KIM VAN KIEU AND THE NATIONAL LANGUAGE (1924)
In the 1920s, the supporters and opponents of French rule used Nguyen Du’s literary masterpiece The Tale of Kieu (Kim Van Kieu) to conduct an intense debate about how and whether Vietnamese culture would survive under colonial rule. Pham Quynh, the pro-French literary and political figure mentioned earlier, famously argued in 1924 that as long as The Tale of Kieu survived, the Vietnamese language would survive and, by implication, Vietnamese “culture” and the sense of Vietnam the country would survive; hence, French influence could not and would not erase either one. Opponents of colonial rule contemptuously dismissed these claims for The Tale of Kieu and Pham Quynh’s argument. Pham Quynh’s view, however, has stood the test of time and is now generally accepted by Vietnamese of all political persuasions. This text was translated from French.
Today, the tenth day of the eighth month, is the anniversary of the death of the great Annamese poet Nguyen Du, the immortal author of Kim Van Kieu.
The literary committee of the AFIMA [Association for Annamese Intellectual and Moral Development] has chosen to make this the occasion for a solemn homage to the memory of this brilliant man of letters who, more than one hundred years ago, bequeathed to his country and language an incomparable masterpiece.
In the course of our long history, many celebrated writers, famous poets, and learned humanists have been the focus of circles of fervent admirers from generation to generation. But all these authors wrote in Chinese characters, the Latin of our forebears and the only honorable language for centuries of scholarly culture.
Nguyen Du was the first to think of applying his inspired genius to his national language and to devote all his talent, heart, and soul to the realization of a perfect work of art. This work has resisted the test of time. It shines every day with greater purity and brilliance. It stands now as the most beautiful jewel of our language, a language that some consider poor and imperfect but that could not have more riches, suppleness, charm, harmony, and subtlety for painting the most delicate feelings of the human soul.
This poet is therefore the guide and master for all of us who are working today under the kind influence of Western culture to restore and renovate the national language and to guarantee its rightful place in the literary and artistic education of our compatriots.
Ladies and Gentlemen, you certainly have heard of Kim Van Kieu, and you are familiar with the name of its author, especially since the attempt by an Indochinese poet to translate the immortal poem into French verse and a local company’s project to adapt it for the cinema.
Kieu is a novel in verse of some 3,260 lines that alternate between six and eight syllables each, a form particular to Annamese prosody. Its subject was adapted from a popular Chinese novel in a way similar to how Corneille’s Le Cid, for example, borrowed from the Spanish drama of Guilhem de Castro. In other words, the author was able to add features to his work that were absent from the original and that transform a mostly ordinary tale into a poetic masterpiece of rare quality. It is the story of a young woman blessed with all the gifts of mind and body, a woman of an elite nature, who, in an agonizing choice between love and filial piety, deliberately chooses the more difficult path. She sells herself to save her father and, from that day onward, goes from misery to misery, eventually sinking to the most abject depths, but like the lotus in the song, she conserves within that abject state the pure scent of her original nobility.
Some say this romantic tale of a young Chinese woman is a novel about the life of Nguyen Du himself. Of course he was not, like his heroine, “a victim of fate” but instead a mandarin poet selected by the great Gia Long [emperor], as prefect of Thuong Tin, promoted regularly up to the office of the vice-minister of rites, and sent on two occasions as ambassador to the Beijing court (the last time shortly before his death). But in order to write [these] verses, some of which, like those of Musset, are pure lamentations, this high dignitary, this perfect man of letters, must have experienced great suffering. And in fact, he did suffer, though not in his sentimental life like his romantic French counterpart, but in his public life. From an ancient family from Ha Tinh that had remained loyal to the Le dynasty, circumstances nevertheless obliged him to serve new masters, the Nguyen. Despite the latter’s generous policy toward the fallen dynasty’s former subjects, [Nguyen Du] accepted the new regime only reluctantly, and his conscience as a man and scholar was troubled. This was the drama of a life that could have been happy and glorious but instead was marred by a secret bitterness.
Despite its dry administrative tone, the biographical notice devoted to him in the annals of the current dynasty offers the reader a portrait of the poet’s character that conveys a sense of his internal suffering.
“Nguyen Du,” it says, “seemed outwardly to be a sweet, reserved man, but he had a proud and independent temperament. Each time he appeared before the emperor, he remained silent. His Majesty would often reprimand him and say, ‘When choosing its collaborators, the government tries to select knowledgeable and capable men, without distinguishing between those from the north and those from the south. I have had occasion to get to know and understand you, and you now occupy the rank of vice-minister. You must speak and express your views in the councils. Why[, then,] do you wrap yourself in silence and never answer with more than a yes or no?’
“Nguyen Du was well versed in poetry and especially excelled in poetry composed in the national language. He brought back from his embassy in China a volume of verse entitled Collected Poems from a Journey to the North [Bac hanh thi tap] and was the author of a history of Thuy Kieu that became very popular. Having descended from a great family that had served the Le for generations, he did not want to accept any post during the Tay Son revolution and instead retired to the mountainous region of his childhood, giving himself over to the pleasures of wandering and hunting amid the ninety-nine summits of the Hong Linh. Called on later by His Majesty’s government to fulfill public functions that he could not refuse, he was forced to enter the mandarin caste. But he often had problems with his superiors that caused him considerable internal suffering such that he always appeared unhappy. After falling seriously ill, he refused to take care of himself and rejected all medicines. One day his friends found him cold in bed. He had expressed no instructions or final wishes before dying.”
Thus died a man who lacked not genius, glory, or anything else but who, because of his especially great and loyal sympathy for an unhappy dynasty and a fallen regime, failed to profit from the fruits of his genius and glory.
He wished to symbolize the pathos of this life through the features of a young unhappy noble woman—a woman unhappy precisely because of the nobility of her soul and the great extent of her sacrifice.
Thus, besides its literary merits, Kim Van Kieu has psychological value as a testimony to the personality of its author, who adds to the beauty of this work, which is at once a pure masterpiece of a national literature and a precious document of one man’s sincerely touching humanity.
When I call it a pure masterpiece, I hardly think of this as an exaggeration. Indeed, the more one studies Kieu, the more one feels its perfection, the full and harmonious perfection of a work of art that completely achieves an ideal of beauty that corresponds not to a particular aesthetic but to the very pattern and rhythm of universal art. Unlike Chinese texts that can be complicated and overwrought or Indian texts that very often are only compilations or “mosaics,” as one eminent French Sinologist calls them, Kieu was conceived and composed according to a general plan whose every part, down to the smallest detail, accords with the whole. It is an orderly ensemble that is as faultless in its lines and proportions as a beautiful antique censer. And what finish in the execution! Every verse is struck like a medal, cut like a precious jade, carved like a fine sculpture. The degree of simplicity and harmony covering the whole and the amount of art and perfection in each detail are amazing. Because of this sense of proportion and the high art of its composition, one can say that Kieu is a “classic” work in the same way that European critics use this term when speaking of a tragedy by Racine or a funeral oration by Bossuet.
[Kieu] is classic in form and romantic in its inspiration, although its romantic side is strongly tempered by a lucid reason that I would call Latin if it were not Confucian. Moreover, what elegance there is in the expression of the most violent feelings, and what restraint, even at its most exalted! There is none of the disheveled lyricism of a Tagore, for example, or the decadent mannerism of Chinese poets. Instead, one finds a sense of measure and the supreme distinction and fullness of proportions that characterize those works inspired by the purest vein of French taste.
That this poem, the product of an Annamese mind as yet unaffected by any foreign influence other than Chinese, should have so many features in common with the greatest productions of the French spirit is not the least originally striking thing about it.
What can one say except that two peoples separated by the entire expanse of Europe and Asia share a certain conception of literature and art or, rather, that between the spirit of the French and the Annamese are certain natural affinities that would be interesting and even desirable to cultivate, given the rapprochement that is eagerly desired on both sides and that must be achieved by the elite of these two peoples through the intimate communication of art and poetry?
It is with this wish that I conclude, Ladies and Gentlemen, and invite you to join us in paying homage this evening to our greatest poet.
[Pham Quynh, “Bai dien thuyet bang Phap van cua ong Pham Quynh,” 94–96; trans. C. Jon Delogu]
MODERNIZE COMPLETELY AND WITHOUT HESITATION (1936)
Hoang Dao (1906–1948) was the chief theoretician of the Self-Reliance Literary Group, headed by his brother Nhat Linh. This pioneering and influential group, writing in the 1930s, advocated a new literary style based on Western themes and genres such as novels and romantic poetry, written in the national language. They selected the name of their group in opposition to Pham Quynh and his colleagues, who were, by implication, tainted by their reliance on French financial and political support. The writers of this school were enamored with French literature and individualistic values while they also expressed concern for social conditions and an intense desire to “modernize” social customs and values. The following text is an excerpt from the group’s manifesto, Ten Fundamental Concepts, which advocates the wholesale adoption of “the new,” since, in their view, Western culture and Eastern culture could not merge.
Along with the other countries in the Far East, more than fifty years ago Vietnam was suddenly awakened from a deep sleep of a thousand years. Although it was not like that of the princess of a certain fairy tale, who was awakened peacefully to find herself in resplendent surroundings and being greeted with the affection of a loving prince, it was better than continuing in an endless sleep.
That was the old way of life. As with all dreams, at the moment of waking, one tends to recall fleetingly the idyllic aspects of the past. It was a life of ease and simplicity: the men would recite poetry and study literature for the examination, and the women would weave and pound rice to await the arrival of the mid-August moon when they would raise their voices in love songs under the full moon.
In reality, it was not as beautiful as all that. Constrained by complicated rituals and customs that often were absurd, the people lived a confused and troubled life. Inside the family, it was a life of repressed sorrows for the daughters-in-law and the young; outside, in society, it was a life of hardships for the peasants, who occupied the lowest level of a very rigid social hierarchy.
The number of people who do not perceive the truth is often very large. Survivors of that period, they have continued to cling to their illusions because they feel lost and bewildered in a period that they do not comprehend. Along with these people, the old way of life and the old culture would be eliminated.
The ancient culture has survived only in the common customs, which themselves are fast disappearing, and in the minds of those who advocate the “Middle Way.” This faction is still thriving in our country and still has much influence. [Its members] advocate the synthesis of the ancient and the modern cultures. Their arguments sound very profound at first hearing. What could be better than to take what is good in Chinese culture as the basis and to enhance it by absorbing what is best in French culture? In this way, before long, our culture will become the best of all the countries in the world!
Such thinking is only fantasy. The two cultures, like two streams flowing down a mountain, one toward the east and the other toward the west, can never merge. Western culture is dynamic; its essence lies in constant change, and at no time does it remain at a standstill. Eastern culture, however, emphasizes tranquillity and always is static.
In all practicality, the idea of striking a happy medium has failed completely. In wanting to pick and choose, the people have become hesitant, timid, and without any guiding principles as to what to retain or what to discard. For example, they want to adopt Western individualism because they rightly think that an individual has to develop his talents before he can rapidly achieve progress. Strangely enough, they also want to maintain the system of the “big family” whose essential principle is obedience. So the people become indecisive, like the ass of Buridan48 standing between a bowl of water and a fistful of grass, not knowing whether to drink or to eat, or like a man lying between his first and second wife, not knowing which direction to face. Such hesitation cannot lead to any result.
In worrying about moving forward or backward, the people are left fixed to a single spot. They are, like a horse, kicking the ground looking very enthusiastic but unable to move a single step.
In face of the failure of the “Middle Way,” there is nothing else to do except to modernize decisively.
Westernization does not mean to dress ourselves in Parisian fashions, to dance the latest steps, to have our noses straightened or our eyes made blue. To Westernize is to seek out the essence of Western culture and apply it to our lives. When transplanted to our soil, Western culture will naturally be transformed. What is compatible with our Vietnamese character will remain and flourish, but what is not suitable will naturally be eliminated. We should not worry about becoming half Frenchmen who speak pidgin French. For a thousand years, our people were dominated by Chinese culture, but we still maintained our individual characteristics and did not become Chinese. So, now when we introduce Western culture into our daily life, our noses will not become straight, and we will not lose our Vietnamese soul.
