CHAPTER IX

What happened in the palace on January 1226, bringing Tran Canh to the throne, did not only end the Ly dynasty but also ended an epoch troubled and confused by the fighting between central and local authorities. Centralized and unified powers were restored. Production increased. Agriculture developed owing to land clearing, dike building and transgression on the sea. Industry and trade scored new progress. Many handicraft villages appeared; trading economy prospered. Foreign trading ships came more and more into Van Don and other ports. The administrative apparatus was perfected from the center to the villages. A collection of books called "Thong Che" was elaborated confirming statutes, laws, rites of the State.

National spirit, already developed, was heightened after the victories over the Mongol invaders and had a strong impact on the whole literature and arts. Literature in Nom characters came into being. Myths and folk tales as well as stories about the nation’s founders and defenders began to be collected and the elaboration of national history began.

At the same time, examinations for the choosing of public functionaries became regular affairs. Confucianist ideology attained step by step its important position in the spiritual life as well as in the social organizations. Under the Tran’s reign, Buddhism maintained onto its prosperity until the middle of the 14th century. The Kings of the Tran dynasty clearly understood the role of Confucianism and Buddhism in the society.

In his litany "Thien Tong Chi Nam," King Tran Thai Tong wrote: "The means to overcome obscurity, the shortened way to understand life and death problems, was the great teaching of Buddha. To be the model for posterity, to be the example for the future, those are heavy responsibilities of the predecessors... Now why cannot I make mine the predecessor’s responsibility, make mine the Buddha’s teaching?"

Thus under the Tran reign, Buddhism developed in combination with Confucianism.

We can’t speak of Buddhism under the Tran reign without paying attention to the Truc Lam Chan sect and the ending of the preceding Chan sects. The promoter of the Truc Lam sect was King Tran Nhan Tong. After having definitively left his family in 1299, that King became "the first founder of Truc Lam sect," i.e., its first ‘ancestor’. The second ancestor was the monk Phap Loa and the third was the monk Huyen Quang.

- Thong Thien

- Tuc Lu

- Ung Thuan

- Tieu Dao

- Tue Trung

- Truc Lam

- Phap Loa

- Huyen Quang

Thong Thien was a lay Buddhist belonging to the thirteenth generation of the Wu Yantong sect and also called Thong Su (died in 1228). He was the monk Thuong Chieu (died in 1203).

Tuc Lu was the monk belonging to the fourteenth generation and the monk Thong Thien’s disciple. Thien Uyen Tap Anh didn’t mention Tuc Lu’s death-day, but at least, that monk lived in the Tran Thai Tong’s lifetime for the reason that Ung Thuan, after having been a dignitary under that king’s reign, came to have lessons with him.

Ung Thuan was a lay Buddhist. Thien Uyen Tap Anh related his history under the name Ung Vuong (but in the story of ‘Tuc Lu’ he was called (Ung Thuan) belonging to the fifteenth generation of the Wu Yantong sect. His name was Do Van Tinh, born in the Hoa Thi quarter, (Ve market?), Thang Long. He served King Tran Thai Tong with the title of second degree royal official and was afterwards the monk Tuc Lu’s disciple in the Thong Thanh pagoda, Chu Minh hamlet, Thien Duc district (Ha Bac). Ung Thuan was the master of many well-known monks under the Tran’s reign. According to Thien Uyen Tap Anh, his disciples were Tieu Dao, state advisor Nhat Tong, Gioi Minh and Gioi Vien. And according to "Luoc Dan Thien Phai Do", besides Tieu Dao, his two other disciples were Dao Si and Quoc Nhat.

We can say that Tue Trung was the most brilliant disciple of Tieu Dao. But Tue Trung was a lay Buddhist studying at home while Tieu Dao cloistered in Phuc Duong in a wild forest. But where was Phuc Duong? In the same time, another document related that the monk Tieu Dao’s belonged to the generation which propagated religion in the Yen Tu mountain. As we can see, the Truc Lam sect’s origin might be linked to Ung Thuan, Tuc Lu, and Thong Thien, who belonged to the last generation of the Wu Yantong sect. Thus we can say that the Truc Lam sect was the continuation of the Wu Yantong sect.

But although Tue Trung was Nhan Tong’s master, he was but a lay Buddhist studying at home while Nhan Tong, after having definitively left his family, came to cloister in the Yen Tu mountain (Dong Trieu district, Quang Ninh province). That’s why the Truc Lam sect was also called the Truc Lam Yen Tu sect. But before Nhan Tong’s arrival at that mountain, many monks had successively cloistered there. It’s clear that those monks had played an important role in the development of Buddhism under the Tran reign before the Truc Lam sect was founded, but it’s very difficult to accurately identify them. We have now only one list of the various generations which cloistered in the Van Tieu Hoa Yen pagoda situated in the Yen Tu mountain. That list was rewritten by the chief monk Phuc Dien in Dai Nam Thien Uyen Ke Dang Luoc Luc also called Thien Uyen Ke Dang Luc, printed in about 1858.

