Han Mac Tu - A Pious But Unfortunate Lamb

to the formation and development of religion and contribute to deepening and enriching social origins.

1.1.2. The nature of religion

Before C. Marx, thinkers studied the nature of religion from many different perspectives. Idealists and theologians both mystified religion, considering religion as a mysterious, eternal phenomenon that existed before humans.

The materialists before Karl Marx, the most prominent of whom was Ludwig Feuerbach, had made correct observations when they said: "The secret of religion, in the end, is only the secret of the combination in the same entity, consciousness and the unconscious, the will and the non-will" [31, p.70], which is: "The identity of the subjective and the objective" [31, p.70]. However, due to his idealistic, metaphysical view of society, Ludwig Feuerbach could not thoroughly solve the problem of the nature of religion.

Inheriting the views of materialists, the classics of Marxism-Leninism, in their works, put forward basic ideas, laying the foundation for the correct study of the nature of religion.

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In the preface to the work Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right , C. Marx wrote: "Man gives birth to religion, not religion gives birth to man. Religion is the self-consciousness, self-perception of those who have not yet found themselves or have lost themselves again" [7, p.569]. Developing the thought of C. Marx, in the work " Anti-Duhring ", F. Engels wrote: "Any religion is an illusory reflection in people's minds of external forces that control their daily lives; it is only a reflection in which worldly forces have taken the form of super-worldly forces" [8, p.437].

From the thoughts of the classics, it can be affirmed that the essence of religion is an illusory reflection of the objective world in the minds of people who have not found themselves, or have lost themselves again .

First of all, it is necessary to affirm that “religion is nothing more than an illusory reflection of the objective world”. The origin and content of the existence and development of religion are determined by the objective world. Religion does not have a historical origin separate from the objective world. To find the origin, content, form and driving force of the movement and development of religion, we must find it right in objective reality, in the existence of religion.

in society and in the history of human society development. This is an important content that shows the dialectical materialist view of history in studying and examining the nature of religion. Departing from this content will lead to an idealist view, unable to correctly perceive the nature of religion.

Studying the doctrines and precepts of major religions, which were born very early, such as Buddhism (6th century BC) and Christianity (1st century BC), all have content advising people not to steal. Buddhism also considers "right livelihood", living by an honest profession as one of the eight noble paths to escape suffering. That content both reflects the existence of the private ownership system and affirms that many rich specialized professions have appeared in society. In particular, the "Nirvana" of Buddhism, the "Paradise" of Judaism, or the "Heaven" of Christianity are just a vivid picture, describing the prosperous life of agricultural residents in the years of favorable weather and bountiful crops.

God, the Divine Being, the Jade Emperor are just perfect, perfect images, concentrating all the best and most beautiful qualities of both physical and spiritual aspects of real people. In essence, it is the deification of an autocratic king with unlimited power, governing and controlling his country and his people.

However, the reflection of religion on objective reality is not a normal, correct, honest reflection, but an illusory, fabricated reflection . This is the most basic content that constitutes the nature of religion, determining the birth, existence and specific functions of religion. Without this basic content, all beliefs, religions, and all elements that constitute religion will not exist.

Religion not only reverses, considers: "Objective nature is considered subjective, the nature of the natural world is different from the natural world, considered as human nature, human nature is different from human, considered as non-human nature" [20, p.71], but also denies all objective laws, all thoughts and creative actions of human. On the other hand, religion also attributes all existence, movement, and change of the world, from human cognitive activities to the movement of vast galaxies, to depend on the will of the supernatural, serving the supernatural. Therefore, religion not only reflects distorted objective situations and capabilities, but also denies objective laws, does not

Religion not only distorts the laws of nature and society, but also distorts the laws of movement of thinking; religion is not only wrong in the way of posing and solving problems, but also wrong in the way of ending the problem. It is a long chain of consecutive erroneous reflections in both content and method. Therefore, the reflections of religion are basically worthless in theory and practice, and are even the source of great disasters for the development of nature, society and human beings.

Moreover, religious consciousness, which is essentially the result of a level of emotional reflection, is the "emotional form" of people who have not yet found themselves, or have lost themselves again.

