I find that when it comes to talking about the religions/teachings of Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism in Vietnamese history, many people have a difficult time understanding how they were related.
The gist of the matter is that they were separate and they were not equal. Each one had a different role. Confucianism was used to legitimate the monarch and the kingdom, and for administering the kingdom. Given this connection to the center of power, it was therefore the most important for any dynasty.
Buddhism did not have anything to offer for such practical affairs as administering an empire. Buddhist monks could provide some divine protection to the kingdom, and they could pray for the souls of the deceased members of the royal family, but beyond that, there wasn’t much of a role for Buddhism in dynastic affairs.
That said, there were certainly members of Vietnamese dynasties who were interested in Buddhism. However, that interest was carried out separately from the governing of the empire. It was a personal pursuit, not a dynastic one.
Finally, as for Daoism, it was employed for some specific purposes, like carrying out rain rituals.
One monarch who is considered to be the most “Buddhist” is the first monarch of the Trần Dynasty, Trần Thái Tông. Trần Thái Tông was placed on the throne by his uncle and father in 1226 when he was still a youngster. He then ruled until 1258, when he abdicated the throne to his son.
In the years that followed, Trần Thái Tông produced some works on Buddhism, one of which was called the “Preface to the Guide to the Zen Schools.” This is a fascinating text, and it nicely reveals the relationship between Buddhism and Confucianism.
In what follows, I provide a translation of much of this preface as well as provide comments.
且朕於孩童有識之年，稍聞禪師之訓，則澄思息慮，慨然清净，有心乎内教，參究於禪宗，虛已求師，精誠慕道，嵗回向之意已萌，而觸感之機未達。
Vả lại, thuở trẫm còn niên thiếu, có chút ít hiểu biết vừa nghe lời dạy của Thiền sư thì tâm tư lóng lặng, bỗng dưng thanh tịnh, nên để tâm nơi nội giáo, tham cứu Thiền tông, dốc lòng tìm thầy, chí thành mộ đạo. Tuy ý nói hồi hướng đã nẩy mầm, mà cơ cảm xúc chưa thấu suốt.
From the time as a child when I started to gain some knowledge, I heard a bit about the teachings of Zen masters, and this cleared my thoughts and calmed my worries. Emboldened yet serene, I became interested in the Inner Teachings [Nội giáo 内教], and investigated the Zen schools. I humbly sought out teachers and sincerely pursued the Way. The intent to transfer my merit [hồi hướng 回向] had sprouted, however the moment that touches off a reaction had yet to arrive.
Trần Thái Tông here talks about his youth and how he started to gain an interest in Buddhism. Trần Thái Tông’s early life was not easy. He was placed on the throne as a child, and his parents then soon passed away.
Trần Thái Tông talks about losing his parents in the next section of this preface. After Trần Thái Tông ascended the throne, his father was given the title of Honorary Emperor (Thượng Hoàng 上皇, short for Thái Thượng Hoàng Đế 太上皇帝), and his other was given the title of State Saint Empress Dowager (Quốc Thánh Hoàng Thái Hậu 國聖皇太后).
These two lived in a palace called the Appended to Heaven Palace (Phụ Thiên cung 附天宫), and the Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư records that this is where important state matters were settled. [5/3b] As such, we can see here that although Trần Thái Tông was officially the monarch, in the early years of his reign, and while he was still very young, others made decisions on his behalf, namely, those who were “appended to Heaven,” or what we can understand as meaning “attached to the emperor.”
According to the Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư, Trần Thái Tông’s mother passed away in 1230 while his father died in 1234, and was granted the posthumous title of Great Ancestor (Thái Tổ 太祖). [5/6b and 5/]
The information about how old Trần Thái Tông was at that time is not uniform. The Đại Việt sử ký toàn thư says that Trần Thái Tông was eight in 1225 [4/33b], but in his preface, Trần Thái Tông says that he was sixteen when his mother died, which should be 1230.
Either way, he was young. Let us see what he later wrote about that time period.