According to this list, the successive generations of the monks having cloistered in Yen Tu are as follows:

1. Hien Quang

2. Vien Chuong

3. Dai Dang

4. Tieu Dao

5. Hue Tue

6 . Dieu Ngu, i.e., Tran Nhan Tong

7. Phap Loa

8. Huyen Quang

9. An Tam

10. Tinh Lu Phu Van

11 Vo Truoc

12. Quoc Nhat

13. Vien Minh

14. Dao Hue

15. Vien Ngo

16. Tong Tri

17. Tam Tang Khue Tham

18. Son Dang

19. Huong Son

20. Tri Dung

21. Tue Quang

22. Chan Tru

23. Vo Phien

More than ten years after that meeting, the state monk, Truc Lam, came to the capital, resided in the Thang Nghiem pagoda and organized the prayers’ printing. When Tran Thai Tong showed his newly written book Thien Tong Chi Nam, he proposed to get it carved and printed.

In the list established by Phuc Dien, Vien Chuong’s successor in the Yen Tu mountain was the monk Dai Dang. About the latter, "Luoc Dan Thien Phai Do" informs us a little more. According to this book, about the same period with Ung Thuan, i.e., under Tran Thai Tong’s reign, the lay Buddhist Thien Phong belonging to the Lam Te sect on Chuong Tuyen (Fujian, China) came to Vietnam and propagated Buddhism to the state monk, Dai Dang, and the chief monk, Nan Tu. Thus, we can conclude that the state monk, Dai Dang, was at the same time the disciple of two people, the state monk, Vien Chuong in Yen Tu, and the lay Buddhist, Thien Phong . According to Thanh Dang Luc, when the latter came to Vietnam, King Tran Thai Tong invited him to lecture on Buddhism in Thang Long. Perhaps, Dai Dang followed those teaching courses in that period. If that is true, the state monk Dai Dang concentrated in himself two traditions, that of Wu Yantong in the country and that of Lam Te from China. As we will see, the influence of the ideology of the Lam Te sect on Buddhism during the Tran reign was manifest.

According to "Luoc Dan Thien Phai Do," the state monk Dai Dang propagated Buddhism to King Tran Thanh Tong. This fact was confirmed by other books such as Thanh Dang Luc, Ke Dang Luc. "Luoc Dan Thien Phai Do" also cited, besides Tran Thanh Tong, a certain number of Dai Dang’s followers such as the state monks, Lieu Minh, Thuong Cung and Huyen Sach. This book didn’t list Tieu Dao among the number of Dai Dang’s disciples but only mentioned him as Ung Thuan’s disciple, the same as Thien Uyen Tap Anh did. Only Phuc Dien mentioned Tieu Dao as Dai Dang’s successor in propagating the Buddhist work in Yen Tu. If this be the case, Tieu Dao would be the converging point of the two branches Ung Thuan (Thang Long) and Hien Quang (Yen Tu) in the Wu Yantong sect.

These two branches originated in the monk Thuong Chieu under the Ly’s reign - a monk belonging to the Wu Yantong sect but cloistering in the Luc To pagoda (Dinh Bang, Gia Lam) which was an ancient center of the Vinitaruci sect. After the scheme in "Luoc Dan Thien Phai Do" as well as in Thien Uyen Tap Anh, the Ung Thuan branch was the layman Thong Thien’s successor and Thong Thien and Hien Quang were both the monk Thuong Chieu’s disciples.

As said above, the monk Tieu Dao was surely Tue Trung’s master and the latter was Nhan Tong’s master. But in the list made by the chief monk Phuc Dien as mentioned above, another of Tieu Dao’s successors in propagating Buddhist work in Yen Tu was Hue Tue. We don’t know anything about this monk and we also have no other documents for accurately checking on him

Except for the above mentioned Buddhist sects, in "Luoc Dan Thien Phai Do" and at the beginning of Tue Trung Thuong Sy Ngu Luc were related some more sects having existed at the beginning of Tran’s reign. For example, one of them was led by the monk Vuong Chi Nhan who transmitted to the chief monk Nham Tang who in his turn transmitted to the lay Nham Tuc. Another sect led by the chief monk Nhat Thien was transmitted to the Lord Chan Dao, a high ranking official of the Tran’s dynasty. The lay Thien Phong’s sect coming from the Song was transmitted to Huyen Sach through Dai Dang and the former transmitted to Pha Trac.

Among the sects having existed under the Ly’s reign, as we have seen, there remained only the branches from the Wu Yantong sect. The Thao Duong sect that had developed among the royal and dignitary’s circles under the Ly’s reign had perished after the collapse of that dynasty. The Vinitaruci sect was also dispersed. As it was seen in the preceding chapter, since the Ly’s reign, many pagodas of that sect became cloistering places for the monks of the Thao Duong or Wu Yantong sect. After the monk Y Son’s death (1213), no further disciples of his were commemorated.

