The French-language Revue Caodaïste (Caodaist Review), in its January 1931 issue, published an article by Hiến Pháp recounting the story of a 7-year-old Vietnamese child who remembered his past life. Here is a translation of that article:
In our August issue, we briefly mentioned the story of a Vietnamese child who remembered his past lives, and we promised to revisit this story with more complete and detailed information.
We should clarify that we visited this extraordinary child twice at his home in Đức Lập village (Đức Hòa district, Chợ Lớn province). The first time, we spoke with him in the presence of his parents, but we couldn’t gather any significant information. The child, intimidated by our inquiry, responded to our questions vaguely and succinctly.
Faced with such a rare and intriguing case, we felt compelled to conduct a second investigation with the child and a close friend who worked as a teacher in Tân Phú Thượng. This friend had previously taken the child into his home for several days to observe him closely.
Here are the results of our second investigation:
The child, 7-year-old Phạm Văn Non, lived with his impoverished parents in Đức Lập, a village located about six kilometers from Provincial Road 15.
One day, while playing by the roadside, the child saw his uncle leading a water buffalo and asked:
- “Uncle, where are you going?”
The old man replied:
-
“I’m going to cut wood to build a house.”
-
“You should abandon that plan, Uncle, because you will die in ten days.”
The old man ignored him, thinking the child was joking. However, upon returning home, he recounted the incident to the child’s parents and some neighbors.
To everyone’s surprise, the old man died exactly as the child had predicted. This news spread throughout the village, and many curious people flocked to Non’s house to question him. He willingly answered those with some education, but he responded reluctantly and briefly to the uneducated. Among his revelations, the most remarkable was the story of his past life:
“Previously,” the child declared, “I was reborn as a woman, the mother of a village official named C… in Sông Tra (Đức Hòa). In front of my old house, there is a row of trees. I distinctly remember hammering a nail into the trunk of a palm tree, which should still be there. At this very moment, they are holding a memorial ceremony for me. It’s a shame I cannot attend.”
This unexpected and intriguing revelation piqued the curiosity of several individuals, who traveled to Sông Tra to verify his claims. To their astonishment, they confirmed the truth of his statements.
The child further asserted that he was reborn at the same time as a girl named Tang, the daughter of a nearby opera singer. He was taken to the opera house, where he immediately identified Tang among a group of girls watching the performance. Inquiries about Tang’s birthdate revealed that it was identical to Non’s.
Phạm Văn Non is currently still alive, around 31 years old, working as a farmer. According to reports, as he grew older, his memories of his past life faded. Perhaps he chose to forget to avoid constant attention and disturbance?
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