The mystery of the beauty in the inner palace of King Khai Dinh - Part 2: The queen divorced, built a temple and became a nun

Before he became king, Prince Buu Dao was addicted to gambling, so he was heavily in debt, and spent his wife's family's money on gambling. His first wife could not bear it anymore and had to 'divorce' him to become a monk.

Venerable Giac Hue - Truong Nhu Thi Tinh (sitting in the middle) with relatives - Photo archive

That was Mrs. Truong Nhu Thi Tinh, who later became Venerable Giac Hue, the founder of Hoa Nghiem nunnery, also known as Ba Hoang pagoda in Hue .

Wife of a fallen king

In early 1889, King Dong Khanh passed away when Prince Buu Dao was not yet 4 years old. Prince Buu Lan, son of King Duc Duc, was chosen to succeed him, taking the reign name Thanh Thai. Prince Buu Dao was weak, had very little salary, and was even considered a thorn in King Thanh Thai's eyes. According to FDTessan, in an article about King Khai Dinh published in France in 1922, King Thanh Thai also banned Buu Dao from entering the palace, and "did not miss a single opportunity to bully"...

French documents also show that after the king's death, his two mothers, Thanh Cung and Tien Cung, brought their children to Dong Khanh mausoleum to live until Prince Buu Dao turned 18, then returned to live in Phung Hoa palace, today's An Dinh palace.

He was said to be very passionate about gambling. A set of documents circulated internally at a palace in Hue said that his passion for gambling was influenced by his mother, Duong Thi Thuc. That he "often visited his mother and stayed to play cards"; his mother "played cards all day, so he was a gambler in his youth"...

According to researcher Vo Huong An, their life at that time: "To put it bluntly, they were poor, this is something that some people in Hue at that time who had the opportunity to be close to Phung Hoa palace all knew. The king and his mandarins were all paid by the West, as were the princes and princesses. They were poor but loved to play, with gambling and singing, so they had quite a lot of debt."

In 1904, Prince Buu Dao married Miss Truong Nhu Thi Tinh (1889 - 1968), the daughter of high-ranking mandarin Truong Nhu Cuong. The marriage was probably planned by the two families. High-ranking mandarin Truong Nhu Cuong under the Dong Khanh period was greatly loved by the king, so it was understandable that his two mothers decided to choose him as their in-laws to "rely on their power" at that time.

The old story also tells that the father-in-law promised to give the son-in-law money every month after the wedding, but later did not give it, so the son-in-law abandoned his wife and threw himself into gambling. Some stories in the royal family also tell of many times when Prince Buu Dao forced his wife to go home and beg her parents for money to help him pay off his gambling debts, which were very large.

Unable to bear the sight of her husband being addicted to gambling, forced to come back to ask for money from her parents, and indifferent to sex, in 1913, Mrs. Truong Nhu Thi Tinh decided to leave her husband. However, according to the Nguyen Dynasty rules at that time, if you were the wife of the king, you could not leave.

Cultural researcher Tran Dinh Son said that the matter of her requesting a divorce was protracted and tense for quite a long time. Out of pity for his daughter, the high-ranking mandarin Truong Nhu Cuong asked the French to intervene. Thanks to that, his daughter was able to leave her husband and go to the mountains to establish a monastery.

Build a temple and become a monk

Hoa Nghiem Pagoda is located on the slope of Sam Mountain, in Huong Thuy Town, Thua Thien Hue , facing the intersection of Trung Nu Vuong and Phung Quan. The day we visited, he expressed his concern that "many people would know about the pagoda and come here, affecting the peaceful place of practice". After a while, a monk introduced us to the founder Giac Hue, whose portrait is worshiped in the middle and whose tomb is located on the right side of the pagoda.

Portrait of Venerable Giac Hue, secular name Truong Nhu Thi Tinh, founder of Hoa Nghiem Pagoda, Hue - Photo taken by THAI LOC

"The nun was once the wife of King Khai Dinh, so people often called her "Mrs. Hoang", and also called the nunnery the Ba Hoang Pagoda. The ravine in front of the pagoda is also called Ba Hoang ravine. Actually, when she founded the temple, the nun named it Hoa Nghiem Cac, a small valley, but later it was built larger so it was named Hoa Nghiem Pagoda," this person explained.

When she was a young lady, Venerable Giac Hue was well-educated, knowledgeable, and very good at literature and poetry. A close friend, who often "sang and painted together very well" with her, was poetess Dam Phuong.