Although it was the continuation of the branches of the Wu Yantong sect, the Truc Lam sect was begun and built as a unified clergy, bearing a fully Vietnamese character, getting rid of ancient Buddhist traditions imported from abroad. It thus becomes a manifestation of the development of a ‘national consciousness’.

Thai Tong Tran Canh (1218-1277) was enthroned at the age of eight. When he was eighteen, his uncle Tran Thu Do who concentrated all powers in his own hands at the time, compelled the nephew to divorce his wife Chieu Thanh (i.e., Ly Chieu Hoang) and to marry Thuan Thien, the wife of Tran Lien (Tran Lien was Tran Canh’s brother). Very afflicted, he escaped from the citadel for the Yen Tu mountain where he wanted to cloister. But Tran Thu Do once more compelled him to come back to the throne. This was in 1236.

From that time on, he devoted himself to the study of Buddhism. More than ten years after, he finished writing the book Thien Tong Chi Nam. Afterwards, he wrote other books on Buddhism. The extant Khoa Hu Luc contains only a very few of his works. As we know, Tran Thai Tong was the author of the following books on Buddhism:

1. Thien Tong Chi Nam.

2. Luc Thoi Sam Hoi Khoa Nghi

3. Kim Cuong Tam Muoi Kinh Chu Giai

4. Binh Dang Le Sam Van

5. Khoa Hu Luc

Thien Tong Chi Nam was Thai Tong’s earliest work on Buddhism. It was lost and there remains of it only the preface written for Khoa Hu Luc. Luc Thoi Sam Hoi Khoa Nghi was a book presenting the repentance rites according to six moments of the day. The whole book, including the preface, remains complete in the Khoa Hu Luc collection. Kim Cuong Tam Muoi Kinh Chu Giai (annotations for the sutra Kim Cuong Tam Muoi) was lost except the preface. Through that preface, we know that Thai Tong was delighted with this collection of sutra-prayers so that he "devoted spirit and soul to writing the annotations."

Binh Dang Le Sam Van was also a book on the repentance rites. It was lost and there remains only the preface, published in Khoa Hu Luc. Khoa Hu Luc might be a separate book written by Tran Thai Tong, but the extant Khoa Hu Luc is nothing but a collection of articles written by that King in different periods. The different copies of Khoa Hu Luc which are extant comprise three books (upper-middle-lower) or two books (upper and lower). In the most complete copies, the upper book comprises the following articles: 1- Tu Son, 2- Pho Thuyet Sac Than, 3- Pho Khuyen Phat Bo De Tam, 4- Gioi Sat Sinh Van, 5- Gioi Thau Dao Van, 6- Gioi Sac Van, 7- Gioi Vong Ngu Van, 8- Gioi Tuu Van, 9- Gioi Dinh Tue Luan, 10- Thu Gioi Luan, 11- Niem Phat Luan, 12- Toa Thien Luan, 13- Tue Giao Giam Luan, 14- Thien Tong Chi Nam Tu, 15- Kim Cuong Tam Muoi Kinh Tu, 16- Luc Thoi Sam Hoi Khoa Nghi Tu, 17- Binh Dang Le Sam Van Tu, 18- Pho Thuyet Huong Thuong Nhat Lo, 19- Ngu Luc Van Dap Mon Ha, 20- Niem Tung Ke.

The lower book (the middle and the lower book in the three book collection) consists of the litanies and texts on prayer-reciting for the incense and flowers festivities, and other rites in accordance with the six moments of the day: morning, midday, afternoon, sunset, midnight, daybreak. It is thus clear that all parts of the Luc Thoi Sam Hoi Khoa Nghi comprise the lower book, and particularly its preface was written in the upper book.

With the help of the books in Khoa Hu Luc still extant, we know something about Tran Thai Tong’s Buddhist ideology. Through his works, that king showed himself a realistic educator who tried to lead people to Buddhist practice, as well as a theoretician having deep knowledge of Buddhism.

Tran Thai Tong’s point of view expressed in his dissertation on the Self was also the sunyata point of view that denied every thing [i.e., ‘thingliness’]. In the preface of Khoa Hu Luc he wrote: "The four Greats are originally Nothing. From Nothing, Falsity arises, and from Falsity, the Phenomena appear; the Phenomena appear from Nothing. Thus Falsity follows Nothing, Nothing makes Falsity to appear. And from Falsity, the Phenomena appear". ‘Nothing’ means no possession, no existence; opposing possession, that means presence, existence. ‘Nothing’ means emptiness, nullity, opposing phenomena, the phenomena that appear before us. Falsity means trouble, error. Thai Tong and other Buddhist scholars under the Tran’s reign cherished the concept of Falsity. That concept was a concomitant of untrueness which is the nature of the phenomenal universe while Falsity was regarded as the cause originating it. Because of Falsity, Nothing becomes Phenomena or to say accurately, Nothing is erroneously perceived as Phenomena.