The birth of religion is associated with people who have not yet realized their position and role, have not yet mastered nature and society, or have lost their role, position and reason in the process of perceiving and transforming the objective world. These people not only create false symbols, consider false symbols to be real in the objective world, but also entrust their lives and extremely precious lives to those false symbols. Therefore, all religious teachings and laws that aim to guide people to believe in the supernatural cannot survive the judgment of the "court" of reason. And perhaps because of the awareness of this problem, Christianity has assumed that the greatest sin (original sin) of humans towards God and towards religion is deliberately eating the "tree of reason" [4, p.68].

Therefore, religion is truly childish, "the childhood of humanity" [20, p. 64]. Criticizing religion is making people escape from illusion, so that people can think rationally" [7, p. 570].

Thus, the content of religion is always the unity between the virtual and the real, in which the virtual and the fabricated occupy an absolute proportion, playing a leading role, overwhelming and covering up almost all of the real. The real is shown as a need to be compensated for emotions, reason and strength to reach a prosperous and happy life; a desire to escape and resist the society that forces people to give birth to religion, to need religion. Although it is degraded, negated and occupies an extremely small proportion, the real is never completely lost, it is still the condition, the premise for the existence of the virtual, of religion. As Phoiơbắc wrote: "In religion, in addition to illusion, the practical side of seeking the better, seeking protection and help is extremely important.

"important" [20, p. 63]. Furthermore, the entire process of birth, existence, movement, and development of religion as well as religious activities is both a manifestation and a process of resolving the contradiction between the virtual and the real.

1.2. Religious inspiration in literature

It is not by chance that not only the Bible but also the Koran and the Vedas are literary masterpieces. Ethics, philosophy, religion and art are objects of the superstructure, which have long had a close and mutual relationship. Ethics, especially philosophy, have a strong impact on art, but religion is closely linked to art in a separate way. No matter how profound philosophy is, no matter how noble morality is, it is aimed at explaining the world or guiding real life. Religion always points to another world, so it is easy to encounter the ideal nature of art rising above reality. Feurerbach made a rather profound comment: Religion is poetry, one can say so because faith is a product of imagination.

True literature always guides people to reach for beauty and goodness, making people more and more perfect. Art was born in the dawn of human history. Originating from the need for labor and world perception, originating from the need to communicate thoughts and feelings, art was formed and developed continuously. When human thinking developed, art developed to a high level, then works of art became spiritual food for people.

Literature and art reflect the reality of human life on earth, where people live with a jumble of tormenting thoughts, with joys and sorrows, where people are born, develop, grow old, and die, where human lives are born and die. Literature and art never escape from life. It takes material from rich and complex life and filters it through the creative process of the writer to build artistic images.

Unlike art, Religion is a form of denial of reality, an escape from the reality of earthly life. Religion directs people to the sublime sacred world, the abode of the noble, immortal gods. The world of Religion is a world built by imagination, built by holy dreams.

That is the world of eternal life, where the human soul will be at peace and tranquil in the care of the Supreme Being.

Art and Religion are two different forms of social consciousness. The nature of Religion and Art are not the same, but these two forms of consciousness have certain meeting and intersection points. That convergence point is the mysterious regions of the human soul, the desire to compensate for the limitations and deficiencies in human life in reality.

That is why Religion has long been an attractive subject for art. Not only literature, but also many famous works in the fields of music, painting, and sculpture focus on the theme of Religion. Not only is it a subject, but Religion has also become an endless source of inspiration for poets….

Poetry is the crystallization of life's reality, the beautiful expression of people and the times. Poetry does not only talk about life but also about religion, poetry not only reflects the emotional relationships between people but also reflects the consciousness of people and the natural world. Poetry reflects the expression of social people but also reflects the spiritual people. Religion has borrowed the form of art to convey the content of its doctrine and faith.

Therefore, in some poets, religious inspiration penetrates the content of poetic inspiration, including poets Han Mac Tu and Huy Can.

The poems of these two poets reflect both life on earth and the spiritual world of people in paradise. There is a point of intersection between religion and art in these two poets, but the degree of intensity is different. One is a devout Christian, known as the "poet of the holy army" who speaks the language of his religion, while the other is a pagan (Huy Can) with the perspective of an outsider. But if religion is an endless source of inspiration for Han Mac Tu to help the author experience pain, it is the most vivid and effective material for Huy Can to talk about life from religion.

The religion that these two poets turned to was none other than Buddhism and Christianity. These are two of the largest religions in the world and have a large number of followers.