The conservatives often consider the slightest change toward Westernization as something evil. When women dress in white or part their hair on one side, they are accused of undermining morality. Those who advocate individualism are accused of liberating their vulgar desires. We, the young, must ignore those conservatives and continue along the path of progress without hesitation, without losing heart. The future will bring us its precious rewards.
Quite naturally at the moment when we are rushing toward Westernization, some people will inevitably go astray. Indeed, many people, misunderstanding Western culture, will perceive the world as a place to enjoy temporary thrills. But such occurrences cannot be used as arguments against Westernization. Even a knife sometimes cuts the hand, but does anyone ever say that a knife is a useless object?
So, boldly and enthusiastically, we should forge ahead toward the new, wide, and bright path of Western civilization.
Progress
Without further doubt, our people, our country must be completely modernized.
We have been in contact with the West for half a century, and yet we still have to make this appeal. It is already very late—very, very late!
We must endeavor with all our energy and fervor to make up for lost time, to compensate for the sluggishness of the past.
Without fear of criticism, we must boldly resolve to Westernize, starting this very day.
We need two revolutions. First a revolution inside ourselves. Before doing anything, we should examine whether in our action and thought still lingers any trace of conservatism that we should discard.
There also must be a revolution in the family and society. Anything compatible with the new way of thinking should be accepted as a matter of course, but we must also explain our actions and set persuasive examples for those around us. Anyone who wishes to modernize must advocate Westernization.
We should not let obstacles discourage us. We must constantly believe that there are, behind us, people who share our belief and give us their support and encouragement.
Those of you who sincerely wish to help our country, to help our people live a new life worth living…. Arise!
[Hoang Dao, “Theo moi hoan toan theo moi khong chut do du”; trans. Ng Shui-meng and Huynh Sanh Thong]
Nowhere was French literary influence more profound than on the New Poetry movement of the 1930s, which marked a decisive break with the “former” Tang prosodic rules by focusing instead on the rich tonal and melodic rhythms of the national language in new forms of versification and modes of expression. Associated with the Self-Reliance Literary Group, the New Poets challenged many of society’s most cherished conventions, unabashedly exploring the passions of love, the indulgence of the senses, the search for individual self-expression, and the emotions of melancholy, despair, and alienation. Above all, New Poetry explored the mind of the poet and his or her personal feelings and preoccupations, celebrating the individual’s personal quest. Xuan Dieu’s “Courtesan” (1940) exemplifies the intense romantic yearnings of the New Poets in a poem famous for both its depiction of loneliness and its romantic metaphors. The rhythms and alliterations in “The Sounds of Autumn” (1939) by Luu Trong Lu reinforce the sense of melancholy, apprehension, and foreboding. “The Mighty River” (1940) by Huy Can uses the powerful metaphors of river, water, and currents to hint at the different paths that human destiny can take in modern times.
In “This Is Vi Gia Village” (1939), Han Mac Tu creatively uses double narration, both male and female voices, and juxtaposes time and space to achieve a surrealistic and ambiguous effect. The female narrator in the first stanza is in a dreamlike state, imagining her lover and beckoning him back to her hamlet. Or is it a male voice talking to himself? His voice (and possibly her voice, too) responds in the second stanza, in a questioning but forlorn tone. In the third stanza, the male voice is not sure of her love, as he imagines her walking away in the distance. Although not a part of the New Poetry movement, To Huu, who became the “official” revolutionary poet of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, was first known for his prison poems, which themselves were a type of literary genre in colonial Vietnam. “Prison Thoughts” was composed in 1939 when To Huu was confined by the colonial authorities in a jail in central Vietnam.
COURTESAN
Sit with me a little while longer
Why hurry, dear, the moon is so bright
Full moon tonight, the sky a banquet of light
If you leave, it will kill my heart
Please stay, a pillow for your head
Here’s my arm to nurse an intoxicated dream
Here’s your drink and here is my soul
Which I place at my prince’s feet
Don’t tread on my soul!
From afar the moon
Stately rises to the peak of the sky
Wind follows moon, blowing in from the sea
Grief follows wind, spreading shivering ripples
The heart of a courtesan, an ocean of sadness
Don’t let me face my heart by myself
These loving arms, take them as your reef
And my lush hair your hammock
Help my soul ride the endless waves
Like a boat drifting in aimlessness
My body must not get in your way
And my hair must not shackle your love
I’m afraid. Icy winds fill all paths
Full moon sky, cold cuts to the bone
A woman’s beauty: the landing under an old tree
Passing lover: a boat, loosely tied, floats by
Sensual love gains a bitter hint of passing fun
The lover now thinks of other horizons
The courtesan’s voice breaks into tears
Unhook the twining arms, listen to the wind and the water
Cockcrows desolate. Ivory moon bitter cold.
Eyes blurred with tears, the courtesan sees the flowing river
Her lover is gone
Yesterday’s lover is gone
[Xuan Dieu, “Loi ky nu,” in Tuyen tap Xuan Dieu, 108–9; trans. Ton That Quynh Du]
LUU TRONG LU
THE SOUNDS OF AUTUMN
Don’t you hear
the sounds of autumn
In soft moonlight
the stifled sobs
Don’t you hear
the stirring desires
The image of
an absent soldier
In the heart of
a lonely woman
Don’t you hear
the forest in autumn
The falling leaves
rustle
A golden deer
startled
As it steps onto
dry golden leaves
[Luu Trong Lu, “Tieng thu,” in Tieng thu, 25; trans. Ton That Quynh Du]
HUY CAN
THE MIGHTY RIVER
On the mighty river, ripples spread like endless grief
A boat glides by, its oars folded, parallel lines in its wake
Drifting boats, swirling water, sadness grows a hundred fold
Floating driftwood, caught where the currents cross
An islet, tufts of trees shiver in the lonely breeze
Late-market sounds float above a distant village
The sun bears down, the sky lifts to dizzying heights
The river is long, the sky spreads, a desolate wharf
Where to, drifting rafts of hyacinth?
The river is vast, here no ferries cross
No bridge to spur a sense of togetherness
The green bank quietly meets the golden sand
High above, mountains of silver clouds push upwards
Small birds spin, faint wings catching the falling sun
Thoughts of homeland stir like the changing tide
How I miss home, with its tendrils of evening smoke
[Huy Can, “Trang giang,” in Tuyen tap Huy Can, 113–14; trans. Ton That Quynh Du]
HAN MAC TU
THIS IS VI GIA VILLAGE
Why do you not return to visit Vi Gia village?
To see the sunlight newly risen on the areca palms
Whose glittering garden, green as jade
Bamboo leaves slant across a lucid face
Winds follow winds’ path, clouds clouds’ way
The melancholy current, trembling corn flowers
Whose boat is moored on the moon river
Will it carry the moon back in time tonight?
Dreaming of a distant traveler, distant traveler
Your dress is so white, indistinguishable
Here fog and smoke blur the human image
Who can tell whose love is true?
[Han Mac Tu, “Day thon Vi Gia,” in Tho Han Mac Tu, 74; trans. Kim N. B. Ninh]
TO HUU
PRISON THOUGHTS
Ears open wide and heart athrob,
I listen—with that vibrant life,
how happy they must be out there!
It’s dark in here—faint rays of sunset light
can hardly infiltrate through window bars.
It’s cold within four dismal whitewashed walls
and on a wooden floor with dirt-gray planks …
How lonely it can be in jail!
Ears open wide and heart athrob,
I listen—with that vibrant life,
how happy they must be out there!
I hear birds sing of flood tide on the wind,
a bat flaps wings, aflutter in the dusk,
a horse with tinkling bells stops by the well,
some wooden clogs walk home down that long road …
Oh, why today do such familiar sounds
seem pregnant with the sap of life itself?
The wind is lashing at the trees, the leaves—
I hear creation’s power quite unleashed.
I fancy all the world on the outside
is throbbing under heaven’s vault with joy,
is sucking honey from the flower of life,
is breathing freedom’s scent forever now.
Oh, sheer delusions of a fuddled mind!
Can I forget dire woes are rife out there?
The world’s a prison, dooming countless souls
to grief and torment in abysmal pits.
Confined, with rancor in my heart, I’m one
of the victims in the millions on this earth.
I’m just a little fledgling who’s cooped up
in this small cage within a larger cage.
To answer freedom’s call and change the world,
I’m one among a host of fighting men
who still walk tall along a blood-stained road,
too proud to ever backtrack or retreat.
For now I’m being held far from the flag—
the fighting spirit animates me still.
Who says Dak Pao, Lao Bao, Poulo Condore
are exile hells and valleys of despair?
I’ll smile a true believer’s smile and keep
my soul immaculate amidst the filth.
I’m not yet dead—that means my hate still lives.
That means the age-old shame is not yet cleansed.
That means I’ll have to struggle on until
we have wiped out the breeds of snakes and wolves.
Far off, upon the wind, a whistle shrieks.
[Huynh Sanh Thong, Anthology of Vietnamese Poems, 159–61]
CONFUCIANISM (1932)
Tran Trong Kim (1882–1953), an intellectual, educator, and prime minister of the Japanese-controlled empire of Vietnam from March to August 1945, published an influential book-length history of Confucianism in 1932. Tran Trong Kim regarded Confucianism as the “national essence” of Vietnam, responsible for its past glories and achievements. In his view, Confucianism had to be rehabilitated because it provided a path (dao) superior to Western reason, although he did not reject Western science and education. In contrast to Western modes of thinking, Confucianism enabled educated individuals to make intuitive judgments based on a consideration of the whole problem in the context of an ethical evaluation. This argument was in line with Tran Trong Kim’s claim that Confucianism was based on “intuition” (which he compared with the thought of the French philosopher Henri Bergson), which was superior to reason. In addition, he argued, Confucianism was more consistent with Vietnam’s core values and provided stability, continuity, and gradual change. As did the Quang Trung emperor in 1788 and the Minh Mang emperor in 1834,49 Tran Trong Kim posits an explicit link between social rectitude and a strong state. Along with Pham Quynh, Tran Trong Kim views the education and cultivation of an elite to be essential to national progress.
An old and beautiful house, neglected for many years, collapsed during a storm. The residents are dumbfounded and do not know what to do. Even if they wish to rebuild it, they have neither the human nor material resources to do so. As the times have changed, people in our country are eager to abandon the old and adopt the new, so they no longer think about the old house. Yet by itself, the house is a priceless object and should not be allowed to disappear without trying to preserve it as an historical relic. Let us therefore redesign the house so that posterity will know how beautiful it was and how it fell into ruin. This analogy applies to the present cultural situation of Confucianism [in our country]….
2
In the past, Vietnam followed Confucianism, which it regarded as the sole correct path. Ethics, customs, politics, and everything else took Confucianism as their core principle. In the past and at present, Confucian scholars have given undue importance to form and caused the spirit of Confucianism to go far astray. Furthermore, in learning, our people focused on formalistic literary techniques and rote learning to pass the examinations in order to become mandarins. As a result, Confucianism increasingly deteriorated; although it was renowned, it lacked real substance.
If a country’s intellectual elite has poor judgment and spirit, how can its people make progress? People used to follow the fixed framework left by their forebears. Right and wrong were judged according to this framework. As a result, criticism, judgment, and prediction were circumscribed, and people were not familiar with other doctrines with which to compare their own in order to determine which was better. As a result, we became like snails and shellfish that retreat contentedly into their hard shells and never change. As a rule, things that do not change are bound to deteriorate. When the times change and a new doctrine or new forces suddenly emerge and invade, and if the new forces are stronger and more dynamic, how can we stand firm against them? When this happened to us, people suddenly woke up from a deep slumber, were dumbfounded, and did not know how to respond. At first, we tried to offer resistance, and then found that the more we resisted, the more we were reduced to powerlessness. We stopped resisting, although reluctantly. Gradually we realized that other peoples were strong and prosperous, whereas we had become increasingly weak, and that those who gave up the old and adopted the new had become prosperous and strong. Then we started to imitate others and to change everything. Many people had a vested interest in rejecting change and tried to stay in their shell and old skin to preserve their high positions. Uneducated people in the countryside also did not favor change. But people with education clamored for reforms in our country, convinced that our society was in decline and the old culture was worthless. They believed that the most advisable course was to abandon everything and begin modernizing. This is what is behind the movement that proposes to abandon the old and adopt the new. It has gathered strength over time, so much so that after several decades, our cultural spirit has been greatly eroded. Even families that abide by the old rituals and refuse to adopt the new learning are now criticizing the old learning more harshly than ordinary people do….
