https://www.an-tran.com/home daily 1.0 2023-02-16 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602431d05cf50817d10c7579/1615491247293-CCMZ12S7CLG2J47HIAQR/Meditations-on-the-Mother-Tongue.jpg Home - Meditations on the Mother Tongue A deaf child discovers to her delight that she can communicate with zoo gorillas in her native language. An old man grieving for his departed wife looks to the giant turtle in Hanoi’s sacred lake for solace, believing it to be a god. An American scientist searches the mountains and rivers of Sumatra for signs of an otter believed to be extinct. A young man finds a surprising connection to his Vietnamese heritage when he takes up the acrobatic sport of parkour, motivating him to re-learn his forgotten first language. In rich and vivid prose across twelve stories, men and women are displaced from their loved ones, their cultures and their homes, and look to the natural and spiritual worlds in search of anything that can offer a sense of belonging and lasting satisfaction. These are careful meditations on the desire to know one’s self and be known by others, where parents and lovers alike appear as gods or as ghosts, dominating and unknowable, and where the bonds between fathers and sons and brothers, men and women, husbands and wives, are built, tested and found lacking. https://www.an-tran.com/about daily 0.75 2026-02-26 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602431d05cf50817d10c7579/1615668387854-AE7SZ58WZPMPXS9MVQWI/antran2.jpg About - An Tran is a writer of fiction and essays, and the author of the short story collection Meditations on the Mother Tongue. His short fiction has appeared in Southern Humanities Review, Gargoyle Magazine, New South, and elsewhere. His non-fiction and essays have appeared in The Carolina Quarterly, TheLitHub, Tricycle: A Buddhist Review, Lion’s Roar, and elsewhere. He has received ‘Notable Work’ distinctions from the Best American series and nomination for the Pushcart Prize. Lately, his writing has focused on sharing the popular history, culture, tradition, and doctrines of Vietnamese Buddhism. He is a Thiền (Zen) practitioner in the Liễu Quán lineage of the Lâm Tế (Linji) school. His dharma name is Nguyên Ngộ (‘Primordial Awakening’). Originally from Alexandria, Virginia, he currently lives in San Francisco. https://www.an-tran.com/events daily 0.75 2022-01-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602431d05cf50817d10c7579/1623090000100-SEW5OQLASU7ZJG0QOQ9I/Dharma+of+Pose+-+IG+%2810+speakers%29.png Events - June 12th, 2021, 11AM: Panel on Asian Diaspora Buddhism & Belonging —The Dharma of Pose — Buddhist Peace Fellowship An joins Chenxing Han, author of Be the Refuge, and Kazi Adi Shakti as virtual panelists on a discussion of belonging, exclusion, and Asian American Buddhism for the Dharma of Pose event by the Buddhist Peace Fellowship. Register here. July 28th, 2021: Asian Americans and Asian Pacific Islander Americans, Part III — Making Visible An gave a talk on American Buddhism’s imperialist history and concepts of decolonization as part of Making Visible’s series on Asian and Pacific Islander Americans. See the video here. See Chenxing Han’s Part I talk, held on May 12th. David Woo’s Part II is here, held in June. https://www.an-tran.com/essays-talks daily 0.75 2026-02-23 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602431d05cf50817d10c7579/1615663706838-QQJGFTCQB1ITVA8LO51F/workspace.jpg Essays & Talks https://www.an-tran.com/stories daily 0.75 2025-12-11 https://www.an-tran.com/press daily 0.75 2023-05-11 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602431d05cf50817d10c7579/1615667559058-CBGW7X49CU9TKGEZVGT9/altar.jpg Press - Brooklyn Magazine. “Getting Lost in Language: An Tran on His Debut Collection, Meditations on the Mother Tongue.” by Anjali Enjeti. May 24, 2017. The Carolina Quarterly. “Meditations on the Mother Tongue: A Review.” by Elisa Faison. University of North Carolina. August 2018. Tributaries. “Strange Transactions: A Review of Meditations on the Mother Tongue.” by Tanya Perkins. Indiana University East. 2017, pp.122-124. Buddhist Fiction Blog. “Review of Meditations on the Mother Tongue by An Tran.” by Kimberly Beek. July 31st, 2017. Stillhouse Press. “Small Presses FTW: Immigrant Identity in Modern Literature.” by Danielle Maddox. September 5th, 2018. Southern Fried Karma. “The Puzzle of Linguistics.” by Emery Duffey. June 27, 2017. https://www.an-tran.com/vietnamese-zen-sangha-norcal daily 0.75 2026-02-28 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602431d05cf50817d10c7579/ac4bc487-5661-4be8-95d6-bde93110af2b/tempImageqKZl5j.jpg https://www.an-tran.com/meditate-in-nature daily 0.75 2026-03-01 https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602431d05cf50817d10c7579/e31ffbe5-eeba-41d0-9e2a-70c40a2c98c7/Untitled-5.png https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/602431d05cf50817d10c7579/b599bb2c-b2fa-4c73-8dd4-44fc92f9129b/headshot2.jpg