Nguyen Quynh (alias Phu Duc, alias Lanh Nam), born in the year of At Mao 1675, Duc Nguyen era, Le Gia Tong dynasty, was the 5th generation eldest grandson of Nam Duong Marquis Nguyen Nhiem. He was the one who had a decisive influence on the direction and career of his descendants, especially his talented grandson, the world cultural celebrity - the great national poet Nguyen Du later.
Mirror of filial piety
Nguyen Quynh had a natural inclination towards books and literature since childhood, loved reading books of sages, and was famous for his literary talent. At the age of 19, he took the Huong exam, passed the Tam Truong exam, and became a Confucian scholar at the Tu Lam office to study hard, and was often invited to serve in the Crown Prince's palace. Unfortunately, in the year of Mau Dan 1698, because of his father's death, he had to return home to take care of funeral responsibilities.
To take care of his family, he had to give up his studies, focus on teaching and treating people in the area, and spend most of his time educating his children and grandchildren.
In the year At Dau (1705), Trung Quan Cong Le Thi Lieu was the general of Nghe An. Hearing of Nguyen Quynh's talent and virtue, he invited him to be a guest in his tent, advising on military and diplomatic affairs, specializing in dealing with Dang Trong, and holding the position of Captain in charge of the Thang Huu army.
Being talented, cheerful and humorous, Nguyen Quynh was considered a close friend by Trung Quan Cong and assigned many important military matters to calm the people.
In the year of Binh Ngo 1726, his mother passed away. He returned to his hometown to attend the funeral and from then on, he stopped working as an official. He stayed home to write books and teach. He spent a lot of time researching books on astronomy, geography, calendars, medicine, etc., teaching, and prescribing medicine to cure people.
Thanks to his extraordinary intelligence, he understood everything he read. His books were exhausted, so he traveled to many places to find teachers to study. One day, he was lucky enough to meet Ngo Canh Phuong from Duc Hung district, Nhieu Chau prefecture, Giang Tay province, China (a descendant of Ngo Canh Loan, the national geography teacher of the Song dynasty).
Knowing that this was a genuine geographer, he asked to be adopted by the teacher so that he could study with him and was wholeheartedly taught the knowledge and secrets of the profession. From then on, he opened a school to teach, prescribe medicine to cure people and focused on researching geomancy. He compiled his knowledge and research secrets into the books “Dai Hieu Chan Kinh” and “Tu Au Chan Kinh Quyet Nghi Tap”.
In addition to writing books, he was also the author of many poems and prose. Unfortunately, due to time, many of them have been lost and have not been collected yet. Currently, the family still preserves the book "The Secret Secrets of Geography Family" which records his knowledge of geography to pass on to his descendants.
He died on May 28, At Mao year 1735, at the age of 61. In the face of his filial piety, raising his children to be educated and successful, building the Nguyen Tien Dien family, a prestigious family with many generations of glory and great contributions to the homeland, Linh Nam Nguyen Quynh was posthumously awarded the title of Minister of Rites, Thai Bao Nhuan Quan Cong by the Le-Trinh court, and posthumously awarded the title of Dai Vuong.
Cultural fountain
It can be said that Nguyen Quynh was the one who had a decisive influence on the future career and inclination of his descendants. Starting from him, the Nguyen Tien Dien family not only had an increasingly large number of descendants, but also had remarkable development in terms of examinations and career. Nguyen Quynh's sons were all taught by their father to study the books of the sages from a young age, and soon had aspirations and were more intelligent than others.
Being a person well versed in astrology, Nguyen Quynh knew that in the future, many of his descendants would be successful and famous, so he planted three trees: the Mango tree, the Hot tree and the Roi tree to symbolize the longevity and glory of the family. As predicted, not long after, the eldest son Nguyen Hue passed the Doctorate exam, the second son Nguyen Nghiem passed the Royal exam, the third son Nguyen Trong passed the Bachelor exam (titled Lam Khe Marquis), and the fifth son Nguyen Si passed the Student exam (titled Dong Linh Marquis).
The most prominent among his children was Nguyen Nghiem (1708-1775), with the courtesy name Hy Tu, pen name Nghi Hien, nickname Hong Ngu Cu Si, passed the royal examination in Tan Hoi (1731), was talented in both literature and martial arts, became an official to the position of Crown Prince's guardian, and was given the title of Xuan Quan Cong (equivalent to the position of prime minister).
Later, Nguyen Nghiem's eldest son, Nguyen Khan, passed the doctoral exam in 1760, became Nhap Thi Boi Tung, Minister of Personnel, and had the title of district duke.
Nguyen Nghiem is also the father of the great poet Nguyen Du.
Besides his outstanding qualities and the virtues of a highly educated and talented Confucian scholar, Nguyen Quynh's role in guiding literary knowledge as well as his outlook on life and the world was clearly continued and developed through his descendants, especially the rich literary achievements of the Nguyen Tien Dien family.
He built for his descendants a Confucian cultural lifestyle, diligently reading the books of sages, contemplating the quintessence of the Five Classics, Four Books and a love of literature, so most of the descendants of the Nguyen Tien Dien family have the will to study, have the qualities and inclination for literature, many people consider literature as a place to confide their life's thoughts.
If Nguyen Nghiem, Nguyen Hue and later his nephews Nguyen Khan and Nguyen Dieu inherited from him the literary character and family lineage, were all very talented and elegant, good at literature and poetry, talented in painting and wanted to show their talents, using their knowledge to serve the country, then Nguyen Trong was like his father in being passionate about academic research, medicine and teaching.
Nguyen Du not only inherited from his grandfather the talented, open-minded qualities, not too concerned with formalities and rituals, but also his ambition not to pursue fame, but only to seek a simple, leisurely life.
Through his father and brother, he also inherited and developed his desire to enjoy literary creation. He brought the loneliness, sadness, worldly concerns, the uncertainties of life, and the wounded and trampled fates in society into typical examples of literary creation.
Looking at the literary heritage of the Great Poet Nguyen Du, we can affirm that he received a deep cultural foundation from the family tradition at a higher level. The source of knowledge, culture and life experience that Nguyen Du inherited from the famous literary family are the important factors contributing to the creation of Nguyen Du's soul, Nguyen Du's qualities and the talent of a world cultural celebrity - the Great National Poet. And all of those quintessence originated from his grandfather, Linh Nam Cong Nguyen Quynh.
Nowadays, in the old village of Tien Dien, everything has changed, life has changed, but the immortal pages of Kieu still remain.
Source: https://nhandan.vn/nguoi-gay-dung-nen-mong-van-chuong-khoa-cu-ho-nguyen-tien-dien-post888685.html
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