Religion in Proverbs, Folk Songs - Vietnamese Folk Songs

(1) Dao literally means the way, the way of doing .

For example, “If one is not strong enough to go halfway, he will give up. Now he has set his own limit” [29, p. 88]; or another sentence, “If one conducts politics and stabilizes society by punishment, the people will be afraid and will not feel ashamed. If one uses virtue to govern and stabilizes society by ritual, the people will feel ashamed and will correct themselves to follow the right path and reason” [29, p. 14]. The rest, most of the Dao is exploited focusing on meanings within the scope of human behavior, expressed through the following basic contents:

(2) Political meaning

Society is stable according to the order of hierarchy set by Heaven, expressed in the words: “the world has morality”, “the world has no morality” or “the state has morality”, “the state has no morality”… Confucius said: “Ning Wu Zi, when society is stable and prosperous, he uses his intelligence to become an official. When society is unstable and in chaos, he becomes stupid and retreats into seclusion” [29, p. 76]; or “Thien ha huu dao, Khau bat du dich da”. (When the world is peaceful and stable, Confucius does not need to bother to correct it) [29, p. 288]. Everyone in the group is content with the order of hierarchy set by Heaven, maintains the rules of propriety, and has no intention of usurping or creating chaos, then “it is moral”, otherwise it is “immoral”.

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(3) The Way is the purpose and ideal of a person belonging to humanism.

The Tao is often distinguished by the noun that goes with it in the possessive clause: “the way of the saint”, “the way of the teacher”, “the way of the gentleman”… Confucius said: “My Tao has only one principle to understand”. Zeng Shen explained it more clearly: “The Tao of the Teacher has only two virtues: Loyalty and Thu” [29, p. 56]. Another time, Confucius taught his disciples: “When your father is alive, you should consider his aspirations. When he is gone, you should pay attention to the things he has pursued. During the three years of mourning, you should not change those things.

Only then can it be called filial piety [29, p. 8]. When talking about friendship, Confucius said: “If goals and ideals are not the same, we cannot discuss work together” [29, p. 254].

In terms of form, up to this point Confucius had not combined Dao and Li together as we often do today. The specific meaning of Li is reason, the right thing to follow, only until Trinh, Chu, Ly took on the meaning of cosmological principles.

Gian Chi and Nguyen Hien Le commented on Trinh and Chu's Ly: " Their Ly is the natural principle, meaning the universal law or standard in the universe, the root of all things" [15, p. 163]. Thus, Trinh and Chu, in order to integrate with the trend of opposing Lao and Buddha, expanded the meaning of Ly in a mystical direction as a basis for explaining the formation of all things in nature and society [15, p. 172]. Later, when discussing Nguyen Binh Khiem's Ly, Nguyen Tai Thu also had similar comments but attached to practical meaning. After explaining the meaning of "Ly" of Trinh and Chu, Nguyen Tai Thu concluded: "Ly" in Trinh and Chu's theory means both the political and ethical principles of Confucianism and the rules and regulations of all things" [162, p. 252]. The above two comments show the correlation between Dao and Ly. The law nature of the Principle has made it coincide with the Confucian Way of Heaven, thereby governing the Human Way (the way for humans to attain the Way of Heaven). When the Principle is combined with the Way, the Principle plays a complementary role to the “inevitability” of the Way. Nowadays, in the field of ethics when talking about the standards of self-cultivation and behavior in society, we often use the compound word “Dao ly” in the practical sense of the ethical principle that Nguyen Tai Thu concluded.

Vietnam is one of the countries deeply influenced by Confucianism. In addition to its role as a political doctrine, Confucianism also provides the Vietnamese people with a system of ethical standards that have become lasting traditional values.

2.1.3. Religion in Vietnamese proverbs, folk songs and folk songs

The first thing we learned is that the Confucian Tao in proverbs, folk songs and folk songs has been completely separated from philosophical and political meanings. Tao is simply a normative ethical category. Its specific meaning is often determined by the following words: Tao of Heaven, Tao of Humanity, Tao of Constant Justice, etc. This is also the concentrated expression of Confucianism when applying Tao.

From the perspective of cultural exchange, we see that the Vietnamese people have accepted and allowed Confucianism to integrate into their ideology, if not to say that they also respect Confucianism, as the saying goes: "The rich and the powerful avoid the common people/ The poor and the humble learn the virtues ( Confucianism) for people to use" [75, p. 1988]. Sometimes they even remind themselves: "Let others seek profit and fame, as long as I learn the good way ." [77, p. 1707]. The purpose of cultivating Confucianism is both to establish oneself and to establish virtue. Because of the desire to be honored in life, since the Later Le Dynasty, there has been no path more brilliant than the path of Confucianism. At the same time, studying Confucianism is also to acquire moral standards, ways of dealing with others, to become a good person, far from the "common people". However, for the people, they have to admit: "The way of the saint is a broad way", it is difficult for them to fully grasp and understand thoroughly. The closest and most practical for them, Dao is a concept that shows them how to cultivate themselves, how to behave, and is a principle of living and being human. With such a specific and practical understanding, people have focused on exploiting Dao in the content of praising good virtues and conveying the meaning of teachings, upholding the principles of being human for everyone. This may be the reason why we only find that Dao always has a positive meaning when appearing in people's speech [Appendix, p. 3]. Dao appears with the connotation of moral and ethical standards:

Salt is salty for three years, salt is still salty. Ginger is spicy for nine months, ginger is still spicy.