甫十六嵗，太后厭世，朕寢苫枕土，泣血推心，憂苦之餘，未遑他務，僅數年間。太祖皇帝繼爾晏駕，杯棬之慕未夷，創鉅之心愈切，悽悽縱縱，難釋厥懷，念父母之於子者，撫摩鞠育，靡所不至，粉骨碎身，猶未足以報其萬一也。
Năm mười sáu tuổi, Thái Hậu đã chán cõi đời, trẫm nằm rơm gối đất, khóc ra máu mắt, đau đớn nát lòng; ngoài nỗi đau buồn này, đâu rảnh nghĩ việc khác. Chỉ vài năm sau, Thái Tổ Hoàng Đế cũng băng hà, lòng thương mẹ chưa nguôi, nỗi xót cha càng thống thiết, buồn thảm tràn trề khó bề dẹp được. Trẫm nghĩ: Công cha mẹ đối với con, nuôi nấng vỗ về không thiếu điều gì, dù con phải xương tan, thịt nát vẫn chưa đủ đền đáp trong muôn một.
At the age of sixteen, the Empress Dowager became weary of the world. I slept on a grass mat with a mound as my pillow. I shed tears of blood and pounded my chest. Other than feeling afflicted, I could manage nothing else for several years. The Great Ancestor Emperor followed and passed away. My longing for the cups and bowls having yet to abate, the great wound in my heart became even more severe. Rushing about in distress, it was difficult to release what I was holding inside. Thinking of how fathers and mothers are to their children – there is no end to their care and nurturing. To grind one’s bones and shatter one’s body [in sacrifice] would still not be sufficient to repay even one ten-thousandth [of their kindness].
Trần Thái Tông began here with a Buddhist expression, “to become weary of the world” (yến thế 厭世), which usually meant “to renounce the world.” However, in the context of this passage, it is clear that Trần Thái Tông used it to indicate that his mother died. What follows is then information that is deeply Confucian.
For instance, “sleeping on a grass mat with a mound as one’s pillow” is what, according to the ancient Record of Rites (Liji 禮記), a son was supposed to do when a parent died. That expression appears five times in that text in a slightly different form, with four of the instances indicating to use a clod (khối 塊) as a pillow and one to use a shield (can 干). The meaning, however, was the same. A son was supposed to endure this hardship to maximize the expression of pain that he felt at his parent’s passing.
The passage where Trần Thái Tông mentions “My longing for the cups and bowls having yet to abate, the deep wound in my heart became even more severe,” also takes its inspiration from the Record of Rites. The “cups and bowls” (bôi quyển 杯棬) was a reference to one’s mother. In the Record of Rites, this expression is written as 杯圈, and it appears in a passage which states, “When his father died, he could not (bear to) read his books – the touch of his hand seemed still to be on them. When his mother died, he could not (bear to) drink from the cups and bowls that she had used – the breath of her mouth seemed still to be on them.” (禮記，玉藻, James Legge’s translation)
Additionally, the term, “great wound” (sáng cự 創鉅), also comes from the Record of Rites, where in a section on the three-year mourning period for parents, it states that “The greater a wound is, the longer it remains” (創鉅者其日久; 禮記，三年問, James Legge’s translation). The text then goes on to explain that the purpose of having the mourning last for three years was to maximize the pain felt and therefore to fully grieve for the loss of a parent.
There are other terms in this passage that clearly link Trần Thái Tông’s ideas to the Confucian tradition, however the point here is that the use of these words was not a coincidence. Confucian classics like the Record of Rites defined the parent-child relationship as well as how one should mourn the loss of a parent. Buddhism did not provide an alternative this.
Also, another point that is important to make here is that if you read the modern Vietnamese translation of this passage above, none of these connections with the Confucian tradition are evident, because the translator put all of this information into generic modern Vietnamese without providing any footnotes or explanations for what is in the original text.
From reading that translation, it is therefore now impossible for a reader to see the degree to which Trần Thái Tông was steeped in Confucian texts and ideas.
As Trần Thái Tông was still young, his elder brother was appointed to assist him and was granted the title of Illustrious Emperor (Hiển Hoàng 顯皇).