At present, with the growth of the movement for new learning, everyone is competing with one another in intelligence and skills for the sake of their own interests and gain. They are hardly concerned with morality, benevolence, and righteousness…. We have seen that intellectuals in our country have been eager to drop the old and adopt the new. Young people advocate the new learning, partly because they have seen how their elders castigate the old learning and partly because they lack a good grasp of the spirit of the old learning and feel uneasy about its constraints. Consequently, they hold the old learning in great contempt and regard it as anachronistic and out of step with the present. Furthermore, young people are moved by enthusiasm and like freedom and equality, and so on. They find they can learn more with the new learning than the old learning. It does not occur to them that there is still something worthwhile in the old learning. Upon graduation, the young have been given social positions that somehow endow them with respect from the people. Some parents try to have their children obtain the new learning in order to advance their careers. Of course, earning one’s living is understandable, but this is another reason for the rapid loss of our old culture.
Everyone regards the strict hierarchy imposed by Confucianism as a fatal defect in the old culture that should be quickly removed. Confucianism holds that people in authority have the right to require their subordinates to respect and obey them. If those in authority are noted for their talent and ethics, people will abide by hierarchical rules without complaint. When such persons fail to elicit admiration from the people, the harder they try to maintain their position, the more people will resent them and find such efforts unjustified. At present, when differences between the old and the new are still unclear, many suspect that the old order hinders progress and should be abolished and that new learning should be adopted to help improve the situation. This is another reason behind the increasing desire for change. In my modest view, this is what has caused the rapid erosion of our old culture.
After careful consideration, one can see that abandoning the old and adopting the new, as we have been doing, has an undeniable urgency. But the problem is that our people are thoughtless and have not given careful consideration to the issues, thereby hastily destroying everything. As a result, although we have been unable to eliminate everything that is bad, we have in effect destroyed the very quintessence of our culture, which has been instrumental in maintaining the stability of our society for several thousand years. If we want to get rid of something old and rotten, we need to replace it with something better and more beautiful. At present, we lack what is new, and yet we have hurriedly abandoned the old. As a result, everything has disintegrated, and we do not have any substitutes. This is the current situation in our country. We are like a ship that has lost its compass and lacks direction in an immense sea. As a result, the ship keeps drifting; it will be knocked around by large waves, run up against rocks, and be completely destroyed. We must assess this situation and find a remedy to alleviate the problem….
Confucian culture mainly follows the way of Heaven and is designed to maintain the richness of feelings, and abides by ethics, benevolence and righteousness, simple heartedness, and simplicity. As a result, our people like to preserve the old and enjoy quietness and peace in life. This culture is in keeping with the mental disposition of a people engaged in agriculture, as has been the case of our country. Western culture involves action based mainly on human desires. It attaches importance to the development of the human intellect. It uses reason to assess everything, to conquer nature, and to build a life marked by strength and prosperity. Therefore, science is very developed; people are fond of clever tricks and highly appreciate intelligent and clever persons; and everyone is very active. Western culture is quite in keeping with nations engaged in industry and trading. In Confucian culture, human life is not as radiant and glittering, but people enjoy happiness in life. Western culture gives people a magnificent life, with the full development of intellectual potential, and everything is arranged in good and stable order. But it also gives rise to increasing needs, stronger competition, and complicated living conditions. People seldom have a relaxed and serene life.
These two cultures are opposed to each other. Each has its strong points and weaknesses. In the past, our people focused only on maintaining morality and neglected intellectual and scientific progress, and therefore in the long run, the spirit deteriorated to such an extent that we could not avoid our weaknesses and our strengths eroded. In the meantime, other countries made headway in the intellectual field, and their strengths kept increasing, although they had their own weaknesses….
Confucianism is a systematic and methodical doctrine. As a system, Confucianism holds that “the universe is a whole,” and in methodology, it uses arguments along with evidence, taking as its foundation the way of Heaven and cyclical evolution. We need to understand, however, that our country’s learning was characterized by the use of intuition. In doctrinal thinking and method, we use intuition to look at the entirety of something in order to grasp its nature. If we use reason to assess and judge each component of an entity, we usually cannot see anything. For example, if we use intuition to look at a Chinese painting, we can see many wonderful aspects, but if we use reason to assess the same painting, we will see nothing remarkable. This is because Chinese paintings generally try to bring out the spiritual qualities of beauty and skill and are not concerned with external form and appearance. At times, form and appearance are not rendered accurately, but the spirit of the composition is expressed in a very sophisticated manner.
This also applies to education. The Chinese usually think intuitively and sum up their ideas in a few short sentences. Therefore, one should try to capture the ideas that lie outside the words written in the text; only by doing so can one understand their full meaning. The monosyllabic character of the Chinese language and pictographic character of the Chinese writing system make it difficult to compose academic works that clearly connect thoughts and the full expression of ideas. The saying bat di tu hai y [focusing solely on the words risks missing the meaning of the ideas] means that when reading a text, one should try to fully grasp its ideas in order to understand clearly the author’s thinking, instead of merely sticking to the written words and thereby missing the author’s point. Western learning is not like that; it strictly uses reason and makes deductions and inferences, proceeding continuously from one point to another. Its method of writing is lucid, thanks to a sophisticated style; closely linked words and ideas clearly express the connections between ideas. People trained in Western learning sometimes claim that Chinese doctrines have no method, because when they read a text they do not realize that Chinese learning mainly involves thinking about how to capture the main idea, rather than using reason to make deductions. Hence, written words do not mean everything. Chinese thinking does involve a method, but the method lies in the general spirit, not in the form of each component analyzed individually, as with Western texts. In order to find the Confucian method, it is necessary to take an intuitive approach to capture the ideas and ponder them. Then one can clearly see the connection among various components of thought which, in external appearance and form, may seem quite loose and incoherent but, in spirit, form a consistent entity from beginning to end….
Confucianism studies evolution and change in accordance with the Yijing classic, uses dotted lines and solid lines to show one’s evolution in accordance with the way of Heaven, and uses the numbers associated with one’s birth date (year, month, day, hour) to calculate and predict the fate of the world on earth; this is like Pythagorean arithmetic. But it is a bit different: Confucianism holds that the universe is created by Heaven and that each living being freely acts in accordance with the way of Heaven. After the death of a living being, the special character of its spirit will be preserved and will continue to evolve, fully integrating with the universal whole, as maintained by the Western theory of pantheism.
Confucian learning has two sides, the metaphysical and the practical for popular dissemination. The metaphysical side usually involves intuitive learning, which deals with the Creator’s mystical path. This side is reserved for qualified people who can go deep into the essence of the doctrine. The practical side deals with the philosophy of life and is taught to everyone….
In short, the three essential elements of Confucianism are that in belief, it follows the concept of the relationship between Heaven and human beings; in practical action, it attaches great importance to pragmatism; and in intellectual terms, it uses intuition to perceive and understand all creatures and the universe….
Confucianism is clearly aware of the way of Heaven and the necessity of honesty in morality because of a certain natural aptitude given by Heaven. This is psychological awareness, or what today we call intuition, which is the ability to perceive very quickly and clearly the spirit of the whole. Using an intuitive approach to life means to use the eye spirit to look deeply into and scrutinize the spirit of all creatures. In so doing, one will not make mistakes. To this end, one should do away with one’s personal concerns and desires and then focus in a clear-sighted way on the spirit of the living entity in question. In this way, one can clearly see its true face and identity. Confucianism’s use of intuition in learning is similar, to some extent, to the philosophy of Henri Bergson, a famous French philosopher, who advocated the use of intuition to assess the truth. In formal logic, Western learning is sophisticated and more in keeping with the scientific method, but in spirit, the two doctrines are not far apart. The more carefully we examine Henri Bergson’s philosophy, the more clearly we will see the remarkable and elevated spirit of Confucianism….
By looking at the universe and assessing past and present, Confucius grasped the way of Heaven and Earth. He wanted human beings to act in accordance with the Way so that human affairs would be in agreement with the way of Heaven and in harmony with the universe. Confucius believed that when human beings are born, they already have absorbed the spirit of Heaven and Earth, and therefore there is an empathetic relationship between humans and Heaven and Earth. This empathetic relationship has always existed, but when human beings allow their personal desires to become strong and use only reason to assess what is good and bad for themselves, their spirit is disrupted, their intuition is corrupted, and they are no longer aware of the empathetic relationship. If, in contrast, humans know how to suppress their personal desires, maintain a moderate attitude, and make sure that their spirit and intuition are fully in harmony, their intuition will develop further, so that they can see down to the bottom of things, no matter how deep or mysterious.
Maintaining a moderate, temperate, and obliging attitude means maintaining the middle course [and avoiding extremes]. If humans adopt the middle course, behave according to the Way of Heaven, and nurture their feelings, they will acquire benevolence. If, by means of self-cultivation, a person acquires benevolence, he will have a lively spirit, be able to distinguish right from wrong, and will always act in accordance with the law of change of Heaven and Earth. If benevolence is combined with honesty, this person will become a sage. Honesty is in keeping with the natural path of Heaven and Earth. An honest person is someone who has become pure, akin to the initial nature given to him by Heaven. Such a person comprehends the nature of all creatures and is capable of contributing to the creation and raising of humans by Heaven and Earth. He is on an equal footing with Heaven and Earth and is therefore considered to be a sage. This is the essence of Confucianism. All other notions, such as filial piety, righteousness, rites, wisdom, loyalty to the emperor, and trust, derive from this.
According to Confucius, all creatures in the universe evolve indefinitely, without interruption, in a moderate and relative manner. Because the way of Heaven is not fixed, there is nothing certain in human affairs. Therefore, we must act according to circumstances. Provided that we always maintain a moderate, temperate, and obliging stance, our acts will always be righteous and just. In any action, let us try to maintain the middle course, be moderate, refrain from excess, and refrain from falling short of standards. The middle course is the most correct. With this principle as the basis, Confucius worked out a humanist philosophy, that is, an ethical code, which is mild, gentle, provides serenity and happiness to humans, and frees them from fear and sadness….
We need to know that the main tenet of Confucianism is benevolence. Benevolence is quiet, sensitive, and receptive to any thing and any occurrence and leads to levelheaded action in keeping with the Way of Heaven. A benevolent person usually has well-developed intuition. He can clearly see things at a glance and quickly perceive the subtle significance and the general nature of things, without having to take time to explore the situation. A non-benevolent person has poor intuition, cannot immediately comprehend things, and therefore must use reason in order to assess private interests and gain….
… Human reason, however lucid it may be, has its limits and cannot acquire rapid and deep knowledge like intuition. With natural intuition, we can immediately understand certain issues, but using reason, it takes a long time to think over a matter, without being able to reach a conclusion. Judicious and profound knowledge results from intuition and not from reason. After acquiring knowledge about something, however, it is necessary to use reason as a check, to obtain clear knowledge about what intuition has revealed. We should not trust reason too much because it may cause us to waver from adopting the middle course. This means that reason is not in keeping with the natural path of Heaven and Earth. The excessive use of reason will make some people extremely devious, causing human life to experience tragic struggle. This is harmful to happiness in life.