Buddhism was introduced to Vietnam very early, right from the beginning of the Common Era with the legend of Chu Dong Tu studying Buddhism from an Indian monk. Luy Lau (in Bac Ninh province) was the headquarters of Giao Chi district and soon became an important Buddhist center. The legends of Thach Quang Buddha and Man Nuong Buddha Mother appeared with the preaching of Khau Da La (Ksudra) around 168-189.

Because of receiving Buddhism directly from India, the word Buddha (enlightened one) was directly transcribed as "Buddha", the word "Buddha" was used a lot in folk tales. Vietnamese Buddhism at that time had the color of Hinayana, Buddha was considered a god who specializes in helping good people and punishing bad people. Later, in the 4th-5th century, due to the influence of Mahayana from China, the word "Buddha" was lost and replaced by the word "Phật". In Chinese, the word Buddha was transcribed as "Phật đà", "Phật đồ" and then shortened to "Phật".

Buddhism was deeply rooted in Vietnam from a very early age. During the Ly and Tran dynasties, Buddhism flourished and was considered the national religion, influencing all aspects of life. During the Later Le dynasty, Confucianism was considered the national religion and Buddhism entered a period of decline. At the beginning of the 17th century, King Quang Trung tried to revive Buddhism and build pagodas, but because he died early, this effort did not have many results. In the 20th century, despite the strong influence of the Westernization process, Vietnamese Buddhism developed strongly, starting from the cities of the South with important contributions from the monks Khanh Hoa and Thien Chieu.

The greatest achievement of Buddhism is the discovery of the Four Noble Truths: Buddhism believes that life is a sea of suffering (the Truth of Suffering), all human desires that are not achieved are suffering. The cause of suffering is craving and ignorance (the Truth of Origin). Buddhism also points out the path to escape from suffering, which is the Truth of Cessation. They believe that the reason why people fall into the cycle of suffering is because they have many desires. Therefore, they must find a way to eliminate all desires in order for people to escape the cycle of suffering. The Truth of the Path is the path of practice to escape from that cycle of suffering.

Nowadays, looking at the cultural life of Vietnamese society, we can see that religions, especially the two major religions, Buddhism and Christianity, have been and are being

leaving deep cultural imprints not only in poetry and literature but also in painting, sculpture, etc. Nowadays, besides the increasingly strong development of modern architecture, Vietnam still restores ancient architecture, through the restoration of churches, temples, pagodas, shrines, and scenic spots.

Chapter 2

RELIGIOUS INSPIRATION IN HAN MAC TU'S POETRY

2.1. Han Mac Tu - A pious but unfortunate Christian

In The Eyes of Poetry , Do Lai Thuy had a very figurative comparison of Han Mac Tu's position in New Poetry as follows: If Tan Da, the poet, talented Confucian scholar - the last champion ran until he was out of breath but still could not overcome the threshold of New Poetry, then Han Mac Tu was the most vivid embodiment of that relay race [36].

Han Mac Tu is a phenomenon that has the most haunting power in modern Vietnamese poetry. The haunting of Han Mac Tu is a complex of many aspects: an unfortunate poetic fate, a very different poetic soul and a poetic career that is both pure and mysterious, yet magical and ghostly... Therefore, in the New Poetry movement of 1932 - 1945, if Xuan Dieu is considered the "newest", Nguyen Binh is the "most familiar", then Han Mac Tu's position must be the "strangest" and most complex (Chu Van Son).

More than half a century ago, Che Lan Vien had prophesied about Han Mac Tu as the only remaining innovator in the future: “I promise you that in the future, the ordinary and the mundane will disappear and what remains of this period is something significant, that is Han Mac Tu” [42]. There is no doubt that Han Mac Tu is a literary phenomenon with a strong vitality and always demands to be discovered and conquered. Surely the poet’s soul after returning to God will be at peace. The reader’s heart will replace the fairy to wash away the poet’s wounds:

“One day, by the jade stream, with the stars and dew, I lay dead like the moon. I couldn't find any fairy who would come to cry, to kiss me and wash away my heart's wounds.”

(His words in a strange encounter)

A life of illness, but a pure soul. Han Mac Tu's poetry is a stream of bright essence, imbued with a stream of inspiration that is always immersed.

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