Having two brothers with the title of emperor is a situation that would obviously lead to conflicts. The fifteenth-century historian, Ngô Sĩ Liên, commented on this issue and explained it by means of the Confucian concept of the rectification of names (chính danh 正名), that is, the idea that names and reality should match.
“Honorary Emperor,” the title Trần Thái Tông’s father had held, had long been in use in East Asia and theoretically there was a defined role for the person who held this title. The founding emperor of the Han Dynasty, for instance, had granted this title to his father.
“Illustrious Emperor,” on the other hand, was a Trần Dynasty invention, and there was no established role for such a person.
In his comment, Ngô Sĩ Liên recited a famous passage from the Analects of Confucius which says, “If names are not rectified, then speech will not function properly, and if speech does not function properly, then undertakings will not succeed.” (Burton Watson’s translation, 2007: 88) In other words, if the emperor does not have the sole designation as emperor, then he can’t speak to others with authority, and if he can’t speak to others with authority, then nothing can get done.
So, the young, and now parent-less, Trần Thái Tông was in a difficult position, and he later recorded in his preface what he experienced at that time as follows:
況朕考太祖皇帝，開機創業之艱難，經邦濟世之尤重，以大器授予幼冲，夙夜兢兢，不遑啓處，私自謂曰，上既無父母之客依，下恐不足副黔黎之實望，奈何，尋而思之，不如退處山林，旁求佛教，以明生死之大事，又以報劬勞之德，不亦美哉。
Huống nữa, Thái Tổ Hoàng đế khai cơ lập nghiệp rất đổi gian nan, trị nước giúp đời càng thêm hệ trọng. Người đem đất nước giao cho ta khi còn thơ ấu, khiến ta ngày đêm canh cánh không chút thảnh thơi. Ta lòng riêng tự bảo: trên đã không cha mẹ để nương tựa, dưới ngại chẳng xứng lòng dân mong đợi. Phải làm sao đây? Ta suy đi nghĩ lại: chi bằng lui về ở chốn núi rừng, tìm học Phật pháp để hiểu rõ việc lớn sanh tử, lấy đó đền đáp công ơn cha mẹ, chẳng hay hơn sao?
What is more, my father, the Great Ancestor Emperor, having undertaken the arduous task of setting in motion the establishment of the [royal] enterprise and the even more weighty task of administering the domain and bringing relief to the people, then passed this great responsibility on to youthful me. I was cautious and fearful night and day and had no time to put myself at ease. I said to myself, above, I no longer have my parents to rely on, and below, I fear that I do not have the means to fulfill the hopes of the common people. What should I do? Thinking further about the matter, [I thought] to retreat into the mountains and seek out the Buddhist teachings, so as to understand the great matter of life and death and to recompense the kind favor of great toil, would that not be wonderful?!
Buddhism is not a “family religion.” It focuses on individuals and encourages them to seek their own liberation. When Buddhism spread to East Asia, one of the most important acts of “localization” that had to take place for it to gain followers was to accept Confucian ideas about the family, and particularly the role of filial piety.
There were many ways that this happened, but one was to provide the service of praying for the deceased. To use today’s language, essentially what you could do was to “outsource filial piety” to a Buddhist temple by making a donation and then in return the monks would perform rituals to honor a deceased member of one’s family (there are many inscriptions that document this).
Alternately, as Trần Thái Tông indicated here, one could enter a monastery to perform that role. One of the reasons why the young Trần Thái Tông was interested in Buddhism is because he wanted to “recompense the kind favor of great toil.” This expression, “great toil” (cù lao 劬勞), comes from the Classic of Poetry (Shijing 詩經), another important text that established the norms of Confucian familial relationships.
There is a line in that text that goes “Alas, alas, father and mother, in bearing me you had great toil.” (詩經·小雅·蓼莪, Karlgren, 242) That concept of “great toil” became very important in the Confucian tradition. It was a debt of benevolent kindness that children should attempt to pay back, and if they could not do so while their parents were living, they could continue to make efforts after they had passed.
