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Tai. Kinh Tam had named the adopted child Thien Tai (“Good Inheritance”) and called him Tai for short. The novice chewed rice down to a paste before feeding it to the little one and sang lullabies to the child using only meditations from the sutras and scriptures.
    Brother Thanh Tam often helped take care of Tai. He loved to chant “Sound of the Rising Tides”:
    The Universal Dharma door is open,
    the sound of the rising tide is clear, and the miracle happens:
    a beautiful child appears in the heart of a lotus flower!
    A single drop of the compassionate water is enough
    to bring back the refreshing spring to mountains and rivers.
    The new aspirant, Man, also really enjoyed cuddling baby Tai. Quite often, Man would run out to the thatched hut and ask permission to hold the baby or at least be allowed to sit beside him and watch him sleep. With the presence of little Tai, life within the temple became more cheerful. Kinh Tam raised Thien Tai with love, and the work of raising a child became a meditation practice in itself.
    Since the day Kinh Tam took in the baby, elder brother Thanh Tam had been overseeing the task of sounding the large bell in the tower every evening, as Kinh Tam had asked him to do. It was quite awkward to ring the bell while carrying the child in one arm. Furthermore, the sound of the large bell was too loud, often startling the baby and making him cry. Whenever Kinh Tam missed sounding the bell too much, his elder brother would hold the baby while the novice went up to ring the bell and recite the gathas. Man also often asked permission to hold little Tai while Kinh Tam rang the bell and recited the gathas. Everyone appreciated hearing Kinh Tam’s recitation. Not hearing those recitations often left them feeling something was amiss.
    Quite skillful in sewing and mending, the novice made tiny monk outfits for little Tai, using only simple brown fabrics. When the little one was two years old, he was taught to call the novice “father-teacher.”
    As Thien Tai grew older, strangely enough, he didn’t look anything like Mau, and in fact his face increasingly resembled that of his “father-teacher.” This made novice Kinh Tam’s conduct more suspect. No one could imagine the possibility that the seeds of virtue and diligent practice in Kinh Tam, now sown and cultivated in Thien Tai, could manifest more visibly in the child’s countenance than hereditary seeds transmitted by biological parents.
    Novice Chi Tam, now fully ordained and therefore called Thay Chi Tam, or Venerable Chi Tam, was considered the disciple with most seniority in years of practice at the temple and a very diligent monk. Yet even he had to admit that his diligence in the practice paled in comparison to that of the younger novice Kinh Tam. In truth, Kinh Tam had put all his energy into practicing meditation. Every evening Kinh Tam would do sitting meditation till midnight. Each time Chi Tam happened to look out toward the pine forest in front of the temple gates, he’d see the light of a kerosene lamp shining out from within Kinh Tam’s thatched hut. Kinh Tam participated in all activities of the temple and was only absent when ill. Thay Chi Tam often witnessed the novice taking peaceful, relaxed, and stable steps in meditation along the dirt path in front of the temple gates. There were times when Thay Chi Tam was ashamed for not putting as much effort into his practice and studies as his younger novice brother did.
    Novice Kinh Tam saw little Tai as a major subject for deeper meditation. Thien Tai was the child of Mau, yes, but also the child of Kinh Tam. This was the meditation that Kinh Tam steadfastly focused on.
    During these periods of meditation, Kinh Tam thought deeply about all the scandals, injustices, and suffering that had transpired. The novice would think deeply about all the individuals directly involved to gain further insight and clarity. Kinh Tam always started with