In the preface tor Kim Cuong Tam Muoi Kinh, Tran Thai Tong described that "nature" or "true heart" as follows: "When nature ends, the true heart dies; there is no more concept of plentifulness or lack; if one is not an enlightened man, one cannot find out its genesis. There is no concentration, no dispersion, no lost, no remaining. The eyes and the ears have neither image, nor sound. Because there is no ‘To be’ or ‘Not to be’, there is neither ‘religious’, nor ‘profane’; it exists singly, there is no other thing except it, so that it is called Kim Cuong nature". In the preface of Binh Dang Le Sam Van, Thai Tong also wrote: "Buddhist nature, the absolute truth, is not involved in the least with anxiety. The true heart remains quiet because it has gotten rid of defiled things for a long time already. Because the true heart is hidden, falsity originates, and illusory things appear".

But if he is determined to return, he is able to get to his native land, even:

The ‘own nature’ in the invariable truth exists in everyone, everywhere: and each person has to find it himself!

Thai Tong ended his article with the following verse:

Tran Thai Tong’s Buddhist ideology was also expressed in old prayer-recitation articles in the "Niem Tung Ke" contained in the Khoa Hu Luc. In this article Thai Tong cited various stories or events, i. e., problems which arose in Buddhist history in general, and the Chan sect in particular, in which he presented his point of view. Every article was begun with a paragraph called ‘Cu’ (= theme), i.e., the paragraph in which the problem is set forth. Usually that problem started from a story, a sentence. Then a remark followed and was called ‘Niem’ (= rhyme) and the article ended with a reciting text composed by four seven-word sentences (‘Tung’). Up to now, these remain Thai Tong’s forty three texts. We are going to introduce two of them:

Text No 8:

Bodhidharma said to Tue Kha: "Give me your heart and I will make it quiet". Thai Tong said frankly that was a lie. Because the heart is something one must search for himself, he must search himself in quietness, nobody can transmit it to him. Nevertheless the outsiders believe in stories about ‘transmitting’ the heart in order to attain quiet, what a laughable belief! As we have seen, the thoughts of the recitation-text are expressed in the above-mentioned text, "Pho Thuyet Huong Thuong Nhat Lo".

Text No 17:

According to Thai Tong, the "normal heart" is the natural heart, not abnormal: "if it’s cold, say it’s cold, if it’s hot, say it’s hot". It resembles the white pearl that has never borne the traces of hammer or axe. One mustn’t hack at the pearl, that is, he mustn’t make his heart become abnormal. Keeping one’s heart normal, he masters his own nature; just as to go far, he need not go but is straightaway in his native land. Once again, Thai Tong recalled the way to ‘come back’.

As was said in the previous chapter, the conciliating tendency between promptness and progressiveness had existed under the Ly’s reign. With Tran Thai Tong, that tendency developed clearly. Was this conciliation a characteristic of the Vietnamese Chan sect?

And particularly, he called for Buddha-praying [chanted prayer]. In the text "Niem Phat Luan" (‘Dissertation on Buddha-praying’), he distinguished three kinds of people: those of upper intelligence, those of middle intelligence and those of lower intelligence: For the men of upper intelligence, Buddha is in their heart, they don’t need any more training. The men of middle intelligence, surely with the help of praying Buddha, and paying attention to clever working, and incessantly praying, achieve a heart pure and honest. The men of lower intelligence, always reciting Buddha’s words, with a heart willing to see Buddha’s face, can indeed promise to themselves they shall be born in a Buddha Land. Those three levels, differing in depth or superficiality, still can have the same will for success. Thus, for the men of upper intelligence, it’s easy to say but difficult to do. As for praying Buddha, one must get the lower intelligence men doing this first. As for building a three-storey tower, one always sees the ground floor being built first. In this context, once again, we see Tran Nhan Tong’s conception of different forms of religious training because of "distinction in [individual] nature."

In his "Niem Phat Luan", Thai Tong affirmed the Buddha-praying for the people who wish to be born in the ‘Buddha country’, which means the people of the ‘Pure Land’; at the same time he insists on the necessity of Buddha-praying among the people who believe that "the Heart is Buddha", i.e., the people of the Chan sect. Obviously Tran Thai Tong wanted to conciliate Chan and Amidism, or more clearly, he wanted to Chan-ize the Amidism. He wrote in the "Text on daybreak" at the end of the night: "Regard the Pure Land in front of you and accept Amitabha in your heart".