This is what Trần Thái Tông appears to have been thinking, namely, that he would commit himself to Buddhism so that he could devote himself to praying for his deceased parents.
於是朕志遂决，天應正平五年，實丙甲四月三夜，因㣲服出宮門，謂左右曰，朕欲出遊，潛聽民言，以觀民志，庶知事之艱難。
時從朕左右不過七八人，是夜亥刻，以單騎匿而行，渡江東去，乃以其情告于左右。左右愕然，舉皆涕泣，翌卯時到大灘普頼山渡，恐人知之，以衣蒙面而渡江，徑山而行，及晡，入宿于覺行僧寺，待旦而去，間關跋涉，山險泉深，馬疲而不能進，朕乃棄馬攀崖而行，未時方到安子山阿。明旦直上山頂，參見國師竹林大沙門。
Thế là chí trẫm đã quyết định. Đêm mùng ba tháng tư năm Bính Thân, niên hiệu Thiên Ứng Chính Bình thứ năm (1242), trẫm đổi y phục đi ra khỏi cửa cung bảo tả hữu rằng: “Trẫm muốn đi dạo để ngầm nghe lời dân, biết được chí dân, mới hiểu thấu nỗi khó khăn của họ”.
Bấy giờ tả hữu theo trẫm không quá bảy tám người. Giờ hợi đêm ấy, trẫm cởi một ngựa lặng lẽ ra đi; sang sông thẳng về hướng đông, mới nói thực lòng cho tả hữu biết. Tả hữu ngạc nhiên, tất cả đều khóc.
Giờ mẹo hôm sau, đến bến đò Đại Than bên núi Phả Lại, sợ có người biết, trẫm lấy áo che mặt qua sông, đi tắt theo đường núi. Đến tối vào nghỉ chùa tăng Giác Hạnh, đợi sáng lại đi. Leo trèo lặn lội, núi hiểm suối sâu, ngựa mõi mệt không thể tiến lên được; trẫm bèn bỏ ngựa vin vách đá lần bước, đến giờ mùi mới tới sườn núi Yên Tử. Sáng hôm sau, trẫm trèo thẳng lên đỉnh núi, tham kiến vị đại Sa môn Quốc sư Trúc Lâm.
I thereupon made up my mind. In the fifth year of the Heaven Responds with Justice and Balance era [Thiên Ứng Chính Bình 天應正平; 1236], precisely on the third night of the fourth month of the Bính Thân year, I exited the palace wearing plain clothes. I said to my attendants, “I wish to go out to travel, and to secretly listen to the words of the people, to observe their intentions, and to get a sense of their hardships.”
At that time, I only had seven or eight attendants. In the hợi hours [9-11 pm] of that night, we discreetly proceeded, each man on his own horse. Crossing the river, we headed to the east. I then explained my intentions to my attendants. The attendants were shocked and all began to weep.
The next day, during the mẹo hours [5-7 am], we reached the [Bình] Than river crossing at Mount Phả Lại. Fearing that people would recognize us, we covered our faces with our clothes and crossed the river. We proceeded along narrow mountain paths. During the bô hours [3-5 pm], we entered Giác Hạnh monastery to spend the night. We waited until morning and then departed. Trudging around twists and turns, through treacherous terrain and deep waters, our horses became tired and were unable to continue on. I left my horse and climbed up the cliffs, finally reaching Mount Yên Tử in the vị hours [1-3 pm]. The following morning, I went straight up to the mountain peak and met the National Preceptor, the Great Sramana of the Bamboo Forest.
Oh, this story would make for such a great movie!!
We saw above that Trần Thái Tông’s parents had stayed in the Appended to Heaven Palace. Here we see that one of his reign eras was the Heaven Responds with Justice and Balance era. All of this comes from the Confucian worldview that sees Heaven as a divine power that provides legitimacy for a monarch to rule.
This is where Vietnamese monarchs believed that they obtained their legitimacy. Buddhism did not provide an alternative to this, or at least certainly not the Zen Buddhism that existed in Vietnam during the period of the Lý and Trần dynasties.