Morality must not change.

Whether we become famous or become beggars, we will follow each other. We will follow each other to fulfill the will of heaven.

Even though there is no mat, spread it out and lie on it.

[74, p. 1559]

The way of speaking in the folk song shows that “three bonds and five constants” is the only and unchanging moral principle, belonging to “Humanity” that people advise each other to preserve and cherish, because it is the reason of Heaven. Heaven in many works of creating life and all things has created the relationship between men and women to maintain human life on earth. The fate of a couple is partly the result of love, but the larger part that makes the love of a couple sustainable is the arrangement of Heaven. Putting the authority of Heaven into the couple’s vow to remind and convince the lover is a way to respect the rules set by Heaven. In the folk song, that rule is expressed by the word Dao. Dao in the folk song condenses the meaning of principles and laws, so it is placed before a noun “Dao Thien”, a noun phrase “Dao nghia cang thuong” to determine the principled, unchanging nature of human behavior.

The term “The Way of Heaven” in the folk song is tinged with idealism, meaning the way of control of the “master” Heaven, a character with unlimited power that makes people only know how to obey, so both men and women cannot be exceptions. However, the will of Heaven here is the right thing. Heaven advises men and women not to be greedy for wealth and neglect poverty, husband and wife should take love and loyalty as the most important thing, this moral content is also the reasoning that they received from Confucianism in the form of expression “the way of Tao Khang”, completely consistent with the inherent human way of the Vietnamese people. The Heaven of the people represents the right thing, respecting Heaven is respecting the right thing. Moreover, the Way of Heaven is always fair, if people know how to live according to the right thing, they will be blessed, otherwise they will bring disaster, as the people concluded: “ The Way of Heaven is extremely fair”. Heaven will execute justice fairly and promptly: “ The Way of Heaven will punish without concern/ Whatever is good and evil will not be wrong” [74, p. 808]. Therefore, we must be steadfast: “No matter what anyone says, I will still firmly uphold the Way of Heaven ” [74, p. 773]. If the Way of Heaven is specifically expressed in people’s behavior, it is called Humanity. According to Confucianism, when a person knows how to live well, live virtuously, and follow the principles of Loyalty, Filial Piety, Humanity, Righteousness, Wisdom, Trust, Chastity..., he has achieved the Way of Man. This meaning of Humanity is also applied by people in poetry composition, expressing their feelings:

My body is like a sail hanging in the wind

Here today, gone tomorrow, it's so hard to decide. Who knows, maybe humanity will please you.

[75, p. 2137]

Nowadays, when talking about Humanity, we often think of compassion and empathy for others, but in the past, for Confucianism, as we said above, Humanity was understood as the direction, the way that people rely on to return to their inherent Humanity and Goodness nature. In the above folk song, "humanity" is borrowed to refer to the important virtue of a girl that the boy is expecting, which is loyalty and chastity. The boy did not directly address the issue but used an allusive way of speaking to express himself without being too heavy, but still capable of guiding the listener to access the message code he wanted to send through the Sino-Vietnamese word "humanity" placed in the general context of the song. In other cases, the word Humanity (Nhon dao) is used differently in the way of expression. The boys and girls said: "Today, the phoenixes and the phoenixes join the flock/ Singing about the humaneness after this fate" [74, p. 333]. The word "humanity" is used to refer to the way of making friends, first making friends, then exploring feelings to move towards a further relationship, a husband and wife relationship. Here begins a flexible, implicit application, but still based on the meaning: the way people behave with each other of Confucian Humanism.

According to the steps of reception that Phan Ngoc has identified in the process of “overcoming and integrating”, this can be considered a stage of “mechanical imitation”. According to Tran Quoc Vuong, this is a type of “pure reception”, carrying both forms of the concepts: Confucian Heavenly Way and Humanity. However, the number of words Dao used in this content and form is very limited (proverbs: Thien Dao 3 times and once used in the content of breaking the rules; Nhan Dao 1 time. In folk songs: Thien Dao (Heavenly Way) 5 times, Nhan Dao 6 times (Appendix, pp. 4-5). Dao in proverbs, folk songs and folk songs is focused on determining the obligatory nature of the code of conduct, which is the social ethical standard, governing the behavior of each individual. The subject is specified in the phrase talking about human relations and Confucian ethical standards: Dao cang thuong, Dao vo chong, Dao nghia… Proverbs have the saying “ Dao vo , nghia chong”.