… [B]enevolence cannot be practiced on a universal basis by the majority of the population. Only a small number of specially trained persons can engage in self-cultivation and acquire benevolence…. [In addition], only the intellectual elite—not the common people—can use [intuition] efficiently. Intuition relies only on the light of the spirit, but if the user lacks a righteous heart and honesty, the strength of customs and other forces may prevent this ray of light from focusing on the truth. Therefore, it is necessary to use reason to ascertain what one knows in order to be assured about the accuracy of one’s knowledge. Nowadays, people still use intuition as a valuable and useful tool of learning, but for the sake of clarity and certainty, they also need to use reason to conduct experiments or analyze what is already known. Reason is useful if one does not allow it to become the slave of one’s personal desires. This view does not run counter to Confucianism, which advocates change, depending on the situation, while maintaining the middle course. Therefore, at present, we must use both intuition and reason. Intuition is used to acquire knowledge, and reason to monitor it. To be really scientific, current scientific methods must combine both intuition and reason.
Given the current need for scientific progress, we cannot return to the old way of living. But the spirit of Confucianism is good and has deep roots in the minds of our people. If we hastily throw away this spirit instead of thoroughly grasping it, the future of our society will be jeopardized. We should try to maintain the old morality while participating in modern life, so that heart and mind can progress in harmony with each other. In this way, perhaps more light can be shed on the path of the sages and saints, and people’s minds will not remain hazy, like someone walking in the dark. Confucianism values righteousness in one’s heart and self-cultivation. But let us also regard the natural sciences as our main subject of learning. Combining Confucianism with modern science does not contradict the principles of Confucius and Mencius, who advocated change appropriate to the times. Provided that we continue to maintain benevolence and righteousness, change will help strengthen our harmonious ties with Confucianism that much more….
3
In education, Confucianism holds that honesty is a natural quality that Heaven has given to all good-hearted people. Thus, from the time they are born, human beings are endowed with four properties: love for one’s fellow man, the desire for self-cultivation, the tendency to compromise, and the ability to distinguish between right from wrong, all of which are the basis of benevolence, righteousness, rites, and wisdom. People indulge in evil acts because they allow private desires to infringe on these four elements; education is designed to nurture the four good properties while restraining evil tendencies. The person who practices benevolence, righteousness, rites, and wisdom is a superior man endowed with noble qualities.
The superior man is upright and righteous, clearly knows the way of Heaven and Earth, and acts in accordance with the way of human beings. Confucianism regards the superior man as the symbol of the ideal man. In order to become a superior man, one must, first of all, start by obtaining a good education in morality to nurture one’s heart and mind. After that, the six arts will provide intellectual training to be used in life. How one lives one’s life is more important than being involved in state affairs and politics.
A society inevitably has laws and discipline, rules of social engagement and hierarchy, and moral principles and ethics in order to maintain and strengthen the state. [A society] must have a king and mandarin officials to govern the population. If the king behaves like a king, the subjects will behave like subjects, the father like a father, the son like a son, the elder brother like an elder brother, and the younger brother like a younger brother, and husband and wife accordingly. Then the country will be stable. Otherwise, the country will experience disorder and disturbances. Therefore, Confucianism believes that politics must accompany education. If a subject is properly educated, he will be aware of his duties and interests and will respect righteousness, rites, and hierarchy. Thanks to education, the king and his mandarin officials will be fully aware of their responsibilities and will refrain from arbitrary and cruel behavior.
Confucianism pays attention to the king and the mandarin officials because the country’s prosperity or decline depends on them. If these people are not duly trained to behave with benevolence, righteousness, rites, and wisdom, they will become thieves and bandits who use ruses and tricks to harm the country. The country belongs to everyone, not to a few, and if these thieves and bandits use the country as their own property, without regard for the ill effects on or benefits for the country, they can be discarded as wayward elements. Thus, the king’s legitimate authority lies in exercising the Mandate of Heaven and ensuring the happiness of the common people. If and when the king no longer effectively carries out his duty, the Mandate of Heaven will be terminated. The power used to enforce his authority will be only the power of thieves and bandits. Therefore, Confucianism holds that it is justified for benevolent persons to punish bad rulers in order to save the people. Accordingly, Mencius said: “The people are of supreme importance; the altars to the gods of earth and grain come next; [and] last comes the ruler.”
The mandarin’s duty is to help the king govern the country; he must fully grasp this principle and persuade the king to act in accordance with this principle and follow the right path. A person who is not properly educated cannot steadfastly abide by this principle. All this shows that for Confucianism, education and politics are closely related.
Education takes morality as the root of Confucianism, with the education of intellectuals as the priority. If the roots are firm, the top will flourish. Thanks to moral education, people are imbued with morality and righteousness and suppress evil thinking. A duly educated person is usually bound by ethical considerations. Therefore even if evil thinking emerges, it will not be able to grow and prevail. Thus, the merit of Confucianism is that even if people cannot fully practice the teachings of the sages, their teachings will have created a healthy environment for society.
Some people say that Confucian morality was appropriate in the past when life was simple and people were simple-hearted. At present, human intellect has developed further and the situation has changed, including in politics and education. Is Confucian learning of any use to the country any more? Such a question betrays a failure to ponder the meaning of Confucianism. Life circumstances may have changed, but human society remains the same. It still is necessary to organize society in a way that is in keeping with morality. If the current society is governed by ethical people, isn’t this better than being ruled by greedy, unscrupulous, and devious individuals? It is true that at present when science is developed and life is no longer as simple as in the past, we must inevitably pay attention to intellectual education. But should we abandon moral education? An intellectually talented person who lacks a conscience and a staunch and kind heart will end up as an egoistic and cruel individual, no matter which era he lives in. Under such conditions, how can we possibly distinguish between good and bad people! Confucianism did not pay any attention to business and enterprises and physical amenities because in the past, our East Asian societies did not have such needs. But thanks to Confucian education, there have been many persons with benevolence, righteousness, moral integrity, and lofty human dignity who selflessly labored and fought for their countries. Aren’t these persons better than present-day devious and hypocritical elements who are interested only in their personal gain at the expense of everything else? Focusing solely on intellectual education produces people who are unable to follow the way to train people to be good human beings. When members of a society are very clever in all respects but are not governed by morality, they will be like a group of wild beasts ready to devour one another for the sake of their personal interests. Can such a life be called human?
Our moral education has been developed by Confucianism for several thousand years now and has proved effective and satisfactory. Therefore, let us preserve it as our own heritage. In addition, we should develop intellectual education, a field in which we still are weak, in order to enrich further our existing heritage. In this way, both ethical and intellectual education will be in harmony and will ensure progress. In this way, our learning will have a [solid] foundation, and whatever changes are made will involve fewer mistakes.
It is not our intention to trouble educated persons with our modest knowledge of Confucianism. Rather, we wish to spur the thinking of our scholars to carefully reexamine the heritage that our country already has. They should evaluate its positive and negative aspects, clearly assessing its merits and demerits in order to determine what should be kept and what should be abandoned. They should refrain from hastily judging that everything new is good and everything old is bad. Even European intellectuals today recognize that ancient learning is erudite and more in keeping with the truth than today’s shallow learning. Indeed, we have in Confucianism a solid and viable tradition. It would be stupid to neglect it. If we behave stupidly here, how can we compete with other countries in other matters?
By advocating the preservation of Confucianism, we are not talking about preserving the anachronistic learning of decadent and delinquent Confucian scholars. Their minds were dark, they saw nothing, they heard nothing, and [they] knew nothing about world developments. In times of peace, they indulged in self-congratulation over their own poems and regarded themselves as gods, trying to persuade humble men and women that they were great scholars. But when confronted with danger and change, they caved in thoughtlessly and joined hands with others in criticizing Confucianism. They studied Confucianism without having a good grasp of its spirit, without knowing the Confucian teachings on integrity and righteousness, because they were interested in literature only for form’s sake to succeed in the examinations and gain social position. Far from recovering their consciousness and correcting their own mistakes, these decadent scholars even attacked and denigrated Confucianism, without realizing that students of Confucianism must grasp its spirit and its meaning and adapt to changing situations.
Constant change is necessary, but there must be a foundation so that change is meaningful. In learning Confucianism, we must grasp its robust spirit and try to advance our thinking to the utmost, to evolve along with the universe, and to create a human life that is strong enough to be in harmony with all creatures. We must seek to change with the times without forgetting our ancient roots. Then we will be able to become a group of individuals endowed with the highest level of dignity, benevolence, and strength, to live and compete with other peoples for the common cause of humanity.
In short, I submit that our people today should study in accordance with the times: they should learn trades, economics, military science, mathematics, physics, chemistry, and other branches of learning, just as people in other countries do. At the same time, we should use Confucianism as the basis for moral education. We should grasp its spirit and remain, above all, individuals of high integrity and dignity, worthy of the statement that human beings are more intelligent than other living beings. If our learning and behavior are governed by this guiding principle, then the potential of our education will be assured in the future.
[Tran Trong Kim, Nho giao, i, ix–x, xii–xiii, xv–xvii, xix–xx, xxii–xxvi, 387–92; trans. Luu Doan Huynh, Jayne Werner, and John Whitmore]
VIETNAM IN THE MODERN AGE (1938)
In his influential An Outline of Vietnamese Culture, Dao Duy Anh (1904–1988) surveyed Vietnamese civilization and culture to assess historic influences and the new directions that Vietnam was taking. In contrast to Tran Trong Kim, Dao Duy Anh viewed Confucianism as only one element in the development of Vietnamese civilization and culture, which he believed was influenced also by economic, geographical, and social factors. His other main concern, as he explains in this excerpt, was how the changes introduced by the French would affect Vietnamese life and culture. To Dao Duy Anh, Westernization would inevitably have a large impact on Vietnamese society and culture.
What will be the impact of this phenomenon of Westernization? In other words, how will the drama of the transition from ancient times to the modern era [in our country] end? As yet, there can be no definitive answer. Here, we wish to consider only a few general views that may be classified according to three main tendencies.
According to the first, ever since our country came into contact with the culture of the West, we have been aware that the reason why Europe and America have been rich and powerful enough to manage the world is that their material culture is one of national wealth and military power. In the East, Japan learned how to imitate their material culture and, in only half a century, became a powerful country. But Japan imitated Western science and technology only while keeping the spirit of Eastern culture. Therefore the materialism of Western culture could not destroy the structure of its society. Our country has been under French control for a little less than half a century and has made some material progress, but at the same time a portion of our youth, passionately interested in new doctrines and no longer holding to the old teachings, have displayed rebellious attitudes toward their families and society. If we wish our country to achieve both material and spiritual power, we must retain the old culture as the substance and adopt the new culture as the practice, meaning that we must harmonize the essence of Eastern culture with the scientific and technical strengths of Western culture.
Some people will respond immediately that such harmonization is an illusion. We cannot separate the spiritual and material aspects of a nation’s culture; they are too closely connected. Our country is weak not only because of its political and economic situation but primarily because of the spirit of the old culture, whose outdated teachings and ideas have strangled and oppressed our people. Our country not only should adopt the science and technology of the West but also should accept its ideas and teachings, because Western culture has a spirit of nobility and strength that stems from the ideals of fraternity, equality, and liberty, as well as the scientific spirit, which cannot be separated from its [political] system and its science and technology.
The third group acknowledges that our culture is corrupt and on the verge of disintegration, unable to resist the competition from Western culture, on both the material and spiritual fronts. Therefore we should not regret this, for there is no way to [go back to the old ways]. But we also should understand what the values of Western society are before we enthusiastically adopt them, as some wish to do. Europeans themselves are skeptical nowadays about a culture of wealth and power that only brings people into terrible conflict—class conflict within and international war without. For every step of progress made, the crueler are the weapons produced for these conflicts. In our country particularly, the influence of Western culture (especially in the social and economic spheres) has created complications in social problems. From this point of view, the path that Europe follows is not a suitable one for us. But these difficulties are not peculiar to our nation, as they are common to most of the people in the world. If we consider the current situation of nations and international conditions, we will see that the world is in a period of grave crisis. In this sad and dangerous situation, only the creation of a completely new culture can save the world….
These three tendencies reflect the attitudes of three groups [in Vietnam]. [They include those who advocate the] harmonization of East and West, complete Europeanization, or fundamental revolution. We now shall attempt to examine the social repercussions of these ideas. Our current society is the product of the impact of Western cultural influences on the foundations of the old society. These influences have given rise to many changes in every sphere of life. We shall mention only a few here.