That said, Vietnamese dynasties (like Chinese dynasties) did offer Buddhists certain posts and titles, one of which was National Preceptor (Quốc sư 國師). However, as we can see here, this national preceptor resided far from the capital, and therefore, did not contribute to the functioning of the dynasty or the empire.
師一見欣然，從容謂朕曰：
老僧久居山野，骨剛貌悴，甘茶茹橡，泉飲林遊，心若浮雲，隨風到此，今陛下棄人主之勢，思林野之賤，果何所邀而到斯耶。
朕聞其言，雙淚自下，因告之曰：朕放幼稚，劇喪雙親，孤立士民之上，無所依附，復思前代帝王事業，興廢不常，故入此山，惟求作佛，不求他物。
師曰：山本無佛，惟存乎心，心寂而知，是名真佛，今陛下若悟此心，則立地成佛，無苦外求也。
Quốc sư vừa thấy trẫm mừng rỡ, ung dung bảo: “Lão tăng ở lâu nơi sơn dã, xương cứng mặt gầy, ăn rau đắng cắn hạt dẻ, uống nước suối dạo cảnh rừng, lòng như mây nổi theo gió đến đây. Nay Bệ hạ bỏ ngôi nhân chủ, nghỉ đến nơi quê hèn rừng núi, chẳng hay Bệ hạ mong cầu điều gì mà đến đây.”
Trẫm nghe nói, hai hàng nước mắt tự trào, đáp lại Sư rằng: “Trẫm còn thơ ấu vội mất hai thân, bơ vơ đứng trên sĩ dân không chỗ nương tựa. Lại nghĩ sự nghiệp các bậc đế vương đời trước, thịnh suy không thường, cho nên trẫm đến núi nầy chỉ cầu làm Phật, chớ không cầu gì khác.”
Sư bảo: “Trong núi vốn không có Phật, Phật chỉ ở trong tâm. Tâm lặng mà biết gọi là chơn Phật. Nay Bệ hạ nếu ngộ tâm này thì tức khắc thành Phật, không nhọc tìm cầu bên ngoài.”
Upon meeting, the master was delighted and calmly said to me, “This old monk has long resided in the mountain wilds. My bones have hardened and my face is haggard. Sipping sweet tea and eating accords, I drink from streams and roam through the forest. My mind is like a drifting cloud that has followed the wind here. Now His Majesty has abandoned his position as monarch, and is considering the lowly life of the forest wilds. What is it that has drawn you here?”
Hearing these words, tears streamed down my face and I said to him, “I am still young, and I have lost my parents. I stand alone above the officials and commoners with no one to rely on. I have also reflected on the previous royal enterprises, and how they rose and fell arbitrarily. Therefore, I came to this mountain, seeking only to become a Buddha, desiring nothing else.”
The master said, “There is no Buddha in the mountains; it resides only in the heart. When the mind is still and understands, that is what is called the real Buddha. If Your Majesty can awaken that heart, then you can attain Buddhahood right where you stand; no need to trouble yourself searching elsewhere.”
From this passage, I think we can start to get a sense of how Confucianism and Buddhism were different. The grand preceptor resided in the mountain wilds. That might have been a good environment to contemplate the meaning of life, but drinking from springs and eating acorns was definitely not an effective strategy for administering or defending an empire.
The Buddhist world of the grand preceptor was an escape from the reality of the empire, and that is precisely what the young Trần Thái Tông wanted. And I have to admit, I don’t blame him. He was probably surrounded by power-hungry back-stabbing people. I would have wanted to run away too.
However, Buddhism did not offer an alternative to the Confucian teachings, rituals and practices that were employed to administer and legitimate the empire, and that is why dynasties were always Confucian. There were individual emperors who became interested in Buddhism, but as we will see below, that is something that they pursued largely outside of their imperial and dynastic duties.