People have accepted the meaning of Dao and raised it to mandatory ethical standards for each individual. This positive assimilation is clearly and voluntarily expressed when applied to their speech. We have counted 11 proverbs using Dao with the meaning of self-cultivation and social behavior rules out of a total of 15 sentences mentioning Dao with the meaning of positive assimilation. In folk songs, the number is larger, 141 cases using the word Dao, only two sentences Dao appears in the overall content with negative meaning, response, children resenting their parents, but the content of Dao still has the meaning of ethical standards prescribed by society for each individual as they resent: "Thinking that it is the father's way / Sons and daughters are also a love" [75, p. 2503]. The data shows that the core content of the Dao is actively applied and actively accepted by the people as we mentioned above. They have concretized and differentiated the meaning of the Dao according to the position and duty of each individual, corresponding to the ethical categories of the "five constants".

For traders, it is important to keep the word of trust, which is one of the five virtues of the "five constants":

Who goes to Ke Cho, tell the pilgrim

Fragrant keep the common way

Don't light a torch that will not last long.

(Ke Cho: the ancient name used by the people to refer to the old Thang Long citadel) [74, p. 81]. The “common Dao” in the folk song is the “five constants”: Humanity, Propriety, Righteousness, Wisdom, and Trust, which come after as complements to the verb “to keep”, confirming their implicit existence in the ideological life and moral concepts of the people. This application shows that Dao is the right reason, the voice of conscience, therefore, the connotation of Dao is “five constants” which becomes the standard of personality. In this case, it is applied to advise merchants: do not forget the consequences of dishonest and immoral acts because of greed. That dark outcome is in accordance with the inevitable law when going against the “common Dao”.

In daily behavior, the word Dao clearly defines the limits of the normative meaning of the "five relationships", "five constants" or "three bonds and five constants" that Confucianism advocated to educate, engrave in people's minds and become the unchangeable principles, guiding their behavior. If they do not follow those rules, they feel as if they have committed a great sin, with a remorseful mood: "I bow to my parents and have sinned / I wonder when I will repay them" [74, p. 366]. The word "Dao" in the folk song is Filial piety, the duty of a child towards his or her parents. Filial piety is one of the virtues ranked first in human personality. The prestige of Filial piety has pushed the child into a state of remorseful regret for not fulfilling his or her duty.

It can be said that, for the Vietnamese people, the paths towards good nature and the way to preserve it have been defined by Confucianism in the "three bonds and five constants" and have become an immutable truth condensed in the word Dao. Because Dao has condensed the reasoning of conscience, helping to keep people from straying from the path of goodness. Along with the dissemination in the form of laws by feudal rulers who worshiped Confucianism, those rules have become mandatory principles of conduct and a measure of the dignity of society towards individuals. Moreover, it was directly propagated by Confucian scholars, who were a class that was highly respected by the people, so Dao, with the meaning of "the way of being human" - Morality, holds a stable and sustainable position in the minds of the Vietnamese people and becomes the rope that binds them to the duties that society has determined for each person, corresponding to each position: the duty of being a servant, a parent, a child, a husband, a wife..., corresponding to each relationship in Confucian human relations. Everyone must strive to fulfill their duties, not to loosen the rules or distort the status they are carrying. The role of morality is immutable reasoning, binding relationships, and defining duties for each person, however, it still has differences due to the orientation of the folk consciousness.

The girl reminded the boy:

Hands betray each other, guts cut, guts cut, guts left

The oath of blue water and green mountains, I must stay here to fulfill my duty as king and subject , then I will dare to give myself to you.

[75, p. 2079]

(In our opinion, the first two lines could be: "How could I bear to cut my intestines/ How could I bear to cut my intestines", but because of the variant nature of folk songs, we will quote the original text and also because it does not affect the content being discussed).

The relationship between the king and his subjects is at the top of the “five relationships” (three bonds). In an autocratic monarchy, the duty of being a subject, respecting and obeying the king is absolute. This is not only the duty of a commoner towards the ruler but also the duty of a subject towards the high priest. Violating this is a crime of great treason, not only receiving death for oneself but also the extermination of many generations of one’s family. That is the basic content of Confucianism’s Loyalty to the King. In the duty of a subject, when loyalty to the king means loyalty to the country, the phenomena of violating the Loyalty to the King sows disappointment among the people. The people express regret but also indignation when they say: “Resentment towards Ve Luat Ly Lang/ Causing the violation of the duty of being a subject to the King” [74, p. 398]. They regret and resent because for them, loyalty is not only a duty but also compassion for worldly affairs, for "human morality", for rules of conduct with superiors and subordinates, and is the basis for evaluating a person's morality as set by society: "As a human being, one must know the rules of conduct/ Among the five levels of monarchy, the king is the top."

The second bond is the relationship between parents and children. In addition to the love of blood for their children, parents must also pay attention to their position as superiors, always being the closest exemplary image for their children to follow. Therefore, they must behave in accordance with their position. If for some reason they do not behave in accordance with that position, they will cause great disappointment and sometimes force their children to regret and blame: "Sigh that it is the duty of parents / Sons and daughters are also a love" [75, p. 2097]. "The duty of parents" according to the people, is the responsibility, the sacred affection that parents always devote to their children, regardless of whether they are sons or daughters.

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