In ancient times, people were classified in society according to their function. There were four social classes: si, nong, cong, co—intellectuals, farmers, artisans, and traders. The co [thuong nhan (merchants)] were the least respected; in comparison with the si [officials and scholars], the other three classes were commoners. The si were the privileged and propertied class, so we may say that in the old society there were only two classes, the aristocracy and the common people, with no middle class, as [there is] in the modern societies of the West. The aristocracy was not, however, a stable class because the examination system opened the door to every man, whether he was the son of an official or an ordinary man, to study and pass the examinations and thus be promoted into the first rank.50 In addition, the family system created a close bond among the four social classes because sometimes one household had members in all four. The situation today is entirely different, especially in the large cities like Saigon and Hanoi, where a new class has emerged, which consists of wealthy people, such as high-ranking officials, landowners, big businessmen, contractors, merchants, doctors, lawyers, and engineers. The new way of life forces these people to acquire some education. Before their children go out into the world, they have completed high school or college or have graduated from a business or professional school, and they usually occupy positions that are advantageous and very profitable. Together, these wealthy families form the new middle class. They are influential in political circles, and the [colonial] government seems to rely on them to rule the country.
This middle class originally came from the countryside, but gradually they left their native regions to settle in the cities, which are the centers of their activity. They no longer adhere to the old teachings and customs of their ancestors. A large number of young people from the middle class are educated in the new style and are imbued with Western ideas of freedom and individualism. They thus are strongly critical of the old values and live in accordance with the new spiritual and material conditions. They have learned to like multistory European-style houses, with bathrooms, electric lighting and electric fans, spring mattresses, and big armchairs. The arrangement of the house is completely in the modern style. When they go out, they often drive automobiles. In social relationships, their conduct imitates Western styles of behavior. The old conventions of the strict separation of the sexes and the young and old is meaningless to them. Young married couples usually live by themselves [not with their parents]. They entertain their friends in restaurants. They go to work during the day and at night to the movies or to parties. In the old days, women and girls had to stay at home, and young men and women had to maintain the rule of thu thu bat than [no intimacy], but these days crowds of young men and women go out together freely and embrace each other when dancing. Women and girls ride bicycles, drive cars, and wear bathing suits at the beach, all of which is normal. Nearly all middle-class men dress in the Western style, while women and girls have abandoned their former clothing style for “modern” fashions. The [new-]style ao dai [designed] by Lemur and high-heeled sandals are popular because they emphasize the natural shape of the body and make the wearer appear graceful and slender. Some women wear short-sleeved shirts with an open collar.
Marriage is becoming more and more a matter of personal choice. Young professional men usually choose their bride first and then ask for parental approval. If the young man does not have sufficient means, he nevertheless asks his parents’ permission to marry the girl of his choice. Although the parents may still attach importance to the idea of “a marriage between parties of equal rank,” they are not likely to force him to marry according to their wishes. The young people who marry independently are usually far from their family home, so the wife does not have to fulfill the duties of a daughter-in-law, but she still is subject to the authority of her husband. If she works, her husband’s authority is somewhat diminished. The trend among young middle-class people toward independence in matters of love and social relations is further influenced by romantic films and romance novels that are lurid and often harmful.
It is evident, therefore, that in the cities, the middle class now pursues a way of life that is much more independent and luxurious than that of the former agricultural society. They devote themselves to acquiring all the useful elements of Western culture. The more comfortable their living conditions, the more ardent their passion for that culture will become. But we must recognize that this middle class is still inexperienced and is neither as large nor as stable as the European and American middle classes.
In contrast to this middle class, there has arisen a working class in the cities and industrial centers. More and more workers are being employed in the factories of Haiphong, Nam Dinh, Hanoi, Cholon, Saigon, and Vinh and in the mines and rubber plantations. These workers and coolies have crowded in from the countryside, and the products of these factories as well as those of foreign industry are sold everywhere. The new industry therefore influences not only the lives of the workers but also the psychology and customs of the entire population.
In earlier times, the wealth of the people resided in their fields and the local trades and crafts. These days most of it has been diverted to the cities, where it is expended in workshops, stores, and rented housing. As a result, the countryside has steadily become poorer, and in many places, only a few men in an entire district can be described as “well-off.” The poor inhabitants of the countryside are constantly threatened with natural disasters such as floods, droughts, and crop failure. Many of them consequently leave their villages for the city to find work, where they undergo further hardships. In the old days, the family lived together in the countryside, where relatives helped one another in times of misfortune, old age, or illness. Now they live crowded around the workshops, isolated in an area of bitter competition. If they are well, they can look for work, but if they fall ill or are crippled, they have no one to depend on for help. Even though a peasant works hard all day, he is out in the fresh air. He may have only rice and vegetables to eat, but his food is fresh and nutritious. Factory workers and mine coolies work in stagnant air and live in crowded, stuffy apartments or shacks. Their food is processed rice, stale vegetables, and dry fish. (Coolies on the rubber plantations work outdoors, but their diet and housing are similar to those of factory workers.) Such living conditions are harmful not only to the health of the worker but also to his moral life. The slums of the large cities are centers of disease and hotbeds of crime and prostitution.
Since 1937, there has been a small amount of social legislation in French Indochina, and working conditions have improved. Although workers do not have the right to organize unions to defend their interests, they may form associations for mutual assistance in times of misfortune. The strike is a weapon generally used by labor in dealing with capitalists, and although it is not yet legal, workers need to use it now and then to demand reforms in their working conditions.
The middle class and working class are direct products of the new culture. Let us now consider peasants, who have always been the majority in the country (more than 90 percent of the population). How has Europeanization affected their living conditions? Life in the countryside has not changed as much as it has in the city, but peasants who used to plant rice for their food, weave material for their clothing, and grow bamboo to build their houses must now sell their rice to buy other necessities of life sold by merchants from the city. Articles that were considered extraordinary fifteen or twenty years ago, such as bicycles, flashlights, and thermos bottles, are now used by some country people. Soap, matches, and cigarettes are in use almost everywhere. People have learned to travel by automobile, train, or ship. The sedan chairs, palanquins, and horses that served for transportation in the past have become rare or have disappeared altogether. Farming, especially in Nam Viet [that is, the South], employs new methods tested by the Department of Agriculture. Sericulture uses improved species distributed by this agency. Weavers buy factory-spun thread and, in some places, use only artificial silk. In many of the upland rice fields, where droughts were frequent, there now are state-operated irrigation projects, and the harvest has been doubled. Increasing numbers of peasants conduct business with the Agricultural Bank. In a few regions the government has established agricultural cooperatives to help the peasants sell their products. A number of young farm people who have returned to their villages from studying or working in the city have urged reform of communal customs, and some places have abandoned village festivals, ritual banquets, and social-rank competitions. In the villages, the study of quoc ngu [national script] has replaced the study of Chinese characters, and a few villages have schools to teach writing and general subjects to children who are too young to work in the fields.
All this seems to indicate that generally the attitude of the peasants and the Vietnamese people toward Western culture has definitely changed since the time they first came in contact with it.
Rural people no longer regard the French as a race to be feared or consider the products they produce as magical or ludicrous. Intellectuals no longer view European ideas and customs as ridiculous or corrupt. From now on, the Europeanization of our society will deepen. We cannot foresee how far it will go or what difficulties will arise. But one thing we can be sure of is that in the new global culture of the future—in which our country’s culture will have a part—it will be impossible to say whether East or West will play the greater role and whether discrimination and distrust between East and West will be completely eliminated.
[Dao Duy Anh, Viet Nam van hoa su cuong, 332–40; trans. Jayne Werner]
THE NEW CODE AND THREE SPIRIT MESSAGES
The Cao Dai (Great Way of the Third Period of Salvation) religious sect was founded in 1926 in colonial Cochinchina with the aim of “combining” and unifying the world’s religious teachings. Its basic tenets reflected the “three-religions” tradition in Vietnam, the belief that Confucianism, Daoism, and Buddhism come from the same root, and also the popular practice of intermingling these religions. Twentieth-century elements of Christianity and spiritualism were incorporated into Caodaism as well. Among the many deities worshipped by the Cao Dai, the highest was the Jade Emperor, an immortal also known as Cao Dai Tien Ong Dai Bo Tat Ma Ha (Immortal Bodhisattva-Mahasatva who resides in the highest tower [in Heaven]). Spirit messages from the Jade Emperor conveyed the early religious tenets of the Cao Dai, which included the New Code and two collections of spirit writings. Spirit sessions conducted by Cao Dai mediums interpreted oracles transmitted from the spirits, saints, and other deities though mediums’ writings on sand or paper. The Cao Dai believed that the Creator had chosen Vietnam as the site for the third and final attempt to save humankind from its transgressions, the two previous occasions (“eras”) having failed. In Cao Dai eschatology, the Third Period of Salvation incorporates the entire corpus of the world’s religious teachings; if humankind refuses to heed these teachings, the Gates of Heaven will be closed forever. The first text is from the Cao Dai’s New Code (1926), which includes the canonical laws regulating all aspects of Cao Dai religious practice. The excerpt presented here is from the preface of the New Code outlining the religion’s goals. The next three texts are spirit messages from the Jade Emperor transmitted during the autumn of 1926 and the spring of 1927 as the movement was beginning to take shape. The first spirit message explains how to reach salvation by living a moral life and following the religion. The second spirit message describes the cycle of reincarnation and why humans cannot escape this cycle, as well as how to overcome the obstacles in one’s path and reach the Diamond Palace, or nirvana. The third spirit message underlines one of the main characteristics of Caodaism—that enlightenment comes from Cao Dai missionaries’ propagation of the faith. This message also explains the correct, but different, standards of behavior between men and women.
The New Code
All human beings must recognize what is over their heads. The infinite space over our heads is Heaven. The Supreme Being who rules in this space is the Creator, the Celestial Jade Emperor and the Supreme Chief of all the Universe and the Cosmos. This Creator has come today under the name of Cao Dai Tien Ong Dai Bo Tat Ma Hat Tat to found in our Vietnam, through a supernatural and a mysterious communication with the Immortals, a pure religion of high moral and philosophical value to save humanity from the rigors of karmic law.
This religion calls itself the Great Path/Way [Dao] or the Great Religion of the Third Salvation [Amnesty]. In his great love and mercy, the Celestial Jade Emperor calls himself Master and calls us his Disciples. Consequently, we must bring all our respectful adoration to the Creator and all our faith to the religion of his mysterious and miraculous Way.
The aim of the Great Religion consists of embracing and synchronizing the doctrines of the three major religious teachings [of the East]: Confucianism, Buddhism, and Daoism, and harmonizing them into one. This is why in Caodaism, we must observe the basic principles of the Three Religions to improve and purify ourselves by strictly following the three duties and the five cardinal virtues [of Confucianism],51 the three obligations and the five prohibitions [of Buddhism],52 as well as the union of the three jewels and the five elements [of Daoism].53 Whoever is able to fulfill these three religious teachings will reach the level of the Genie-Spirits, the Saints, the Immortals, and the Buddhas.
[Dai Dao Tam Ky Pho Do, Tan Luat, 1; trans. Jayne Werner]
Spirit Message 1
Monday, December 6, 1926 (second day, eleventh month, lunar year binh dan)
Greetings to all disciples, beloved daughters, and believers,
Listen.
I, out of great love and mercy, have founded the Third Amnesty of the Great Way based on love of life, with the purpose of elevating the predestined spirits to higher levels, thereby avoiding reincarnation and bringing the virtuous to a more precious and peaceful domain free of struggle compared with this poor, vile earthly world.
Alas! Many people partake in worldly happiness while ignoring that a moral path would lead them to escape this life. They argue and criticize the Way and Heaven, thinking that they are now in higher secular positions than other people [are], without knowing that only punishment awaits them in hell without the prospect of any pardon.
Whoever is blessed will be in a higher world; whoever is unfortunate will remain confused. Knowing is unknowing. The celestial laws have determined so. In the end, the more meritorious your life, the better world free of struggle you shall have.