時叔父陳公，乃先君托孤之從第也，先君棄世群臣之後，朕命為太師參輔國政，聞朕去，分命左右遍求轍迹，遂與國人尋到此山。
與朕相遇，興言通切曰：
臣受先君顧託，奉陛下為民神之主，民之所以徯戴於陛下者，亦赤子之慕父母，況今朝廷故老，無非親附之臣，黎元士庶，莫不悅服之眾，至於三尺之童，皆知陛下作民父母矣。且太祖捨臣而去，一抔之士未乾，遺耳之言猶在，而陛下遯跡山林，隱居求志，以臣言之，陛下為自修之計則可，其如國家社稷何，與其垂空言以示後，孰若以身為天下也。陛下若不反思，臣等與天下之人，同死此日，决無歸志。
Bấy giờ ông chú Trần Công, người em họ mà Tiên quân gởi gấm đứa con côi. Sau khi Tiên quân bỏ thế gian và quần thần, trẫm phong làm Thái sư tham dự quốc chính. Nghe tin trẫm trốn đi,ông liền sai tả hữu đi mọi nơi dò tìm tung tích rồi cùng người trong nước lên đến núi nầy.
Gặp trẫm, ông thống thiết nói: “Thần nhận sự ủy thác của Tiên quân, tôn Bệ hạ làm chúa thần dân. Lòng dân trông đợi Bệ hạ như con nhỏ mong đợi cha mẹ. Huống nữa, ngày nay các cố lão trong triều đều là bề tôi thân thuộc, dân chúng sĩ thứ ai cũng vui vẻ phục tùng. Cho đến đứa bé lên bảy cũng biết Bệ hạ là cha mẹ dân.
Vả Thái Tổ bỏ thần mà đi, nắm đất trên mồ chưa khô, lời dặn dò còn vẳng bên tai. Nay Bệ hạ trốn lánh vào núi rừng, ẩn cư để mong thỏa chí mình.
Như thần nghĩ, Bệ hạ tính kế tự tu thì có thể được, còn quốc gia xã tắc thì sao? Chỉ để lời dạy suông cho đời, chi bằng đem thân mình làm gương trước cho thiên hạ. Bệ hạ nếu không nghĩ lại, chúng thần cùng người trong thiên hạ đồng chết ngay hôm nay, quyết chí không trở về.”
At that time, my paternal uncle Trần Thủ Độ, was my late father’s cousin and the man he had entrusted with my care. When my late father abandoned the world and the officials, I appointed him Grand Preceptor [Thái sư 太師] to assist with the administration of the kingdom. When he heard that I had departed, he ordered attendants to search for traces in all directions, and subsequently came with men of the kingdom [quốc nhân 國人; i.e., the “important men” in the kingdom, the top officials] to look for me on this mountain.
He met me and stated with urgency, “I, your servant, was entrusted by your late father to support Your Highness as the people’s divine ruler. The people pine for Your Highness like a child admires his parents. What is more, the current court consists of veterans, all of whom are close and reliable ministers. Commoners and literati all happily submit to you. Even young children all know that Your Highness is the father and mother of the people.
“Further, the Great Ancestor abandoned me. His burial mound is still not dry, and his bequeathed comments are still here among us, however Your Highness is concealing himself in the mountain forests to live in seclusion and seek your own aims.
“If I may say so, Your Highness can pursue self-cultivation, but what will become of the kingdom’s [Altar of] Soil and Grain [Xã tắc 社稷]? Rather than leaving behind empty words for later generations, it is not better to devote oneself to All Under Heaven [Thiên Hạ 天下]? If Your Highness does not reconsider, the people of All Under Heaven and I are willing to die together today with absolutely no regrets.”
“To live in seclusion and seek your own aims” (ẩn cư cầu chí 隱居求志) might sound in translation like a fairly straight-forward expression, however it was a serious critique. This expression is condensed from a passage in the Analects (Lunyu 論語) of Confucius where such a person is presented as a bad example, as the purpose of a monarch or scholar was to serve “All Under Heaven,” not to fulfill their personal aspirations.
“All Under Heaven” essentially meant “the empire,” but it was an empire that was the possession of one family, the Trần family. As such, to attempt to flee from his responsibility as emperor, Trần Thái Tông was letting down a lot of people, and his uncle made that clear.
