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I. The Concept of Peace
In Vietnam since early
times, peace has been largely conceived of as peace in one’s mind, peace
towards one’s fellows, and peace with nature. Those aspects of peace are
greatly influenced by Buddhism. Each social stratum has its own approach
to the serenity of mind through Buddhism. The intelligentsia practised Zen
(dhyana) firstly through Zen masters coming from India1 and later
from China2 to ultimately establish their own Zen sect in the thirteenth
century called the Thien Truc Lam (Bamboo Forest Zen Sect).3 They
abided by the teachings of Buddha:
Those
who practise meditation steadfastly,
Always
strong in determination and perseverance,
The
wise ones enjoy nibbana,
Safe
from any bondage, the highest
Dhammapada,
234
or
.
. . He does not cleave to sense-desires,
Cool
he is, and without germs to a new life,
All
clinging are cut down,
Pains
in the heart are overcome,
Serene
and calm, he leads a life of happiness,
And
his mind has attained peace and calmness
Samyutta
Nikaya, I, 2635
Learned Buddhist scholars
enjoyed great influence on the daily life of the common people. Through
them the commoners could have an understanding of the gist of Buddha’s
teach-ings on His attitude towards other religions and antagonistic
doctrines, His love and com-passion for the world, and on fundamental
topics of daily life such as dispute and harmony, anger and gentleness,
harmfulness and harmlessness, hatred and friendliness, killing and respect
for life, etc. Among many teachings they were most impressed by such words
as:
One
should take oneself as one’s own refuge,
Because
there is no other refuge,
By
a self well tamed and restrained,
One
obtains a refuge that is very difficult to obtain
Dhammapada,
1606
or
By
oneself, evil deed is done,
By
oneself, one is defiled,
By
oneself, evil deed is not done,
By
oneself, one becomes purified.
Purity
and impurity are done by oneself,
No
one can purify another
Dhammapada,
1657
They were fully aware of
the value of self-reliance on the way of deliverance to obtain fundamental
peace, that in one’s mind. They had an insight into the expression of
Buddhism, that to be born as human is the most advantageous status for
every living being, as it is only he who may realize the Four Holy Truths
and practise the Eightfold Holy Path to deliverance. It is the human,
rather than any deity or other supra-human force, who determines his own
happiness, his own destiny. They understood the statement by Buddha: ‘Over
is Sky, under is Earth, only the Self is exclusive.’
Peace in one’s mind lays
the foundations of peace in the community and the world, as was expounded
by Buddha:
Oh Bhikkhu, you should
go forth for the welfare of the many, for the happiness of the many,
out of compassion for the world, for the advantage, for the welfare,
for the happiness of the deities and human beings. . . . Oh Bhikkhu,
teach the Dhamma, that is good at the beginning, good in the
middle, good at the end, with meaning and with form. Reveal the holy
life that is completely and entirely pure. Samyutta, I, 1288
That is the work to be done
by the Samgha. As for common people, they try their best to exercise the
Four Cardinal Virtues put forth by Buddhism to maintain and expand harmony
and peace in their community. These are loving-kindness (metta);
compassion (karuna); happiness (piti); sacrifice (upekkha)
under the disinterested and altruistic spirit. People understand metta
as bringing happiness and tranquillity to others; karuna as
relieving suffering and danger to others; piti as being happy with
the achievements — material and mental — of others; upekkha as
being ready to give up personal belongings, including body, wealth and
happiness for the benefit of others; disinterested as acting fairly, not
being influenced by personal advantage; and altruistic as being forgiving
towards those who sincerely show repentance after having been led astray.
These virtues have had a
strong impact on the minds of the Vietnamese people and together with
Confucianism have shaped their behaviour. If Buddhism provided the
Vietnamese people with a good-natured heart, Confucianism provided
them with wisdom translated into the sense of order, discipline and
responsibility. Two major contributions of Confucianism to traditional
Vietnamese society are the materialization and institutionalization of
benevolence as advocated by Buddhism into regulations and laws; and
defining the responsibility and duty of each individual towards himself
and the community in which he is living, including family, village, and
the country, out of the concept of the Five Constant Virtues (Ngu
Thuong). They are humanity (Nhan), righteousness (Nghia),
rites (Le), wisdom (Tri), and trust (Tin); the first
three have been set great store by.