Tran Thai Tong’s conciliating tendency between Chan and Amidism had also its root in his point of view combining ‘own-force’ and ‘other-force’. In the preface of Luc Thoi Sam Hoi Khoa Nghi, he wrote: "One must lean on two sides, Buddha and oneself". Combining Chan and Amidism was, as we have seen, a tendency that had existed in a certain number of monks under the Ly’s reign such as monk, Tinh Luc (1112 - 1175), who prayed to Buddha with both the mouth and the heart.

In the Wu Yantong Buddhist sect under the Ly’s reign, we have seen the tendency that conciliated the Buddhist thought with the Taoist one. In Tran Thai Tong, the combination with Confucianist thoughts was strongly stressed. Even among the sins enumerated in his repentance texts, we recognize those which damaged Confucian morality, or relations between father and his sons, the King and his citizens. Perhaps under the Tran’s reign, Confucianism was more strongly developed and enjoyed a greater influence. This feature didn’t surprise Tran Thai Tong because he was at the same time a Buddhist and a ruling King.

We can say that Tue Trung Thuong Si Ngu Luc is a very precious document helping us to do research into Buddhism’s thought under the Tran’s reign in general but also into the thought of Tue Trung in particular. First of all, we see that Tue Trung’s conception of one’s own body was based on the sunyata point of view. The latter manifested itself in the following litany:

Such a point of view is very close to Nagarjuna’s Madhyamika. So we can think the paramita of which Tue Trung spoke here is the prajna-paramita. According to Nagarjuna, when the prajna, i.e., [true] intelligence appears, it can return to sunyata. Tue Trung also recalled the sunyata point of view on many occasions: "The Four Greatnesses were originally nothing. Where did they emerge from?" (see text "Sinh Tu Nhan Nhi Di"). "The heart and the religion were originally nothing and silence, where can one search for them? (text: "Doi Co"). "The afflictions are irregular, all are nothing" (text "Phat Tam Ca"). "Truth and Error are nothing" (text "Van Su Quy Nhu"), etc.

On the basis of such an ontological point of view of sunyata, Tue Trung set a particular view that was "not to see things separately in two". Tue Trung asserted that "the nature of phenomena being nothing, every opposition between phenomena is artificial, having no basis. It is only due to the view separating things in two." He said:

Tue Trung categorically denied the "view in two". He declared:

With that comprehension of that "view in two", Tue Trung asserted the non-existence of opposition between various concepts, various categories which the people had opposed to each other.

He dealt once and again with this problem in many poems, many litanies. For example, in the text "Me Ngo Bat Di" ("no difference between unconsciousness and awakedness"), he rejected the opposition between non-being and being, between unconsciousness and awakedness:

In the text "Pham Thanh Bat Di" ("no difference between the layman and the Saint"), he rejected the opposition between those two creatures, between the "right" and the "wrong", between the "good" and the "evil", between Buddha and the simple being, between the other and the self.

In the poem "Van Su Quy Nhu", he rejected the opposition between "to be" and "not to be", between the sorrows and the bliss, between truth and falsity:

Tue Trung went on rejecting the opposition between truth and falsity in the text "Thi Chung". He made his point of view clearer in the poem "Phat Tam Ca":

From the point of view of the "view in two", Tue Trung criticized adherence to concepts. Let us read a paragraph in the "Doi Co":

We can say that Tue Trung presented in a definite and strict manner his point of view on the "view in two". The thing deserving attention is that although bearing a character of relativism, his point of view did not lead Tue Trung to nihilist negation. On the contrary, owing to that point of view, he god rid of all constraints on his thinking and living.

Like other Buddhist followers, Tue Trung adopted the "Heart is Buddha" point of view, closely linking the Heart to Buddha. In the first part of his poem "Phat Tam Ca", he presented clearly this point of view:

Loyal to his points of view on "non-being" and "the view in two" [dualism], Tue Trung clearly stated:

We can find Tue Trung’s explanation in the following sentences in the poem, "Phat Tam Ca":

From this thought of Tue Trung, we can elaborate the following formula: All living beings’ heart = Buddha’s heart = self-heart. All beings are nature, the phenomenal universe surrounding us. According to Tue Trung’s presentation, the heart of all living beings is the evident evolution of that nature. This is what he spoke about in his poem "Phat Tam Ca":

He also recalled the natural law in other poems. For example in the poem "An dinh thoi tiet":

Observance of the precepts and resignation are two important points in the six cardinal virtues of Buddhism. But Tue Trung rejected them in a rash manner.

Living in accordance with the [natural] laws, one isn’t afraid of them and achieves freedom. On the problem of death and life, Tue Trung wrote the poem "Sinh Tu Nhan Nhi Di" (living or dying is only leisure). The title shows the author’s attitude. Let’s read the two last sentences:

In the text "An Dinh Thoi Tiet", he also said:

The text "Phong Cuong Ngam" manifested fully the spirit of a free and desporting man:

The two last sentences showed his attitude towards life and death:

Tue Trung’s spirit of courage before the natural law approximated Van Hanh’s "fearless" spirit, a monk under the Ly’s reign. The latter wrote:

In the poem "Truu Nguyen Ngam." Tue Trung expressed the same opinion:

Both Van Hanh and Tue Trung searched for natural law and began to perceive the dialectics of the movement of things. In the poem " The Thai Hu Ao", Tue Trung wrote:

Men not only have to live conformably with the laws of nature, but also in accordance with the law of the society. Thus Tue Trung wrote:

Even in a sitting position, in contemplating the beauty of nature, one feels quietness in the heart: then where is the need for ritual Chan Buddhist meditative sitting!