It is a rare privilege to be living in the days of the founding of the Religion. It is even rarer to find precious stones in the deep, dark forest after confronting difficulties and hardships in life. It all depends on your state of mind: if you believe the path will be difficult, it will be so. But do not confuse the path of religious virtue with an indecisive mind; otherwise you will regret it.
The Jade Emperor written as Cao Dai Teaching Religion to the Southern Country54
[Cao Dai, “Ngoc-Hoang Thuong De viet Cao Dai giao dao Nam Phuong,” in Dai Dao Tam Ky Pho Do, Thanh Ngon Hiep Tuyen, 1:69–70; trans. Jayne Werner and Jeremy Jammes]
Sunday, December 19, 1926 (fifteenth day, twelfth month, lunar year binh dan)
Listen, children:
Two things that you have not yet learned are the most precious qualities of religion and religious experience. They are improving your consciousness and the capacity of your heart.
Children, you were born here on this earth: you live and suffer here, and you also will die here. Let me ask you: do you know what happens after you die? Where you will go?
None of you understands this miraculous mechanism. I will now teach it to you.
For many thousands of years, all beings have been transformed through the cycle of reincarnation from minerals to plants to animals, finally reaching the stage of human beings. Human beings are themselves divided into different classes on this earth. For example, the class of “emperor” as we understand it on this planet [the sixty-eighth planet] does not even reach the lowest level in the next planet, the sixty-seventh.55 On the sixty-seventh planet, human beings also are placed into different classes. The value of the planets increases as their assigned number decreases, from the three thousandth world to the first. When you pass through the three thousand worlds, you next go through the seventy-two earths, then the four great ethereal continents, and finally the thirty-six celestial kingdoms. Once there, human beings will be reincarnated one more time if they persevere in cultivating themselves. Then they will reach the pinnacle, the Bach Ngoc Kinh [White Jade Palace]. In Buddhism, this place is called nirvana.
Children, you can now understand that all these social categorizations are not really the point. This life has a Celestial rank [a high rank given by Heaven]. It is exactly the same for the class of demons. They have used devious methods to insinuate themselves into the Celestial Palace where they have organized their own hierarchy with corresponding positions for the sole purpose of punishing and harming you. I gave them the great privilege of trying to seduce and tempt you into becoming their servants. I have always told you that if the two sides [of suffering and virtue] are not balanced, there will not be justice. The law of spiritual justice demands this [that is, a life beset by temptations]. Nevertheless, I often have lost many of my disciples to the demons.
I have clearly shown you the different paths between good and evil. I have also shown you the direction to follow so you do not become lost. Children, you are aware that the demons have been reincarnated up in the three thousand worlds, so why would you think there are no demons down among the seventy-two earths? Unfortunately, these demons are innumerable and dispersed everywhere: they are the makers of your illusions and temptations.56
This is why I have warned you: I have placed many ferocious beasts among you and ordered them to devour you. But I also have given each of you the armor to protect yourself. This armor is your virtue, which is invisible to these beasts. Thus, your virtue is the method capable of exterminating the demons and leading you to return to me. Those who are not religious will become slaves of the demons. As I have said, your virtue is like an endless ladder that will help you reach the highest position, my level. I can also lower myself so you can go higher.
Children, I advise you again: if you are not religious, fulfilling your duty honestly and justly, when your soul leaves your body and reaches the next level, how long will it be before you come back to me? Anyone can return to me after only one lifetime if they spend that life in religious practice. This is an enormous privilege I have given you, to save all human beings. Alas! Unfortunately, I have never had the pleasure of seeing anyone who has accomplished this.
Therefore, I repeat: You should admire and respect my religion.
The Jade Emperor written as Cao Dai Teaching Religion to the Southern Country
[Cao Dai, “Ngoc-Hoang Thuong De viet Cao Dai giao dao Nam Phuong,” in Dai Dao Tam Ky Pho Do, Thanh Ngon Hiep Tuyen, 1:74–76; trans. Jayne Werner and Jeremy Jammes]
Spirit Message 3
March 5, 1927
Great Altar at Cau Kho
Children, many of you may think that in order to practice a religion, you have to be completely detached from secular activities, yearning day and night for a secluded place for religious self-improvement. I am telling you now that if you have not paid all your karmic debt and have not accrued enough merit, you cannot become enlightened. In order to be enlightened, you must first accrue merit by bringing salvation to all wandering souls. If you cannot do it in this way, then you may then find other ways, such as self-cultivation, that also can lead to the elevated position of enlightenment. Children, you have to understand my Holy Will in order to cultivate your mind and determine your goals. For any path you choose to take, you will need a spiritual guiding light to see the path clearly with confidence, whether you are a king, a teacher, an artisanal worker, or a Daoist priest. No profession is useless, only people who act unprofessionally.
Dear, beloved women! Daughters, you often look up to people who are higher in status and richer than you are and think that you are unfortunate, whereas you look down on and despise those who are lower and poorer than you are. This is not religious at all! I tell you to open your hearts and love humanity. This would please me. You need to cultivate virtue. Be modest to superiors and generous toward inferiors. Obey this, my daughters!
Men disciples and new disciples, listen, my sons. Under the justice of the Celestial Way, you endure suffering. It is because you do not know how to cultivate the noble mind that I have given you. Your minds still are narrow, which is why you do not make progress and the path becomes increasingly difficult. From now on, sons, you must take heed to adhere to the path of Orthodoxy [the Cao Dai religion], and guide one another to avoid the path of difficulties and sorrows. Sons, do not lose your [moral fiber] because of a desire for personal profit; this would only squander the priceless spiritual light that I have bestowed upon you. Sons, heed Me!
The Celestial Jade Emperor written as Cao Dai Teaching Religion to the Southern Country
[Cao Dai, “Ngoc-Hoang Thuong De viet Cao Dai giao dao Nam Phuong,” in Dai Dao Tam Ky Pho Do, Thanh Ngon Hiep Tuyen, 1:101–2; trans. Jayne Werner and Jeremy Jammes]
WHY WE MUST REVIVE BUDDHISM (1938)
In the 1920s and 1930s, Buddhism underwent a revival as a result of the perception that it was ill equipped to provide the spiritual and philosophical foundation for national progress. The major form of Buddhism practiced in Vietnam is Mahayana Buddhism, as distinct from Theravada Buddhism. Reform-minded Buddhists in the Mahayana tradition promoted stricter standards for monks and nuns, changes in monastic life, translations of sutras and texts from Chinese into the national script, the development of lay instruction as a way to encourage the popularization of Buddhist principles, and educational, charity, and publication initiatives. The Buddhist revival was particularly strong in southern Vietnam, although it also spread to pagodas in the central and northern regions. The monk Tri Hai, a leader of the revival in the north, called for enlightenment through Buddhism as a way to lift Vietnam’s populace from ignorance and dependence on others, as he explained in this February 20, 1938, article in the Vietnamese Buddhist review Torch of Wisdom (Duoc Tue). He advocated pagoda schools to compensate for the dearth of village schools, as well as social programs to cater to the population, which was, in his view, impoverished both materially and spiritually.
Many people have not read the Buddhist sutras and do not understand the teachings of Buddhism. They believe that the pagodas have too many rituals and that Buddhism involves superstition. They also claim that Buddhism acts against people’s desires by forbidding them to eat meat, drink alcohol, smoke opium, have love affairs, and spend big sums on luxurious items and entertainment; that Buddhism is a life-averting and negative religion, is uncivilized and backward, and is even a hindrance to human progress. They claim that Buddhism lulls people to sleep. Alas! How can people with such narrow minds criticize a compassionate religion that has prevailed in the world in both the past and the present and has so many followers? What they do not know is that Buddhism is a positive religion that loves life and is not averse to it. The teachings of Buddhism have an abundance of the spirit of compassion and wisdom, equality, and universal love, courageously progressing in the good and eliminating the evil, enduring disgrace and insults and joyfully letting go, enlightening oneself while enlightening others, benefiting oneself while benefiting others, completely enlightening the world’s people that they must love and help one another, giving up one’s life for righteousness, and even sacrificing life and property, all of which must be considered [a part of] “impermanence.”
Buddhism also teaches that the human body is ephemeral and will disintegrate in a few decades, and therefore when human beings are still healthy, they should perform good and useful deeds for people, society and sentient beings. All the buddhas, bodhisattvas, sages, and worthies also relied on their human bodies to accomplish their mission. Therefore, human beings must cultivate themselves and not allow their bodies to be wasted. To this end, they must do away with excessive desires for position, fame, and wealth, which are like drops of honey on a sharp blade that cuts the tongue of whoever licks it. The Lord Buddha warned people against excessive greed and advised them to focus on fidelity, filial piety, righteousness, and ethical behavior to attain ever-lasting spiritual pleasure. The Buddha taught that overindulgence in sexual pleasure is like drinking poison to relieve one’s thirst: a liquid that at first makes you feel less thirsty but afterward enters the body and gives you innumerable terrible illnesses. When intoxicated, you cannot comprehend the dangers at hand, and you tend to think that you are doing the right thing. The Buddha and other sages were well aware of such evils, and out of extreme pity for human beings, they composed sermons and teachings to awaken people [to their follies]. So Buddhism definitely does not tell people to put aside progress or lull people to sleep. Regrettably, few people are able to grasp and abide by the correct teachings of the Lord Buddha, and therefore few of them enjoy the benefits of Buddhism, like people who are unable to eat good food to which they have access and therefore cannot appreciate its delights.
It is wrong to regard ritual as a troublesome thing and as superstition. Because we live in the world, polite and courteous behavior shows that someone is honest and good. Courtesy entails certain rites that should not be construed as superstitious. When we perform rituals in honor of Confucius or at the Hung kings’ temple,57 or offer wreaths on the death anniversaries of meritorious mandarins and heroes and righteous persons, this is not superstition. The same applies to the Lord Buddha, whose teachings guide people to understand self-cultivation, mutual affection and respect, sinfulness and blessedness, the law of cause and effect, samsara, and the karmic rewards of good and evil. If the world correctly abides by the Lord Buddha’s teachings, everyone will attain peace. If humankind closely abides by his teachings, all will enjoy happiness and serenity of mind. For these reasons, people respect the Lord Buddha and worship him. But he does not require this. He was a king with immense power and wealth, and yet he gave it all up, left home to retreat [from daily life], and undertook self-cultivation and practice in order to find the genuinely right path and, subsequently, to educate human beings. The Lord Buddha does not require worship from humans. In performing rituals in his honor, people are inspired by his wise example and try to follow it in order to escape desire and suffering and to achieve liberation. He said that all sentient beings have enough virtue and wisdom to cultivate and ultimately become a buddha. It is regrettable that sentient beings are not willing to follow the Buddha’s teachings. But all this shows how egalitarian Buddhism is.
About our people now, let us mention the extent to which morality, customs, manners, and mores have deteriorated and human hearts have gone astray; the suffering to which people have been subjected; the murder of fathers by their children and the murder of husbands by their wives; and the great amount of chaos. How many persons have no food, no clothing, and no employment and have put up with so much suffering in their precarious lives? These people are like trees without roots, like duckweed floating about aimlessly, not knowing which direction to take. As for spiritual suffering, in any village today, how many children do not attend school and just play in the mud? They will become foolish and stupid and will be bullied, with others riding on their necks and becoming their slaves forever. They will be ignorant of moral principles. If this happens in a particular village, it will affect the district, the county, the province, and the region. How many children have no place to learn, with no one to teach them? How can the nation ever make progress? Thus, spiritual suffering is even greater than material suffering.
While the government has done much in the area of education, [the existing] schools and teachers cannot meet the needs of a growing population. Each village has about three hundred to four hundred children, while its school can accommodate, at most, fifty to seventy or one hundred children. Therefore, how can we offer universal education? To fill the gap, we need to revive Buddhism and impart the teachings of the Buddha to enlighten the population. To this end, our association has set up a research committee on the Buddha’s teachings, to translate them into Vietnamese and publish them as books and in Duoc Tue [Torch of Wisdom] journal so that Buddhist followers can understand the Buddha’s teachings and the Way and follow it.