Humanity is conceived of as
benevolence and charity. Righteousness means that speaking and acting
should be in accordance with the conscience, in line with the right way.
He who can respond to these two criteria is worthy of being human. It was
written in the Book of Changes: ‘Yin and Yang are the principle of Sky,
Rigid (Hard) and Flexible (Soft) are the principles of Earth, Humanity and
Righteousness are the principles of Humanity.’ Rites are regulations,
discipline, order in society and respect towards these institutions. Rites
were set up to ensure the maintenance of Humanity and Righteousness.
Obviously, these five Confucian virtues complement the four Buddhist
virtues for the peaceful behaviour of the Vietnamese people, especially
the sense of tolerance and benevolence towards their fellows. Buddhism and
Confucianism constituted the basis of Vietnamese people’s individual and
social behaviour in every circumstance, especially in peace-making and
peace-keeping.
II. Buddhist Experience
The Buddhist contribution
to peace in Vietnam could be seen through various aspects prevailing in
four major instances:
1. In times when people
suffered the atrocities of foreign domination, aggression and wars. At
those junctures, Buddhism was closely connected with national
independence, which was considered indispensable to a socio-political
environment for peace. Without national independence there is neither
freedom nor happiness, which are seen as two major factors of the
peaceful life. Buddhism then came up as a mental support to the striving
for peace of the Vietnamese people. It served as a means for rallying
people against the tyranny of oppressors by its basic tenets of
democracy, self-reliance and self-deliverance as happened in the sixth
century when an insurrection against Chinese domination burst forth
under the leadership of a leader who named himself Ly Phat Tu (Ly the
son of Buddha) versus Thien Tu (son of Heaven), the appellation of the
Emperor of China.
In and after resistance
wars against aggressors, the typical Buddhist sense of humanism and
forgiveness has been extended to war prisoners. They were treated with
humanity, as was shown during the wars against the French colonialists
and the American imperialists in the second half of this century. They
were provided with food and means of transport to return home, as were
Chinese war prisoners in the fifteenth century.9 The Vietnamese people
considered them victims and dupes of their ruling circles; and such an
act was just aiming at maintaining peace between nations.
2. In times when people
could live in peace to rebuild their country after disastrous wars,
Buddhism served as a means for relieving people’s sufferings caused by
wars and natural calamities out of its spirit of mutual help, its sense
of tolerance and benevolence. This tolerance policy prevailed in
eleventh to early thirteenth centuries under the Ly dynasty, and was
expressed through edicts of exemption from reducing taxes, declaring
amnesty and reduction of sentences. A very compassionate word of Emperor
Ly Thanh Tong (eleventh century) has been recorded in the Annals: ‘My
affection for my daughter [princess] is the same as for the common
people to whom I assume the role of parents. They are guilty due to
their lack of knowledge. I am full of pity for them. From now on,
howsoever serious or light a guilt may be, the sentence should be
reduced.’10
It was by practising the
benevolence policy that the Tran Dynasty (thirteenth to fifteenth
century) could raise the living standards of the people and ensure
stability by defeating the Mongolian invaders. Especially in the era of
the Democratic Republic, such great events as the Dien Bien Phu victory
(1954) or National Reunification (1975) could have not happened if the
people could not exercise their freedom, democracy, equality in specific
conditions of war under a national spirit imbued with the Buddhist sense
of self-reliance and benevolence.
3. Nowadays Vietnam is
practising renovation and developing the market economy in the situation
of peace and stability inside the country and the boom of the
information revolution over the world. Stability is the basic condition
for healthy and sustainable development. Social stability requires,
first, the stability in each person, or in other words the peace in one’s
mind. The Vietnamese people always keep cheerfully in mind the
philosophy: keeping still to cope with changes. Still does not
mean motionless, immobile or frozen, but rather a state of equilibrium
and harmony. Equilibrium implies inner motion of each element sharing
the structure. And the harmony of something is the way in which the
parts of it are combined into a suitable and desirable arrangement.
