doves, the vendors, and Quan Am?s robes. As we left the foot of the statue, Nhi?n reclaimed her water bottle, now blessed by Quan Am. To drink this water, she tells me, will assure that one has smart children ? and she takes a long drink and offers the bottle to me. I don?t want to borrow Nhi?n?s blessed water or infringe upon her potential children?s intellect (I already feel quite blessed with my children), but I also don?t want to offend Quan Am. Perhaps the blessing can somehow be transferred to my grandchildren. Anyway, I drink from the bottle and return it to Nhi?n.
A tour book informs me that the Vietnamese believe that a male Bodhisattva gave up his chance to reach nirvana in favor of returning to Earth as the female Quan Am, and that the metamorphosis took place in the grotto shrine of the Perfume Pagoda, near Hanoi. Now Phat Ba, the lady Buddha, acts as the guardian spirit of mother and child. Previously, her power was supposed to bestow male offspring on true believers. When Nhi?n explained to me about the water bottle, I was taken with the idea that one would climb these steps to ask for the particular blessing of intelligent children. Now that I know how this prayer has been transmuted in the last half century or so, I am even more impressed and thankful that I was able to make this prayer journey.
Sydney Plum