Truc Lam sect's pure teachings in Vietnamese Buddhist literature of the medieval period

HO CHI MINH CITY NATIONAL UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

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TRAN HOANG HUNG

TRUC LAM TONG CHI NGUYEN THANH IN MEDIEVAL VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST LITERATURE

DOCTORAL THESIS IN LITERATURE SPECIALIZATION: VIETNAMESE LITERATURE

CODE: 62.22.34.01

HO CHI MINH CITY - 2013

HO CHI MINH CITY NATIONAL UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

-------------------

TRAN HOANG HUNG

TRUC LAM TONG CHI NGUYEN THANH IN MEDIEVAL VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST LITERATURE

DOCTORAL THESIS IN LITERATURE SPECIALIZATION: VIETNAMESE LITERATURE

CODE: 62.22.34.01

SCIENTIFIC INSTRUCTOR:

Assoc.Prof.Dr. NGUYEN CONG LY HO CHI MINH CITY - 2013

STATEMENT OF THESIS AUTHOR

I certify that this is my own research work.

The data and results presented in this thesis are honest and have never been published in any other work.

Thesis author,

Tran Hoang Hung

INDEX

INTRODUCTION 1

1. Scientific significance of topic 1

2. History of research on problem 2

3. Research object and scope 14

4. Theoretical basis and research methods 15

5. New contributions of the thesis 15

6. Introduction to thesis structure 16

CHAPTER 1. SOCIETY - CULTURE - THOUGHT OF DAI VIET IN THE 18TH CENTURY AND THE WORK OF TRUC LAM TONG CHI NGUYEN THANH 17

1.1. Society - culture - ideology of Dai Viet in the 18th century 17

1.1.1. The collapse of feudal society and the historical tragedy of the nation 17

1.1.2. Dai Viet culture and ideology in the 18th century 22

1.2. Author of the work Truc Lam Tong Chi Nguyen Thanh 28

1.2.1. Ngo Thi Nham 28

1.2.2. Phan Huy Ich 34

1.2.3. Ngo Thi Hoang 35

1.2.4. Vu Trinh 37

1.2.5. Nguyen Dang So 37

1.2.6. Nguyen Dam 39

1.3. About the text of the work Truc Lam Tong Chi Nguyen Thanh 40

1.3.1. Title of work 40

1.3.2. Introduction to the work 41

1.3.3. Comparison of translations of the main text of Truc Lam Tong Chi Nguyen Thanh 42

] Summary 65

CHAPTER 2. TRUC LAM SECT OF NGUYEN THANH FROM ITS IDEOLOGICAL CONTENT 66

2.1. Mahayana Zen Buddhist thought in the works of Truc Lam sect

whole bar 66

2.2. The fusion of ideologies in the work Truc Lam Tong Chi Nguyen Thanh 84

2.3. The spirit of patriotism in the work Truc Lam Tong Chi Nguyen Thanh 103

Summary 112

CHAPTER 3. TRUC LAM TONG CHI NGUYEN THANH SEEING FROM ART 113

3.1. Genre of work 113

3.1.1. The inheritance of the genre of religious philosophical theory of Buddhist literature in the Tran Dynasty 113

3.1.2. Masterly theoretical writing style in work 118

3.2. Structure of the work 125

3.3. Artistic language of the work 127

3.3.1. Zen language 130

3.3.2. Symbolic language 136

3.3.3. Using the classic 138

3.3.4. Rhetorical devices 141

Summary 147

CHAPTER 4. FROM THE VIEN GIAC SUTRA TO THE TRUC LAM SECT OF NGUYEN THANH AND THE POSITION OF THE WORK IN MEDIEVAL VIETNAMESE BUDDHIST LITERATURE 149

4.1. The influence of the Vimalakirti Sutra in the original Truc Lam sect 149

4.1.1. About the Avatamsaka Sutra 149

4.1.2. On the relationship of the number of chapters in the two works 151

4.1.3. The imprint of the Vimalakirti Sutra in the original Truc Lam sect 152

4.2. The original Truc Lam sect with the inheritance and development of the Truc Lam Zen sect's ideology during the Tran dynasty 163

4.2.1. Some features of the Truc Lam Zen sect in the Tran dynasty 163

4.2.2. The inheritance and development of Truc Lam Zen thought in the work Truc

The original text of the Lam Tong Chi 171

4.3. The position of Truc Lam sect's original text in Vietnamese Buddhist literature

Medieval South

178
Summary	184
CONCLUDE	185

Maybe you are interested!

