My artistic style flows directly from my writing. When I write, images rise naturally to illustrate my stories. The text below is the inspiration behind this piece.
 In Fragrant Palm Leaves Thầy refers to those who lived with him as “birds who moved back and forth between country villages” and who were eventually forced to “fly away.” While the pilgrims at Phoung Boi come from many places and speak many languages, we are birds of one flock, with Thầy as our leader. Brother Pháp Lưu reads us the farewell poem that Thầy wrote to a man for whom he and his brothers built a hermitage at Phương Bối , Joy of Meditation Hut. This hermit, Thầy Thanh Tu, eventually became one of the most important Zen masters in Vietnam. “My confidence intact,” the poem reads, “I bid farewell with a peaceful heart.” Upon seeing the hermit become visibly moved by his words, Thầy told him: “I am leaving now, but I’ll come back.” Soon after his departure, the government shut down this hermitage as the monks were suspected of conspiracy. The communist government also went on to accuse Thầy of owning property as he had paid 10,000 piasters, the equivalent of $140, to buy this 60-acre land. Soon after his return from Princeton and Columbia, Thầy came back to Phương Bối  where he was arrested on his second visit. After years in exile, Thầy would eventually return to Vietnam and visit Phương Bối  once again.
From my book Vietnam, Where the Lotus Blooms (P. 43)