The lecture committee has decided that on every first and fifteenth of each lunar month, the pagodas will teach the Buddhist sutras to the public so that Buddhist followers may properly understand the teachings of their own religion. Our association has set up a sutra recitation and prayer committee for people who are sick or injured and will hold prayer sessions to help them heal. For those facing death and for the departed, we will hold prayer sessions to ensure a safe journey to Heaven/rebirth for their souls. We have established a Buddhist school for training monks and nuns so many talented people will have knowledge of the Buddhist sutras and monastic rules and can go out and propagate the dharma with benefit for all sentient beings. Our association also should do charity work. In case of calamities and emergencies, our association should think of ways to provide relief. If a pagoda is destroyed or damaged, the association will, depending on its financial circumstances, help with renovation or repairs. When villagers wish to open a school to teach children the Buddhist sutras and teachings, the association will provide them with well-trained monks and nuns as teachers. The Committee on Children’s Education will help children thoroughly learn the rituals, recitations, and Buddhist teachings, so that they will become filial children and be a help to their families and will do good things for society; truly this is very precious.
All pagodas should have a library to make available to the people sutras, books, and journals about Buddhism. Each pagoda is a public space, must be repaired, look dignified and splendid and have flower gardens where people can enjoy the scenery and worship. In this way, each pagoda will be a place of worship, a school to teach the sutras to Buddhists, a library, and a public park for the whole village. Is this not [the way] to be civilized?
At present, the objective of our association is to make as many people as possible understand and abide by the principles of Buddhism. To this end, the branches of our association and its members should strengthen their religious devotion, encourage more people to join the association and to read our books and journals, and should provide financial assistance to the Buddhist schools, making further study possible so that many people can propagate Buddhism to benefit all sentient beings. In this way, everyone will return to the right path and enjoy peace and happiness together. We thus will earn immeasurable merit.
[Tri Hai, “Vi sao ma phai chan hung Phat Giao,” 8–12; trans. Elise DeVido]
THE WAY TO PRACTICE RELIGION AND RULES FOR EVERYDAY LIFE (1945)
The Hoa Hao (Peace and Harmony) was a new Buddhist movement founded in 1939 by the charismatic Huynh Phu So in the western Mekong Delta. The religion grew out of a century-old tradition of Buddhist millenarianism as well as the 1930s Buddhist revival movement, and it also was based on religious practices prevalent among the southern peasantry. In the 1940s, Huynh Phu So systematized Hoa Hao precepts, emphasizing home worship and simple Buddhist rituals. In addition to the principles of self-cultivation, filial piety, and the “Four Gratitudes,” Huynh Phu So stressed the Buddhist dharma, the Three Treasures, and the Eight Noble Truths. The Hoa Hao eschewed an elaborate sangha (there are no Hoa Hao temples) and an elaborate Buddhist ritual statuary. This text, written in 1945, is an excerpt from “The Way to Practice Religion and Rules for Everyday Life,” which also demonstrates Huynh Phu So’s strong emphasis on national affairs and concerns for the world at large.
Fundamental Precepts Hoa Hao Buddhists Should Know
There always have been two categories of Buddhists, those who leave their families and become monks and those who practice Buddhism at home. Monks and nuns who have left home, their native villages, and their friends live permanently in a Buddhist temple or in the mountains and spend the rest of their lives praying, taking care of temples, cultivating virtue, and purifying their minds in order to explain and help people understand and practice Buddhism are not interested in temporal matters. [Rather,] their family and home are their world, and their relatives are all of humanity. Monks devote themselves to their religion in order to become buddhas and free themselves from the cycle of reincarnation.
Those who practice Buddhism at home are all of us—men and women believers who cannot leave their homes to become monks or nuns because they feel bound to their country, their families, and their fellow countrymen. These are people who cannot become monks or nuns. They are eager, however, to acclaim and praise the ideals of mercy, compassion, and the universal concord of Buddhism and the law of cause and effect [karma] as preached by the Buddha. Therefore they worship Buddha at home, take vows to take refuge in the religion, observe a number of abstinences, read books of prayers to improve themselves, and assist the monks. In so doing, they gradually achieve release from their attachments. These persons study Buddhism in order to gradually reach deliverance.
From the preceding, we can see that in our religion, we belong to the group of people who practice Buddhism at home and study Buddhism in order to improve ourselves.
The Four Debts of Gratitude
We read in an ancient book the following: “In thousands of Buddhist prayer books, filial piety and righteousness are always taught first.” Now that we have taken refuge in Buddhism and practice it at home, let us do our best to obey our master in observing filial piety.
Our Buddha master of Tay An [Western Peace] used to advise us that in order to observe filial piety, we must strive to comply with four debts of gratitude.
1. Be thankful to our ancestors and parents.
2. Be thankful to our country.
3. Be thankful to the Three Treasures [Buddha, the Buddhist law, and the sangha].
4. Be thankful to our compatriots and to humanity (for monks, gratitude to donors).
GRATITUDE TO OUR ANCESTORS AND OUR PARENTS
We are born with a body to be active from childhood to adulthood and [our parents nurture] us in wisdom and knowledge. Do we realize how much our parents have sacrificed for all these years? [Remember that] our ancestors gave birth to our parents and that we should be grateful to our ancestors as [much as] we are grateful to our parents.
To show our gratitude to our parents, we must learn from the good things they have taught us and must not cause them any trouble. If our parents did anything wrong or acted against ethical principles, we should do our best to advise and prevent them from doing so. We also should support them and keep them from hunger and illness. To please our parents, we should strive to achieve harmony among our brothers and sisters and to bring happiness to our family. We pray for our parents to enjoy happiness and a long life. When they die, we pray for their souls to be freed from suffering in the land of the Buddhist kingdom.
To show our gratitude to our ancestors, let us not do anything wicked or that would bring shame to our family name. If our ancestors did anything wrong, or left a legacy of suffering to their descendants, we should dedicate ourselves to acting in accordance with moral principles in order to restore our honor.
GRATITUDE TO OUR COUNTRY
Our ancestors and our parents gave birth to us, but we owe our living to our country and our native land. Because we enjoy the fruits of our land, it is our duty to defend our country if we want our life to be sustained and our race to survive. Let us help safeguard our country, making it strong and prosperous. Let us try to liberate our country from foreign domination. We are safe only when our nation is strong and wealthy.
Let us try our best to dedicate ourselves to our country in accordance with our strength and ability. If we lack the talent to assume important responsibilities or the opportunity to help our country, we must try to avoid doing erroneous things that may damage it. We must not help the enemy in harming our native land.
This is how we show our gratitude to our country.
GRATITUDE TO THE THREE TREASURES
What are the Three Treasures? They are the Buddha, the teachings of Buddhism, and the sangha. People are born and brought up thanks to their ancestors and parents. They owe their existence to their country; this is the physical aspect of life. To open their minds in their spiritual life, people need the help of the Buddha, the teachings of Buddhism, and the monks. The Buddha is the most flawless and perfect creature who is infinitely compassionate and determined to save living creatures from misfortune and suffering. That is why he bequeathed his teachings to the monks to disseminate them throughout the world. Monks are none other than Buddha’s great disciples. The Buddha always guides and saves human beings from bewilderment and suffering, so we must respect him and believe and have confidence in his work in saving the world, [by] complying with his teachings as conveyed by the monks. Our ancestors knew the miraculous and deep love of the Buddha for human beings. They respected and venerated the Buddha, acted in compliance with his teachings, and cultivated and strengthened our religion in order to expand it, thus building a foundation of peerless and unparalleled virtue bequeathed to posterity.
It therefore is our duty to follow our ancestors’ highest virtues, to have a clear mind in order to reach the path of release from suffering, and to help those who fall into misfortune. In particular, we must continue to cultivate compassion and fraternity everywhere among humanity. Only then will we not be ungrateful to the magnificent work left by the Buddha and our ancestors and not be remiss in our obligations to future generations.
GRATITUDE TO OUR FELLOW COUNTRYMEN AND HUMANITY
From the day we are born, we are dependent on those around us, and as we grow up, this dependence increases. We need other people to produce the rice that feeds us, the clothes that keep us warm, and the houses that shelter us from storms. We share happy times and misfortunes with them. We and they have the same skin color and speak the same language. Together we form a nation. Who are these people? They are those we call our fellow countrymen. We and our compatriots come from the same race, have the same illustrious and heroic history, help one another in distress, and have the common task of building a bright future for our country. We have a close relationship with our compatriots, are indivisible, and cannot be detached from one another. We would never be where we are without them. Therefore, we must do our best to help them and show them gratitude in some way for the assistance we have received from them.
Besides our compatriots, there are other peoples in the world, those who work hard to supply us with what we need. They consist of the human race and the people who live with us on this earth. What would become of us if there were no other human beings? Would we have enough materials for our needs? Would we be able to be self-sufficient? In brief, would we be able to cope with natural disasters, illness, and dangers and maintain our present standard of living all by ourselves? Definitely not. Therefore we need humankind, that is, other people, and we must be grateful to them. We need to think of them in the same way as we do of ourselves and our own kind.
Moreover, Buddha’s mercy and compassion are very wide and deep. They are boundless without discriminating on the basis of race, color, or social status and are bestowed on all living creatures, because there is only one humanity.
There is, therefore, no valid reason for us to harm other people for our own sake alone or for that of our fellow countrymen. On the contrary, we should have a spirit of concord and indulgence toward them and make it our duty to help them in case of distress.
Monks and nuns who have taken refuge in Buddhism should, in addition to their gratitude, as stated earlier, be directly thankful to their donors who supply them with their daily needs. They depend on donors for the rice, clothes, and medicine that they need to live. Finally, they are entirely dependent on the kindness of people for their life. They are deeply indebted to everyone. They should, therefore, guide humankind in the search for truth in order to show their gratitude for the favors received.
How a Hoa Hao Buddhist Worships and Conducts Celebrations
WORSHIP
Up until now, too many statues have been displayed in pagodas and temples. Although some of these statues were created to worship the Buddha, others have been abused for financial gain. We should not create more of them. We do not wish to cast aspersions on how worship is conducted in temples and pagodas. We must respect the way that worship in pagodas is conducted by the monks. But for those who practice their religion at home, there is no need to create more images; let our worship be simple, and let our faith come directly from our hearts instead of aiming at ostentatious presentation. Until now, we have always worshipped the relics left by our master Buddha of Tay An. But recently, many people believed that the red color we used to use for worship had been appropriated by those who worked against the rules and the ideals of the Buddha. This is why we adopted brown as our color. Furthermore, monks use brown to symbolize taking the holy orders. Since brown is the combination of all the other colors, it symbolizes the harmony of humankind without distinction to race or individual. That is why we use brown where we worship to represent Buddha’s sublimity.
If one’s house is narrow, all one needs is an incense burner on an altar to worship Heaven, because religious observance primarily consists of improving oneself rather than overt acts of worship. People who have Buddhist statues in their homes can keep them. But they should not use paper images, and should burn them. People who live with other individuals in the same house who have not taken the vows, who belong to a different religion, or whose house is too small for worship, can, when praying to the Buddha, pray in a low voice.
When praying and presenting offerings to the Buddha, only fresh water, flowers, and incense sticks are required. Fresh water represents cleanliness, flowers represent purity, and incense is used to freshen the air. These offerings are sufficient. One can use any offerings to pray to one’s ancestors.
Besides praying to the Buddha and worshipping our ancestors, grandparents, parents, and our country’s heroes, we should not worship any spirits with whose origins we are unfamiliar.
RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES
One prostrates oneself only before the Buddha, one’s ancestors, grandparents (while still alive), and parents (also while still alive), and national heroes. Let us stop prostrating before those who are living. Even to our master, we only bow.
We must think very carefully about our actions in our religion and in society and not do crazy and absurd things. First, we should not take advantage by relying on the powerful. Second, we should not rely on the help of saints and spirits. Third, we should not count on the support of our master. We must always remember the Buddha’s law of cause and effect. If the cause is well intentioned, the effect will be beneficial as well. Those who act in a crazy manner without thinking carefully will end up failing, encountering difficulties, and suffering. Afterward, they will blame powerful people for not having saved them or reproach our master and the Buddha for not having blessed them. Such erroneous thinking is pitiful.