It seems all Tue Trung’s points of view on Buddhist meditation, on religion, on life were concisely expressed in the poem "Thi Chung":

Through that ceremony, we can see Nhan Tong’s organizing talent. It was obvious that he wanted the Buddhist followers, as well as the King and the dignitaries, to assist at the ceremony of the Buddhist habit-transmitting to Phap Loa. Such a ceremony would consolidate the prestige of the Buddlist clergy leader into the future. The Buddhist propagation ceremony was opened on the first day of the lunar year Mau Than; on the eleventh month of that year, Nhan Tong died on the summit Ngoa Van.

Besides Phap Loa, the disciples of the Truc Lam sect were Bao Sat, Bao Phac, Phap Khong, Phap Co, Hue Nghiem, Phap Trang, Huong Trang, Huong Son, Mat Tang.

According to Tam to thuc luc, Nhan Tong wrote the following books:

1. Thien Lam Thiet Chu Y Ngu Luc

2. Truc Lam Hau Luc

3. Thach That Mi Ngu

4. Dai Huong Hai An Thi Tap

5. Tang Gia Toai Su.

We deeply regret that those books were lost. Only a certain number of his poems remain and are published in the Viet Am Thi Tap and Toan Viet Thi Luc. Particularly Nhan Tong wrote in Nom, and at present we fortunately find two poems, the "Cu Tran Lac Dao Phu" and the "Dac Thu Lam Tuyen Thanh Dao Ca". Nhan Tong also wrote the article "Thuong Si Hanh Trang" that was Tue Trung’s biography, at the end of the book Tue Trung Thuong Si Ngu Luc.

Thus, we don’t have many documents allowing us to penetrate Tran Nhan Tong ‘s thoughts on Buddhism. At present, there are two documents that express the main lines of those thoughts. Those documents related two consultations between Nhan Tong and his disciples, one in Sung Nghiem pagoda, in Chi Linh mountain and the other in the Ky Lan monastery, also situated in Chi Linh. The first part was related in Thanh Dang Luc and also in Tam To Thuc Luc, in the chapter on Nhan Tong. The second part was related in Thien Dao Yeu Hoc, after the chapter on Phap Loa in Tam To Thuc Luc . That part might be recorded by Phap Loa.

At the end of that consultation, Nhan Tong read the litany "Huu Cu Vo Cu" dealing with ‘to be and not to be’. The thoughts in the litany were very profound and rejected the engagement attitude of ‘to be and not to be’. From that very long litany, we quote only some excerpts:

When presenting the problems raised by Buddhism, Nhan Tong also used cries and sticks, which proves he was influenced by the "raise the stick" method of the Lam Te’ sect. He often used images which manifested his spirit of the ‘poet’, similar to Tue Trung, but about the contents he wasn’t as original and he didn’t create as strong an impact as the latter.

In the consultation in the Ky Lan monastery in the nineth day of the first month of the year Binh Ngo (1306), Nhan Tong expressed in a paragraph, very clearly, his ontologic and cognitive view; it was at the same time the point of view of the Truc Lam sect that we had recognized in Tran Thai Tong and "Tue Trung Thuong Si":

This Buddhist ideology might be received by Nhan Tong from the Tue Trung Thuong Si.

Vietnamese word "long" used in the ode in Nom characters means the "heart." Returning to the Heart, I find "Buddha in the house", no need to search anywhere. It’s clear that this ode was written for the masses. It ended with the poem:

Nhan Tong learnt Buddhism and Chan ideology from Tue Trung. But in personal character, he differed from his master in many points. He was not only a poet; he also was a king. And when he cut off with his family, he was not only a monk, he was the leader of the clergy. He couldn’t wander as he wanted like Tue Trung. He always had to be very busy with the works we call today organization, the education and training of cadres.

We can think that after having cut off from his family, Nhan Tong had a quiet look at Springtime passing:

But in fact, Nhan Tong always summoned everybody not to let springs pass but to do something for Buddhism as well as for life. He started the great visit to the Sung Nghiem pagoda in Chi Linh mountain with the following poem:

In his great visit to the Ky Lan monastery, Nhan Tong called once again: "Oh, men! Time passes quickly, life passes away with no stop! How can you eat soup or rice without seeking knowledge about the bowl, the spoon?" It seems that Nhan Tong showed himself very eager when he found he had not much time. Thus, we can understand why in the last moments of his life, he recommended to his two servants Tu Doanh and Hoan Trung, the men who helped him climbing up the Ngoa Van summit: "Come down and take care of your religious life. Don’t think that the ‘life and death’ problem is an easy thing".