Equilibrium and harmony bring about force, just as the practising of
Buddha’s teachings gives us peace in our minds.
By the practice of this
philosophy the Vietnamese people could overcome many historical
vicissitudes. Now, in the market economy, there are many negative
aspects, especially the ‘superstition’ of money and
supra-consumerism, and the endangering of Vietnamese ethical values. The
question is how to combat them successfully. Administrative measures to
tackle this problem are necessary but not radical. That requires rather
the enhancement of the spiritual life, or in other words equilibrium
between material and spiritual life. At this juncture Buddhism, combined
with Confucianism, is playing a significant role in Vietnam. Buddhism in
fact does not deny the material life, rather it preaches the ethical and
spiritual life by encouraging good deeds and shunning evil actions which
are deeply rooted in the selfish cravings of human beings. It is indeed
somewhat unrealistic to destroy thoroughly the selfish craving in human
behaviour. It would be better to tame and restrain it, first in oneself,
and further to behave as such towards others as is taught by Buddha:
You
should do to yourself
What
you have instructed others to do.
Well
tamed yourself, you should tame others.
Truly
difficult indeed, is self tamed.
Dhammapada,
15911
or
Thinking
of his own benefits, he does harm to others.
When
other do harm to him in return,
Being
harmed, he harms others.
Such
is what the fool thinks,
When
his wicked actions do not mature.
Samyutta
Nikaya, 10312
Vietnam is a latecomer on
the way of industrialization and modernization. However, this could be
advantageous as the country could draw experience from the success as
well as failure of other more advanced countries in the reducing of
negative aspects of the market economy. The most appropriate approach
should be relying on traditional culture, in which ethical values of
religion are salient features. In the case of Vietnam, these are
Buddhistic combined with Confucian ones. Actually, there is a Government
Committee for Religious Affairs to regulate the activities of various
religions for the benefit of the many; an Institute for Buddhist Study,
in the framework of the Vietnam Buddhist Congregation with its various
periodicals to deepen Buddhist knowledge and popularize Buddha’s
teachings, especially on ethical values and peace. Noteworthy are a good
many humanitarian societies operating in the Buddhist spirit of
benevolence and under the motto ‘untorn leaves protect and help torn
leaves’, aiming at relieving the pain and suffering of the
disadvantaged. Many central and local funds initiated by Buddhist monks
and named ‘funds for eradicating starvation and reducing poverty’
were raised and responded to warmly by people from various social
strata. Now Buddhist monks and laymen are among the most fervent
humanitarian activists.
4. In foreign relations.
In the course of history Vietnam has had two aspects of foreign
relations: peaceful and conflicting. In these two, Buddhism had made
contributions to positive solutions. No great matter is to be commented
on the first issue, as Buddhism is a champion of peace — peace in one’s
mind and peace among humankind. As far as conflict is concerned, some
remarks need to be made in this context as it is related to peace.
Among the commandments of
Buddhism, the first deals with non-killing. That is to ensure peace and
harmony between humans. Non-killing is the antagonist of killing. As the
act of killing, like every act of a human, is generated from the mind,
the question is how to generate a good thought rather than an evil one
in one’s mind. That could be achieved through Right Meditation, one
stage in the Eightfold Path. So, an act could be asserted as good or
evil only when it is considered from its motivation. There is no room
here for the concept of ‘the end justifies the means’. An act is
good if it is done for the benefit of others or to help others. On the
other hand, Buddhism preaches that the origin of evil acts lies in one’s
selfish craving.
That is the concept of
peace and war of the Vietnamese people. They had to face repeated
invasions by enemy forces. They had to safeguard their Fatherland by every
means available, including killing aggressors, for the sake of peace for
their country and their fellows. While practising Buddhism, the Vietnamese
leaders and people had to undertake resistance wars to fight against
aggressors, wars waged by those people excited by so much selfish craving.