Trần Thủ Độ also mentioned the Altar of Soil and Grain. This is a site of ritual worship that existed from antiquity. It was the site where emperor’s performed rituals to pray for the fertility of the crops. It was considered so important that it became a synonym for the kingdom as a whole, and that is how it is used here.
Finally, I think it’s also interesting that Trần Thủ Độ made reference to “empty words” (không ngôn 空言). This appears to represent his view of Buddhism.
朕見太師及諸故老之臣，無有捨朕之意，遂以其言告于國師，師捧朕手而言曰：
凡為人君者，以天下之心為心。今天下欲迎陛下歸之，則陛下安得不歸哉。然内典之究，願陛下母忘斯須耳。
由是朕與國人回京，勉而踐位，十數年間，凡遇機暇，聚會耆德，參禪問道，及諸大教等經，無不參究，常讀金剛，至於應無所住而生其心之句，方爾廢卷長吟間，豁然自悟，以其所悟而作是歌，目曰禪宗指南。
Trẫm thấy Thái sư cùng các cố lão quần thần không có ý bỏ trẫm, liền đem lời bày tỏ với Quốc sư. Quốc sư cầm tay trẫm bảo: “Phàm làm đấng nhân quân, phải lấy ý muốn của thiên hạ làm ý muốn của mình, lấy tâm của thiên hạ làm tâm của mình. Nay thiên hạ muốn đón Bệ hạ trở về, Bệ hạ không về sao được. Song phần nghiên cứu nội điển, mong Bệ hạ đừng xao lãng.”
Vì thế, trẫm cùng mọi người trở về Kinh, miễn cưỡng lên ngôi. Khoảng hơn mười năm, những khi được rảnh rổi, trẫm họp các vị kỳ đức để tham cứu thiền, hỏi đạo và các kinh Đai thừa… đều nghiên cứu qua. Trẫm thường đọc kinh Kim Cang đến câu: “Ưng vô sở trụ nhi sanh kỳ tâm,” trong khoảng để quyển xuống ngâm nga, bỗng nhiên tự ngộ. Liền đem sở ngộ này viết thành bài ca, để tên là “Thiền Tông Chỉ Nam.”
Seeing that the Grand Preceptor and the elderly veteran ministers did not have the intent to discard me, I reported what they had said to the National Preceptor. The master grasped my hand and said, “Any sovereign should always take the aspiration of All Under Heaven as his aspiration. Now All Under Heaven wishes to welcome Your Highness to return, so how can Your Highness not do so? However, as for investigating the canonical scriptures [nội điển 内典], I hope that Your Highness will not forget this necessity.”
I then returned to the capital with the men of the kingdom and reluctantly ascended the throne. Over the course of more than ten years, whenever I found free time, I gathered together the elderly and virtuous to discuss Zen and inquire about the Way. As for the scriptures of the various great teachings, there were none that I did not consult. I often read the Diamond Sutra, and when I reached the phrase, ‘They should give rise to the aspiration while not abiding in anything,’ in the midst of setting aside the scriptures and deeply contemplating, I suddenly had a moment of enlightenment. Based on this realization, I composed this ode, entitled “A Guide to the Zen School.”
So, the young Trần Thái Tông returned to the capital, and in the years that followed, when he had “free time,” he would read Buddhist texts or discuss about Buddhism.
Meanwhile, Trần Thái Tông did not implement Buddhism policies. He did not do this because there was no such thing. Buddhism didn’t deal with the administration of the empire or the legitimation of the royal family. That was all in the realm of the Confucian tradition.
Instead, Trần Thái Tông studied about Buddhism in his free time, and then wrote about it after he abdicated.
I think this preface captures nicely the difference between Confucianism and Buddhism. Dynasties were Confucian. There was no other way to be a dynasty. Buddhism, meanwhile, was there for people who wanted to think deeply about life, or who wanted the souls of their deceased ancestors to receive eternal prayers, etc.
Confucianism and Buddhism were therefore different. They played different roles, and they were definitely not interchangeable.