Did he differ from Tue Trung? Perhaps not. Life and death are easy things but don’t waste your life! And understood with that meaning, life is not an easy thing. The integration into life in Tran Nhan Tong’s thoughts on Buddhism was clearly manifested on this point.

Phap Loa (1284-1330), originally named Dong Kien Cuong, was born in Dong Hoa hamlet, Cuu La village, Nam Sach district.

In 1304, he cut off from his family, followed Nhan Tong, and was named Thien Lai. At the beginning, he was sent to learn with the chief monk Tinh Giac in Quynh Quan. Afterwards, he accompanied Nhan Tong to attend the latter’s lectures. In 1305, Nhan Tong gave him the Buddhist titles of monk and Bodhisattva and the Buddhist name Phap Loa. In 1306, he was appointed chief lecturer in the Bao An pagoda in Sieu Loai. In 1307, Nhan Tong explained the book collection Dai Tue Ngu Luc to Phap Loa and a certain number of disciples. In the same year in the Ngoa Van summit, he was entrusted by Nhan Tong with preaching and chanting of litanies. On the first day of the year Mau Than (1308), he was officially given the Buddhist habit and named second founder of the Truc Lam sect, in the solemn ceremony mentioned in the previous part. So, after only four years from a person who had just cut off from his family, Phap Loa became the leader of the Buddhist clergy. He was then only twenty-four years old.

For every construction of pagodas, making up of statues, the King and the nobles offered a great deal of properties. For examples in the moulding of one thousand Buddha statues in 1322, Phap Loa enjoyed the help of many people as the Queen Mother Bao Tu, the State Mother Bao Hue, princess Bao Van, Van Hue Vuong, Uy Hue Vuong, Dai Quan Vuong, Chuong Nhan Hau, Hung Uy Hau, Hoai Ninh Hau, Trinh Trung Tu, Doan Nhu Hai, Dang Thanh. In his lifetime. Phap Loa moulded more than 1,300 big and small bronze statues, more than 100 earth statues and made two sets of Buddha images in painted material.

Beside the construction of pagodas, the making up of statues, an important activity undertaken by Phap Loa was to organize the prayer lecturing associations and the printing of documents on Buddhism. That monk lectured on Tue Trung’s prayer books such as the Truyen Dang Luc, Tuyet Dau Ngu Luc, Dai Tue Ngu Luc, Nhan Tong’s Thien Lam Thiet Chuy Ngu Luc and other prayers as Kim Cuong, Vien Giac, Thu Lang Nghiem, Duy Ma especially the "Hoa Nghiem" prayers that constituted at that time an object for the public interest. Phap Loa himself lectured at nine "Hoa Nghiem" prayer associations and did the same afterward in various pagodas. More than one thousand people attended at each of his lectures, or at least 5 or 6 hundred.

In 1131, Phap Loa received the order to continue publishing the Tripitaka. This work had begun when Nhan Tong was still alive, about 1295, after Tran Khac Dung and Pham Thao brought back those prayers from the Yuan (China). Phap Loa entrusted the monk Bao Sat, one of Nhan Tong’s disciples, with the printing of the Tripitaka prayers. And perhaps that work was ended in 1319. In the same year, Phap Loa called the Buddhist people and the laymen to offer their blood to serve as the print for those prayers. And more than 5,000 prayer books printed in that manner were kept in Quynh Lam monastery.

In 1322, Phap Loa ordered the carving of wood blocks for printing of the book Tu Phan Luat (commandment-law for the bonzes). He got more than 5,000 books printed in such a manner. Afterwards he invited the State monks, Tong Kinh living in Tien Du mountain and Bao Phac living in Vu Ninh mountain to come and lecture on that book in Sieu Loai pagoda. That monk got a certain number of documents written by himself done in that manner, as the Kim Cuong Trang Da La Ni Kinh Khoa Chu.

He wrote the following documents:

1. Tham Thien Chi Yeu .

2. Kim Cuong Trang Da La Ni Kinh Khoa Chu

4. Phap Hoa Kinh Khoa So

5. Lang Gia Tu Quyen Khoa So

6. Bat Nha Tam Kinh Khoa So

7. Phap Su Khoa Van

8. Do Mon Tro Thanh Lap

9. Nhan Vuong Ho Quoc Nghi Quy

Besides these books, Phap Loa edited the Tue Trung Thuong Si Ngu Luc, and wrote the epilogue for the Tripitaka. Phap Loa’s works were all lost. Thus we have trouble nowadays ascertaining this monk’s thoughts on Buddhism.