And, as always, after such wars, wherein they always came out victorious,
the Vietnamese leaders resumed their policy of good relations with those
states who were once invaders. Even some of them, such as Emperor Ly Thai
Tong (eleventh century), Emperors Tran Thai Tong and Tran Nhan Tong
(thirteenth century), had cast off their monastic dress to put on armour
and lead the whole people to defeat the Chinese and Mongolian invaders.
Especially Emperor Tran Nhan Tong, after his sound victory over the
Mongolian troops, re-took his monastic dress and went into the forest to
found the national Buddhist Sect of Zen, the Truc Lam (Bamboo Forest) Zen
Sect. Deeply imbued with the sense of Buddhist benevolence and tolerance,
the vast majority of Vietnamese always support the state policy of good
relations with foreign countries. Nobody other than the Viet people, who
suffered great hardships caused by wars, eagerly wish for peace and
stability of society and peace and good relations with other countries in
order to improve their living standards, their quality of life.
Conclusion
Buddhism in Vietnam is
becoming a factor in traditional and national culture. It is so combined
with Confucianism that it is hard to define it explicitly. Buddhism is so
closely connected with national consciousness that one cannot understand
it thoroughly unless it is seen in the context of national history. It has
made significant contributions to the maintaining and preserving of peace
and stability for Vietnamese society during periods of peace as well as
war. Now, when Vietnam is practising renovation and the market economy and
the open-door policy, Buddhism is proving indispensable, especially for
the maintenance and improvement of ethical values of restraint and to
reduce socially negative aspects. Its sense of benevolence and tolerance
is of great support to peaceful coexistence and friendly relations between
various countries.
References
1. The Indian monks
Mahajivaka and Kalacharya(?) came to Giao Chau (Vietnam) between 168 and
189 ad. These two monks were quite popular among the local people for
their powers (abinna), especially the power of calling rain for
peasants to cultivate their rice fields.
Another monk, named K’ang-san-hui
(transcripted from Chinese), originated from Sogdiane. His parents came to
India, then settled in Giao Chau (third century ad), where the monk was
born. He devoted himself to Buddhist studies and was strongly influenced
by the Middle Discourse (Madhyamika) of Nagarjuna. Noticeable among
many sutras he had translated from Sanskrit to Chinese is the Astasahasrika,
a discourse on the Madhyamika.
In 580, Vinitaruci, an
Indian Zen master, came to Giao Chau and founded the first Zen sect in
Vietnam, laying emphasis on meditation. This sect existed until the second
decade of the thirteenth century. The most prominent representative is Tu
Dao Hanh (?—1117).
2. Vo Ngon Thong
(Enlightened without Speech), a Chinese Zen master, came to Vietnam in the
early ninth century and founded the second Zen sect in Vietnam, influenced
strongly by Chinese Zen, laying emphasis on sudden enlightenment. It
lasted until the early thirteenth century.
3. Founded by King Tran
Nhan Tong in the early thirteenth century, emphasizing sunyata and
Absolute Truth in Heart. It is a mediator between Sudden Enlightenment and
Gradual Enlightenment.
4. Quoted from Bhikkhu
Thich Minh Chau, Some Teachings of Lord Buddha on Peace, Harmony and
Human Dignity, Vietnam Buddhist Congregation, Ho Chi Minh City, 1984,
p.154.
5. Ibid., p.125.
6. Ibid., p.166.
7. Ibid., p.142.
8. Ibid., p. 20.
9. The Complete History
of Dai Viet (Dai Viet Su Ky Toan Thu), T.II. Social Sciences
Publishing House, Hanoi, 1985, pp. 281-83. Before the ending of the
resistance war against the Chinese expeditionary force in 1427, Emperor Le
Thai To ordered governors of the provinces of Bac Giang and Lang Giang to
repair bridges and roads, afford boats to those Chinese war prisoners and
surrenders — about 30,000 persons — returning home. And right after
the war, prisoners and surrenders were provided with 500 boats, 20,000
horses and sufficient food for their withdrawal.
10. Ibid., T.I.,
p.165.
11. B. Thich Minh Chau, Some
Teachings . . . , p.169.
12. Ibid., p. 68.
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