"Be a pine tree standing in the sky and singing"

“Be a pine tree standing in the middle of the sky and singing / In the middle of the sky, a steep cliff / Whoever can bear the cold will climb with the pine”. That is the declaration, the philosophy of dedicated life of Uy Vien General Nguyen Cong Tru...

Statue of Dinh Dien Su Nguyen Cong Tru at Nguyen Cong Tru relic site in Xuan Giang commune, Nghi Xuan district. (Photo: Khoi Nguyen).

There have been, are, and will be many things said about Nguyen Cong Tru: A Confucian scholar with a dream of fame, a hero in troubled times who disregarded the ups and downs of life, an outstanding businessman who devoted his whole heart and mind to the people, a talented man with a heroic spirit, a pioneer of modern national poetry... everywhere Nguyen Cong Tru's personal cultural identity of a time and all times is evident.

1. Nguyen Cong Tru, son of Nguyen Cong Tan, was a district chief under the Le dynasty. He lost his position and returned to his hometown to become a teacher to earn a living. He then died in poverty, leaving behind a three-room leaky house and six children. At that time, Nguyen Cong Tru was 20 years old. A sad family situation: "The head of the bamboo bed is covered with crooked moles/ The corner of the earthen wall is crawling with worms/ The sunlight shines on the chicken eggs on the wall, the boy is hiding/ Raindrops shine on the mouse hole in the house, the cat is watching/ In the pig cage, a pig is lying and chewing on the trough, so hungry that he doesn't want to cry/ The mouse on the head of the trellis makes a noise in the pot, so sad that he has to leave...". And the scholar-gentry master Nguyen Cong Tru had only a piece of cloth, using the cold as a blanket, the heat as a pillow, with poverty and constant debt.

In such a situation, people easily give up and accept their fate. Nguyen Cong Tru not only “sat down to poverty and lost his way”, but he also had a strong belief that he had the talent to “reinvent the country”. The only way to escape the impasse of poverty and misery was to devote himself to realizing his dream of fame: First as a scholar, then as a mandarin or general. He “Determined to sail against the storm/ With the ambition to split mountains and fill rivers/ To become a hero, it will be clear”. However, he only encountered hardships. It was not until the year of Ky Mao, Gia Long 18 (1819), when he was 42 years old, that he passed the exam and was appointed to the position of Hanh Tau at Quoc Tu Giam.

No matter what the times are like, what his family circumstances are like, he is still optimistic and loves life: "Heaven is not always difficult for me? / Honor and disgrace happen to everyone once / The spring news has a plum branch there...", still boldly devoted himself, never choosing to take refuge, to be content with his fate, to hide: He declared: "I will definitely pay off my debt to the world / Having fought in battle, I must strive to earn my bow / To show my manly character / In the universe, it is my duty / I must have a name with the mountains and rivers / If I go empty-handed, I cannot return empty-handed".

Uy Vien General Nguyen Cong Tru Temple in Xuan Giang Commune, Nghi Xuan District. (Photo: Khoi Nguyen).

2. Nguyen Cong Tru was an official for nearly 30 years, through the reigns of the following kings: Minh Mang (reigned from 1820-1841), Thieu Tri (reigned from 1841-1847), Tu Duc (reigned from 1847-1883), "The two words of loyalty and national loyalty/ One heart for the country and the people" were gone, but his official career was full of ups and downs. A talented Confucian scholar, an official in charge of thorny and difficult regions, a military general who fought in the South and pacified the North and always brought victory to the court, a Dinh Dien Su who organized land reclamation on the sea with an area of 38,095 hectares, the number of soldiers reached 4,000, an outstanding poet of the century... Yet he was demoted 7 times, in 1841 he was sentenced to death by beheading, in 1843 he was demoted to a soldier...

Nguyen Cong Tru, with high reputations such as Minister, Governor, Governor, and low reputation such as Lang Trung, soldier... One must have a bold and contemptuous spirit, a passionate love of life, and a burning ideal of dedication to withstand those harsh and unjust impacts. Not only was he resilient and patient in endurance, in Nguyen Cong Tru, the desire to "govern the country and save the world", the ideal of "becoming a hero", always burned intensely. It seems that in the human world full of absurdity, injustice, and deceit, at the "downfalls" on his career path, even in situations of "beheading and imprisonment" for resisting imperial orders, Nguyen Cong Tru still kept his heart very upright, courageously devoted himself, without disappointment, discouragement, resentment, or resentment, choosing a life of weakness.

Ca tru will forever be preserved, conserved, and promoted in life...

3. For Nguyen Cong Tru, poetry is the place that most clearly and profoundly displays optimism, confidence, freedom, boldness, pride, and romance: “Only thirty-six thousand lives/ Sixteen thousand have been wasted/ Tell the Creator to turn the time around/ So that the guests can have a wide space to play”. He admitted: “There have been many amorous people in the past/ Old Tran is one and I am two/ The older I get, the more flexible and resilient I am”. And to fulfill his desire, there is no other way than to leave the world and enter the world. “Entering the circle of restraint without being entangled/ Entering the mortal world, my clothes are not stained”.

In other words, Nguyen Cong Tru's commitment to poetry in the mid-late 18th century, for the first time in the history of Vietnamese poetry, affirmed the human need for enjoyment, raising it to a philosophy of life, which many Ha Tinh poets of the 18th century such as Nguyen Huy Oanh, Le Huu Trac, Nguyen Thiep, Nguyen Du could not do. But in my opinion, in the ethical space of that time, amidst the harsh limits of historical movement, to do that unique thing, Nguyen Cong Tru was faithful to the philosophy of commitment that existed since his humble beginning.

4. 80 years of living in this world, 40 years as a poor scholar, more than 30 years as a high-ranking official, small-ranking official, making great contributions to the people and the country in all fields of economics , culture, poetry, but when he retired, he had no door or home "Seventy years old, still living in a rented house".

Nguyen Cong Tru's life is a profound lesson in the philosophy of dedication. Dedication for ideals, for career, for life, for the masses and also for his own love of play: "The more pleasures you enjoy, the more profit you make/ If you don't play, who will compensate for the loss?"

(*) The poems of Nguyen Cong Tru quoted in this article are taken from the book "Nguyen Cong Tru in the course of history" - Nghe An Publishing House and East-West Cultural and Language Center - 2008.

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