Overcome anger through kindness,
wickedness through goodness,
selfishness through charity,
and falsehood through truthfulness.
— Siddhartha
This website is a collection of personal reflections on meditation, identity,
immigration, history, and the human search for understanding. Drawing from lived
experience shaped by war, cultural transition, and contemplative practice, these
writings explore awareness, belonging, and meaning in an increasingly complex world.
This work is offered simply as a reflection. If it is of use to anyone who
encounters it, then that is enough.
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Topics on this website
Memoir
Vietnam War Childhood
Growing up in Saigon, the fall of South Vietnam, and escape by sea.
Memoir
Refugee Experience
Arriving in America — assimilation, loss of identity, and awakening.
Journey
Coming Home
Returning to Vietnam after decades in America.
Education
Teaching in Vietnam
A Viet Kieu educator's experience — discrimination, identity, and the classroom.
Practice
Meditation
Reflections on mindfulness, Vipassanā, and contemplative life.
Practice
Tai Chi
The art of moving meditation and inner stillness.
Health
Diabetes Lifestyle
Managing diabetes safely through diet, movement, and awareness.
Essays & Poetry
My Other Writings
On civil rights, civil disobedience, voting — and poems.
History
THEN THE AMERICANS CAME
Excerpted from the book THEN THE AMERICANS CAME by Martha Hess.
History
Bertrand Russell Tribunal
Historical documentation of the international war crimes inquiry.
Featured Poem
From A Collection of My Poems
Bamboo branches swaying in the gentle breeze
water buffaloes reflecting in the moon light
bombs falling like raindrops