Many people assumed that the text Thien Dao Yeu Hoc, produced after the story of Phap Loa published in Tam To Thuc Luc, was, indeed, that of Phap Loa. That opinion is highly probable. Perhaps the book Tham thien chi yeu belonged to it. The book Thien Dao Yeu Hoc records Nhan Tong’s lecture in his solemn visit to Ky Lan monastery in the year Binh Ngo (1306). That book quoted Tue Trung’s litany sentences. In that work we can see the obvious influence of the Lam Te sect.

When speaking about Buddhism in Phap Loa’s epoch we can’t omit the influence of Tantrism. Compared with Buddhism under the Ly’s reign, Buddhism at the beginning of the Tran’s reign bore less influence of Tantrism. We can see clearly that view through Thai Tong’s and Tue Trung thuong si’s works. But in the Phap Loa epoch, the influence of that religion obviously was strengthened. One of the Tantrism rites, the abhiseka ceremony, i.e., the holy-water sprinkling, was undertaken in a generalized manner. In 1318, carrying the King’s decree, Phap Loa went to search for the Indian monk named Panditausasri to translate the Tantrist prayers "Mahasitatapatradharani." Phap Loa himself wrote and published Kim Cuong Trang Da La Ni Kinh Khoa Chu, the explicatory text for the Tantrist prayer, "Vajramanda dharani." Even the book Thien Dao Yeu Hoc mentioned Buddha Vairocana, who was the highest-ranking Buddha in Tantrism.

The increase of Tantrist influence in that epoch was a natural development of Vietnamese Buddhism; the factors of that development were spread throughout all strata of the people and the probable impact of other elements. The first was the arrival in Vietnam of many Indian or Central Asian monks who had the Tantrist tendency: the monk Du Chi Ba Lam came for the first time under Nhan Tong’s reign, and the second time under Anh Tong’s reign; the monk Bodhisri came under Minh Tong’s reign and the monk Ban De Da O Tra That Loi (Panditausasri) came, as related above. The second element was that in China, Buddhism under the Yuan’s reign bore deeply the Tantrist character. It was probable that the Tripilaka printed under the Yuan’s reign and brought back under the Tran’s reign contained many Tantrist prayers. A certain number of monks living under the Yuan’s reign also came to Vietnam. For example, in 1318, Phap Loa received the monk Wu Fang coming from Hunan.

Huyen Quang (1254-1334) was the third patriarch of the Truc Lam sect. Originally named Ly Tai Dao, he was born in the Van Tai hamlet, belonging to the lower Bac Giang district (renamed Van Tu commune under the Le’s reign, Gia Dinh district, belonging now to the Gia Luong district, Ha Bac province). He was graduated and became a mandarin. In 1305, at the age of 51, he cut off from his family. At the beginning, he followed the monk Bao Phac’s courses in Le Vinh pagoda. Afterwards, he followed Nhan Tong in some years and helped him to edit books such as: the Chu Pham Kinh, Cong Van Tap, Thich Khoa Giao. After Nhan Tong’s death, he followed Phap Loa and became the nearest disciple of a master 30 years younger than he was. Afterwards, he came to reside in Van Yen pagoda on the Yen Tu mountain. But only a short time after, he came to cloister in Thanh Mai pagoda and then came to Con Son pagoda. When Phap Loa was ill and stayed in An Lac monastry, he came to look after him. When Phap Loa died in 1330, he was 77. Although he accepted to be the third patriarch of the Truc Lam Sect, he returned all the same to Con Son to live as a secluded monk. Hereafter is his intimate confidence after having become a self-cloistering (recluse) monk:

Despite his succession to the founder’s role, Huyen Quang seemed to be not so eager to lead the clergy. And after only four years, he died in Con Son in 1334.

Huyen Quang was a great poet. Among the small number of poems written under the Tran’s reign and remaining until today, we have the opportunity to read more than 20 of his. But we know little about his thoughts on Buddhism. Most of Huyen Quang’s remaining poems glorified nature, the flowers... Perhaps Huyen Quang regarded nature, the universe, the vegetation with his Buddhist heart and spirit: thus we are in difficulty to know his views on Buddhism. We have found one poem about ‘sentient beings’, the "Ai Phu Lo" ("To pity the prisoner of war") that expressed the monk’s compassion:

Huyen Quang’s thoughts on Buddhism were shown a bit in the two last sentences of his poem "The Dien Huu pagoda":

When one has nothing to worry about, his eyesight will be broadened. When we penetrate into the equality of "right" and "wrong", then there is no difference between the Devil and Buddha, everywhere is Buddha’s country and the Devil palace will also become Buddha’s country. This "equal" view or "double view" was Thai Tong’s and Tue Trung’s Buddhist attitude that we met above. We can say that Huyen Quang was an artist as well as an erudite Buddhist scholar. But he wasn’t the man suitable for the organization and the administration of the Truc Lam clergy. In any case, he was too old and the time he assumed the leadership of that clergy was too short.