LIST OF AUTHOR'S PUBLISHED WORKS RELATED TO THE THESIS TOPIC 191

REFERENCES 193

INTRODUCTION

1. SCIENTIFIC SIGNIFICANCE OF THE TOPIC

1.1. Culture is the soul of the nation, a priceless and unique treasure that creates the nation's unique identity; it is the driving force for the country to develop its economy and society. Historical facts have proven that it is the unique culture of the Southern rice farmers that has breathed life into the soul of the Vietnamese people, creating an extremely strong and immortal vitality, even though many foreign invaders wanted to dominate and assimilate them but could not do anything.

Literature is the backbone of culture, a mirror that faithfully and fully reflects all material and spiritual aspects of social life. More than ever, in today's era, inheriting, preserving and promoting traditional culture, selectively absorbing cultural achievements of the past and of humanity to enrich the country's culture is an extremely urgent task. Because with the explosion of information technology and globalization, the issue of building and protecting an independent, autonomous, and sustainable developing nation is not only a matter of borders, territories, seas, airspace, etc., but more importantly, it is determined by cultural characteristics bearing national identity.

If in the Ly - Tran period, with the flourishing development of Buddhism bearing the cultural identity of Dai Viet, contributing to the heroic spirit and democratic - open nature of the era, in which there was a great contribution of Truc Lam Yen Tu Zen sect, then later, especially from the middle of the 14th century onwards, when Zen master Huyen Quang Truc Lam, the third Patriarch, led the church, Buddhism at this time was no longer as prosperous as before. Buddhism gave up the political arena to Confucianism and withdrew to the Zen sect and monasteries. From then until the end of the 18th century and later, Buddhism only had a profound influence on the people, on the spiritual life of each individual, but did not participate in the government as before. However, at this time, there was an outstanding cultural phenomenon, contributing a new voice to Vietnamese literature in general and to the Buddhist literature of the Middle Ages in particular, that was the voice of a number of Confucian scholars with profound knowledge of Confucianism - Taoism; deeply understood Zen - Buddhism, devoted to Buddhism, practiced Zen meditation, lived a Zen lifestyle and wrote a philosophical treatise: Truc Lam Tong Chi Nguyen Thanh , expressing the fusion of the Three Religions' thoughts. Studying the work Truc Lam Tong Chi Nguyen Thanh is also not beyond studying the spiritual and cultural values.

the traditions of our ancestors and the cultural and ideological identity of the nation. It is also a way to "review the past to know the new", "learn the past for the present", especially in today's era of open integration.

1.2. The Confucian scholars in the 18th, 19th and early 20th centuries, researchers in the second half of the 20th century and recently have discussed a lot about the life, thoughts and poetry of Ngo Thi Nham either directly or indirectly, but there has not been any work focusing on comprehensive research and full, in-depth survey of the work Truc Lam Tong Chi Nguyen Thanh, especially placing it in the development process of Vietnamese Buddhist literature in the Middle Ages like the topic of this thesis. It can be said that this is a new and difficult topic, with scientific and practical significance.

The work Truc Lam Tong Chi Nguyen Thanh was written in Chinese characters, under the light of Zen ideology and aesthetics, and its authors were special figures: Confucian scholars - Zen masters - Poets, so understanding the value of this work is difficult and complicated: one must understand Chinese studies; one must understand Buddhist and Zen thought, and Dai Viet Buddhism - Zen has a fusion of the three religions' ideology, and especially, to successfully carry out the topic, the writer must personally experience the Zen realm in order to accurately decode the ideological content of the work. Fortunately, the author of this thesis is a native of Zen, has studied and practiced Zen for more than twenty years; has had the opportunity to be exposed to and research Zen and Sinology for nearly twenty years; has taught Chinese and Chinese for more than five years; especially since childhood, he has loved and memorized many poetic and literary works imbued with Zen and rich in humanity of the Vietnamese Buddhist literature of the Middle Ages.

2. HISTORY OF RESEARCH ON THE PROBLEM

The thesis places the work Truc Lam Tong Chi Nguyen Thanh in the development process of the Vietnamese Buddhist literature in the medieval period. Therefore, the thesis cannot help but mention the achievements in collecting Vietnamese Buddhist literary texts, the achievements in researching Vietnamese Buddhist literature in the medieval period (with two dynasties: Ly - Tran, Le - Nguyen) of researchers up to now, in which the focus is the work Truc Lam Tong Chi Nguyen Thanh .

2.1. Achievements in textual studies and research on Vietnamese Buddhist literature in the medieval period

Before the original Truc Lam sect theory was born, Buddhist literature had many valuable works. In the 2nd century, there was Ly or theory by Mau Bac,

Truc Lam sect's pure teachings in Vietnamese Buddhist literature of the medieval period - 1

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