According to cultural researcher Tran Dinh Son, when she learned that her friend was determined to give up wealth and fame to become a monk, poetess Dam Phuong wrote a long poem in six-eight meter to give to him with very sincere and touching words: "The apricot blossoms are thin and the willows are sick because of the dew/My heart aches, missing you with pity and bewilderment/My heart is torn apart/Where did you go from the crane in the clouds/The pouring rain and wind shake my sadness/Do we understand each other's feelings...".

There is also a theory that in 1916, three years after the "divorce", Phung Hoa Cong ascended the throne and took the reign name Khai Dinh. The king, thinking of his old love, sent someone to Hoa Nghiem pavilion to meet his ex-wife and expressed his intention to bring her back to the palace as the first-class concubine, and then continue to be honored as the Royal Noble Consort, but she firmly refused.

Tomb of the founder of Hoa Nghiem Pagoda - Nun Giac Hue, who was the wife of King Khai Dinh when he was still a prince - Photo: TL

Important contributions

The Chinese book collection of Venerable Giac Hue at Hoa Nghiem Cac is extremely large, with many rare books, and is a reference destination for many contemporary intellectuals.

"She was very good, especially at Chinese characters. It is said that her Chinese bookshelf contained many rare books. When she was at Hoa Nghiem, many great people and monks from Thien Mu, Tay Thien, Dieu De pagodas... often came to discuss and exchange poems. I heard that later, her precious books were sent to many pagodas," said Buddhist nun Thich Nu Chon Toan, who practiced at Dieu Vien pagoda.

During her period of practice at Hoa Nghiem Cac, she made significant contributions to Buddhism in Hue. According to researcher Tran Dinh Son: "She wholeheartedly supported eminent monks such as Venerable Hue Phap (Thien Hung Pagoda), Venerable Tam Tinh (Tay Thien Pagoda), Zen Master Vien Thanh (Ba La Mat Pagoda)... in teaching, publishing sutras, and building the first steps for the revival of Buddhism in the capital city of Hue".

In the first half of the 1960s, the Sam and Hoa Nghiem mountains were in a fierce conflict zone. Nun Giac Hue asked to move to Dieu Vien pagoda, more than a kilometer away, to take refuge and practice. According to Nun Chon Toan, she was arranged in a private, closed room in the row of her monastery in front of the pagoda, and the pagoda provided her with food and drink at mealtimes. In her later years, she could no longer recite Buddhist scriptures because she was deaf.

"She was very deaf, whoever needed something she would use sign language to write. In the year of Mau Than, the song "Ngo" (a song from Phu Bai to Hue) was rumbling loudly. She lamented, "Oh, how miserable he is, what a rumble!" said nun Chon Toan.

On the last day, June 20, 1968, she was alone in a locked room. Nun Chon Toan discovered her lying on her deathbed, unable to knock on the door, so she climbed over the wall and called for help. After the funeral, the temple asked the abbot of Dieu De temple to rent a car with a few other people, "overcoming bullets and bombs" to take her back to Hoa Nghiem temple for burial in the pre-built tower.

The book "Virtuous Venerables & Meritorious Lay Buddhists of Thuan Hoa" states that in 1913, Ms. Truong Nhu Thi Tinh went to Tay Thien pagoda to present her wish to become a nun and was approved. The Tay Thien patriarch gave her the dharma name Giac Hue.

In 1916, she returned to Sam mountain to buy land to build a hermitage named Hoa Nghiem Cac and began her journey of practice here. In 1962, she asked to practice at Dieu Vien pagoda, about a kilometer away, and handed over Hoa Nghiem Cac to two nuns, Chon Vien and Chon Tinh, to take care of. Lady Giac Hue left this temporary world at Dieu Vien pagoda in 1968, and was then brought back to Hoa Nghiem to be placed in a stupa, at the age of 79, 55 years of practice...

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From a maid, she rose to the highest position and became the master of the harem, and was considered worthy of being a mother. That was Mrs. Hoang Thi Cuc - the first-class concubine of King Khai Dinh, Doan Huy Hoang, the Queen Mother of Bao Dai, often respectfully called: "the Queen Mother".

Source: https://tuoitre.vn/bi-an-my-nhan-noi-cung-vua-khai-dinh-ky-2-ba-hoang-ly-di-lap-chua-di-tu-20231125230638945.htm#content-1