Let us all use our intelligence to understand our religion’s principles and our master’s teachings and not blindly follow precepts that we have not thought about carefully. Only by doing so will we be able to progress on the path of religious virtue.
We hope that these explanations of our fundamental precepts will be carefully pondered by all our followers and acted on in order to eliminate crazy superstitions held by a small number of people in our religion, so that the spirit of virtue and peace of Buddhism can be rapidly expanded.
FUNERALS
When our grandparents or parents die, we maintain the ancient mourning customs with some modifications, as follows:
Now that we have taken refuge in religion, prayers for the release of the dead person’s soul from suffering in the next world must come from our sincere praying and from that of our coreligionists. We should not send for sorcerers to offer flowers and burn votive paper because this is a waste of money. We must realize that the body is destructible, and it should be buried discreetly without letting it decompose, which is harmful to the living.
Filial piety should be shown during the deceased’s lifetime and should spring from the religious life one leads and from sincerity in prayers and not from calling in an outside person to lead the prayers. All one has to do is to set up an altar in the middle of the house or in the open air for prayers and to bury the dead discreetly.
To venerate grandparents and parents, we can offer anything that we have on hand on death anniversary days, as is customary. One is free to invite guests for the meals on these occasions. Everything should be done simply, conveniently, and in a way that does not waste money.
HOW TO PRAY FOR THE DEAD
One stands before the Buddha’s altar and prays: “Hail our Master Buddha Sakyamuni” (three times) and “Hail Amida Buddha” (three times). Then one prays: “Buddha, Master Buddha, I now sincerely pray for (name of the deceased) who, thanks to Merciful Buddha, has saved the soul of (name of the deceased) from the path of error and has been able to go to Paradise.”
At home as well as during the funeral, we should walk in procession and pray: “Hail the Buddhist Paradise of Tay-Phuong [of the West], Hail the multitude of Buddhas most merciful, lead the soul of the dead, Amida Buddha.” (If the deceased is a monk, the last sentence will be: Lead the religious official, Amida Buddha.)
Note: The bereaved family should not cry but pray quietly for the deceased, because crying will hinder the release of the dead person’s soul from suffering in the next world.
MARRIAGE
The duty of parents is to choose a suitable spouse for their children by carefully observing the characters of the boy and girl. They should not force their children to accept a match if it would cause them to be miserable later, but they should also not give them too much freedom to choose whom they wish, as their lack of experience may lead them to become spoiled and bad persons. The custom of asking for expensive marriage gifts from the bridegroom’s family should be abandoned. The parents of the two parties should not cause each other difficulties. In addition, big banquets and pretentious celebrations should not be held because the costs will only impoverish us.
[Adapted from Giao-Hoi Phat-Giao Hoa Hao, Tieu-su va giao-ly cua Duc Huynh Gao-Chu, 59–65, 79–83; trans. Jayne Werner]
1. Since 1874, when the French first intervened in northern Vietnam.
2. Zao Mo, a seventh-century B.C.E. general of Lu, was defeated by the Ji and forced to give up his territory in return for peace. He later reconquered it.
3. General Zhang Xun defended Sui Yang against the son of An Lushan in the mid-eighth century. After Sui Yang’s defeat, he was put to death after refusing to pledge allegiance to the victor.
4. Nguyen Tri Phuong, the commander of the Hanoi citadel when French forces seized it in an earlier raid in 1873, committed suicide just before the citadel fell. Nguyen Tri Phuong also was the commander in chief of the Vietnamese army when it was defeated by Franco-Spanish forces near Saigon in 1861.
5. See Le Duy Mat, “Proclamation to Rally Troops” (chap. 4). Also notice the historical reference to “grasping the spears” in note 10.
6. King Dai of the Zhou dynasty (ca. 1100–256 B.C.E.) left his territory, which was under pressure from the barbarians, and fled to the mountains. All his people followed him.
7. This refers to Tang Xuanzong’s flight during An Lushan’s rebellion.
8. Liuzhu of Qin said: “I rest my head on my sword, awaiting the morning to behead the enemy.”
9. Emperor Qin Shihuang di of the Qin dynasty (221–207 B.C.E.) declared as he beat his oars against a bark: “If I fail to pacify these rebels, I shall never cross this river again.”
10. The Vietnamese general Tran Quang Khai composed the following poem during the battles against the thirteenth-century Mongol invasion:
At the port Chuong Duong, I grasped the enemy’s spears
At the pier of Ham Tu, I captured their chief
We must strive for peace
Our mountains and rivers shall last forever
11. Diao Gan of Qin strengthened his determination to resist the enemy by rolling a jar to and from his house every day.
12. The identity of Gu Yuan is unknown.
13. In the seventh century B.C.E., Zhao Zui followed Zhong Er, the son of Duke Xian of Qin, into exile among the tribes of the north. On his return, Zhao Zui was rewarded with the post of prime minister.
14. Guo Ziyi (697–781) was a renowned Chinese general. In 763, the Turfans invaded Shanxi and seized the capital. The emperor was forced to flee. Guo Ziyi then collected four thousand demoralized troops and managed to drive out the Turfans so that in 764 the emperor could return to the capital.
15. Li Guangbi cooperated with Guo Ziyi.
16. See Nguyen Truong To, “A Plan for Making the People Wealthy and the Country Strong” (chap. 5).
17. The official French terms for Annam and Tonkin were “protectorates,” and Cochinchina was called a “colony.”
18. Meng Bi was a warrior of the Warring States period (475–221 B.C.E.), said to be capable of great feats of strength.
19. Called tien si.
20. Jie was the last king of the Xia dynasty (which ended around the sixteenth century B.C.E.), whose reign was known for its cruelty and tyranny.
21. See Phan Chau Trinh, “Monarchy and Democracy” (this chap.).
22. In Shanxi Province in China.
23. Guo and Yu were allied states in the Spring and Autumn period (722–481 B.C.E.). The state of Jin wished to conquer them, but together, they were too powerful. So Jin turned them against each other and thus was able to conquer them individually.
24. Also known as Zhang Liang, Zhang Zifang was an adviser to Liu Bang (r. 206–194 B.C.E.), the first emperor of the Han dynasty (206 B.C.E.–220 C.E.).
25. The Duke of Zhou was the regent for the second king of the Zhou dynasty who helped consolidate its rule.
26. This is an allusion to wealthy families.
27. Yi Yin was the prime minister for Tang, the founder of the Shang dynasty (ca. 1600–1100 B.C.E.).
28. After the death of the Han emperor Gaozu (r. 206–194 B.C.E.), his wife, the empress Lu, appointed members of her family, the Lu clan, to many important positions, thereby endangering the rule of the Han imperial family, the Liu. Zhou Bo became a general in the army, and one day announced to the soldiers that they should fasten their clothes on the left if they were loyal to the Lu and on the right if they were loyal to the Liu. They all fastened their clothes on the right, showing their loyalty to the Liu family, and thereafter the rule of the Liu was safe.
29. This is a quotation from the “Seven Step Poem” by Cao Zhi (192–232). He composed it as a retort to his jealous brother, the emperor of Wei, who told him that if he could not compose a poem while walking seven steps, he would be sentenced to death. This line refers to discord between brothers.
30. Jing Ke was an assassin who tried and failed to kill the first emperor of the Qin dynasty and was killed by the emperor’s guard.
31. Nie Zheng was an assassin from the state of Han during the Warring States period who killed the prime minister of Han and then committed suicide.
32. Huang Gai was a famous general from the Eastern Han dynasty (25–220).
33. Yu Rang was an official for Earl Zhi of Jin (d. 453 B.C.E.). After the state of Jin was split into three states and Earl Zhi had been killed, Yu Rang tried twice to assassinate Viscount Xiang of Zhao, the ringleader of the plot to divide Jin, to avenge his lord. Fu Chai (d. 473 B.C.E.) was the king of the state of Wu. His father had been killed by King Goujian of Yue state, and he employed someone to stand at the entrance to his courtyard to remind him of the insult whenever he went in or out, so that he would not lose his thirst for revenge.
34. This may refer to the centuries-old Bao Thien Thap (tower), destroyed by the French two decades earlier.
35. Fukuzawa Yukichi (1835–1901) was a Japanese political theorist whose ideas greatly influenced the modernization of Japan after the Meiji Restoration in 1868.
36. See Nguyen Truong To, “A Plan for Making the People Wealthy and the Country Strong” (chap. 5).
37. Established in 1896 to provide Western-style education for the children of the political elite, the National Academy was the successor to the Quoc Tu Giam, which previously had prepared scholars for the traditional civil service examinations and future careers as government officials.
38. Xunzi, “Jundao” (The Way of the Sovereign), in Kadokawa daijiten (Kadokawa Dictionary), ed. Ozaki Yujirō et al. (Tokyo: Kadokawa shoten, 1992), 1003. [All notes and bracketed comments in this selection are the translator’s]
39. Mencius, book 7 (Li Lou, part I), in Han-Ying sishu (The Four Books in Chinese and in English), trans. James Legge and annotated Luo Zhiye (Hunan: Hunan chubanshe, 1992), 388–89.
40. Phan Chau Trinh purposely addressed the Tu Duc emperor as “Mr.” to demonstrate his lack of respect for him.
41. Literally, “one hundred households.” The original Chinese term was used in Vietnam to refer to persons of great wealth.
42. Nguyen Thong (1827–1884) was a native of Gia Dinh (present-day Long An Province). After the outbreak of the French military campaign against Vietnam in 1859, Nguyen Thong helped defend Nam Ky. After Nam Ky was lost, Nguyen Thong “took refuge” in Trung Ky (in central Vietnam), where he served as the provincial governor of Quang Ngai from 1868 to 1871.
43. In 1913, Phan Xích Long (Phan, “the Red Dragon”) declared that he was the “crown prince” of the Ham Nghi emperor and led an uprising in Saigon against the colonial government. He was soon arrested and imprisoned.
44. The source of the quote is unknown.
45. See Pham Quynh, “Intellectual and Moral Reform” and “Kim Van Kieu and the National Language” (both in this chap.).
46. Bui Quang Chieu was the leader of the moderate Constitutionalist Party, and Nguyen Phan Long was one of his associates. Drs. Nguyen Van Thinh and Tran Van Don were prominent in Saigon political circles, and Luu Van Lang was celebrated as a product of the French education system.
47. See Minh Mang Emperor, “Ten Moral Precepts” (chap. 5).
48. This refers to Aristotle’s paradox of a jackass placed between two stacks of hay that will starve to death due to indecision.
49. See Quang Trung Emperor, “Edict on Ascending the Throne” (chap. 4), and Minh Mang Emperor, “Ten Moral Precepts” (chap. 5).
50. Except for sons of theater people (singers on the margins of society) and prostitutes, who were not permitted to take the examinations [note in the original text].
51. The three duties are between king and subject, father and children, and husband and wife. The five cardinal virtues are love or brotherhood, justice or faithfulness, good behavior or politeness, wisdom, and loyalty.
52. The three obligations are to the Buddha, to his law, and to his community. The five prohibitions are do not kill, do not steal, do not commit lewd acts, do not abuse the use of alcohol or live a high life, and do not tell lies.
53. The three jewels are matter, spirit, and soul. The five elements are metal, air, water, fire, and earth.
54. Spirit messages were transmitted in séances conducted by mediums who wrote down the messages in trays of sand or on paper. Hence the author of a divine message identified himself or herself by means of a written symbol.
55. The earth is the sixty-eighth out of seventy-two worlds. According Caodaism, the current sixty-eighth Blue Planet is part of the third and last cycle before the end of the world.
56. Thus Cao Dai, or the Jade Emperor, grants demons the ability to hinder humans’ self-cultivation, divert them from the Great Way, and prevent them from achieving nirvana.
57. See “A Vietnamese Antiquity” and “The Literati’s New Worldview” (both in chap. 2).