A Reincarnation in
Vietnam
By Hong Van*
She is Ha Thi Khuyen, 13 years old by now, living
in Buoc Village , Lam Phu commune, Lang Chanh district, Thanh Hoa,
central province of Vietnam. She was born in December, 1988, to Ha Van
Loi and his wife, Lo Thi Son. Khuyen was different from other children.
At 8 months, she could walk and run. When she was little more than one
year old, she could speak.
Khuyen told her parents very often that she was not their daughter.
Never she called her parents dad or mum but she called them brother and
sister-in-law. She told them that she had been a daughter of a family
in Van village, later located in Yen Thang commune, in the same Lang
Chanh district of Thanh Hoa, and that she died in an accident.
Van Village and Buoc Village are divided by ridge of mountain. They are
10 kilometers apart by air and it is 110 kilometers by road to go from
one village to the other. People of these two villages rarely visit
each other because the roads are in such bad condition over the
mountain.
Early in the Summer of 2000, when a woman from Van village came by
chance to Buoc village, Khuyen recognized her. She asked whether the
woman remembered her or not. The woman did not remember.
"Who are you?" the woman asked.
"I am Chuan, my father is Liem living in Van village. I died 10 years
ago," said Khuyen
"Why are you here?" the woman asked.
"I am re-born coming and living here," replied Khuyen.
The woman came back to Van village and told everyone this story. She
learned that 10 years before, there was a girl named Chuan who had
died.
Some months later, Chuan's aunt came to Buoc vilage to probe into the
matter.
When she came, Khuyen happily ran out to her: "Aunt Thuan? Why are you
here?"
"Who are you?" said the woman named Thuan
"I am Chuan, daughter of Dad Liem," said Khuyen. "I died after
swallowing a peach seed. I died in your arms when you were rushing me
to hospital."
"Why you are here?" Chuanís aunt asked.
"I am re-born here," said Khuyen. Then Khuyen told her aunt about all
the family members.
On August, 18, 2000, Khuyen and the woman who gave birth to her came to
Van village. They were so poor that they had not managed to visit Van
village before. Khuyen then recognized her family members, friends and
neighbours, and recognized her house when her uncle pretended to pass
by it. Her family members then realized that she looked like other
members of the family.
Back to the beginning of the story: Luong Thi Chuan (first life) was
born in 1980. When she was 7 years old, she died. In 1988, she was
re-born under the new name: Ha Thi Khuyen.
Lo Thi Son, aged 36, who gave birth to Ha Thi Khuyen said: "We got
married for 4 years and did not have any children. One day, I passed by
Van village and witnessed a funeral of a young girl. I said, 'what a
pity child.' I was pregnant a few days after that."
Khuyen told another story: "My funeral was going on when I saw a woman
sitting on the side of the road saying that she loved me so much. In a
hurry, I jumped into her belly bag (look like kangaroo's) and my second
life started ever since."
Lo Thi Son added that she has four children. Khuyen is the first, the
second died shortly after being born, the third was born in 1990 and
the fourth, born in 1993. Ha Van Cap, Son's fourth child, a boy, also
told her that he had once been the daughter of Vi Van Cuu. Cap is now
accepted by both families. He looks like a girl because the previous
life, he was a girl. He wants to wear dress, and it is very strange
that his ears look as if there had once been earring holes.
Khuyen is one of many cases of re-birth in the Lam Phu commune. Local
people tell five other stories about re-born children and call for
interested scientists to investigate. Most of the children died in
accidents when they were so young and were reborn in another family.
Local people see it as normal phenomenon.
*Hong Van works for Japanese TV, NHK,
in Vietnam.
Copyright 2001
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