Tran Nhan Tong's poetry and the beginning of Vietnamese literature

That was the topic of the talk by speaker, writer Nhat Chieu, which recently took place at the Can Tho University Library. Many writers, artists, researchers, and students joined writer Nhat Chieu in searching for the beauty of Tran Nhan Tong's poetry and the beauty of the Vietnamese language.

Writer Nhat Chieu presented on the topic "Tran Nhan Tong's poetry and the beginning of Vietnamese literature"
at Can Tho University Library.

During the Tran Dynasty of our country, there were two great men, namely Saint Tran - Hung Dao Dai Vuong Tran Quoc Tuan and Buddha King - Tran Nhan Tong. This story is very interesting to the listeners. And from there, writer Nhat Chieu and the listeners sketched about Buddha King Tran Nhan Tong. He was a king, a Zen master, and a poet. After all, Buddha King Tran Nhan Tong "threw away the throne like throwing away old sandals" to devote his life to Buddhism, carrying profound wisdom and high philosophy: "This week, if I think about it, I will forgive myself/ Satisfied in my heart, laughing heartily".

Along with the works of Emperor Tran Nhan Tong, or the works of Tran Thai Tong, Nguyen Du, Nguyen Trai... writer Nhat Chieu said that the more he reads and ponders, the more proud he becomes. Our nation does not lack great thinkers. Thus, among the sages, Emperor Tran Nhan Tong is a shining star, in many fields, including poetry.

The two works “Cư trần lạc đạo phủ” and “Ðắc thư lâm tuyền thành đạo ca” are the two Nom poems that appeared earliest in the history of Nom literature in our country. According to writer Nhật Chiêu, although there are other hypotheses, he believes that they are just legends, the work of Trần Nhân Tông is truly the first literary work in Vietnamese. For example, “Cư trần lạc đạo phủ”, a poem written by Trần Nhân Tông according to the law of poetry, expressing the most important viewpoint of Buddhist thought in the Trần dynasty. This poem consists of 10 poems, in Nom and finally a Chinese poem. Speaker Nhật Chiêu is extremely fond of the ending of “Cư trần lạc đạo phủ”, translating the poem as: “In life, enjoy the path, follow your fate/ When hungry, eat, when tired, sleep/ In the house, there is treasure, stop searching/ Face the scene without mind, don’t ask about Zen”. That is the great thought of a great man, hidden in the Truc Lam Zen sect that has been passed down to this day.

Not only affirming that Tran Nhan Tong's poetry was the beginning of Vietnamese literature, but according to writer Nhat Chieu, author Tran Nhan Tong loved the Vietnamese language (specifically Nom script), and loved to use Vietnamese, even though he was very proficient in Chinese characters. For example, at least 20 times in his works, he did not use the word "heart" but replaced it with the word "heart"; he did not use "respect teachers and value morality" but chose to use "worship teachers and learn morality"... It is interesting to note that more than 700 years ago, a Buddhist emperor of our country had great thoughts about pride in the Vietnamese language, promoting the spirit of preserving the purity of the Vietnamese language.

Vinh Nghiem Pagoda (Bac Ninh Province) currently preserves 3,050 valuable woodblocks of the Truc Lam Yen Tu Zen sect. Among them, the woodblock “Cu tran lac dao phu” by the Buddhist Emperor Tran Nhan Tong was engraved on Thi wood, including 6 sides engraved with Nom characters. In 2012, “Vinh Nghiem Pagoda Woodblocks” was recognized by UNESCO as a Documentary Heritage under the Memory of the World Program in the Asia- Pacific region.

Article and photos: DANG HUYNH

Source: https://baocantho.com.vn/tho-ca-tran-nhan-tong-va-su-khoi-dau-cua-van-chuong-tieng-viet-a189031.html