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TẬP SAN NGHIÊN CỨU PHẬT
HỌC PHÁP LUÂN
Số 2 - VU LAN - PL. 2551
[MỤC LỤC]
Buddhist Contribution to Good
Governance and Development in Vietnam
Ven. Prof. Le Manh That
Vice Rector
Vietnam Buddhist University
Since the introduction of Buddhism into Vietnam,
Buddhist teachings are not only for monks and nuns, but also for the
society as a whole including the majority of men and women of every
class of life. Actually, the first Buddhist work still extant in Vietnam
written by Mâu Tử about the year 198 A.D. under the name Lý hoặc luận
(Righting the wrong) states clearly what role Buddhism can play in
any society, especially the society of Vietnam of Mâu Tử’s time: “The
Buddhist way, when applied to the family is for: serving the parents;
when applied to the nation is for: helping the people; when applied to
one’s own life is for: perfection of oneself” (道之為物
居家可以事親
宰國可以治民
獨立可以治身 Đạo chi vi vật, cư
gia khả dĩ sự thân, tể quốc khả dĩ trị dân, độc lập khả dĩ trị thân).
So, from a very early period in Vietnam history, Buddhism already put
out a theory of good governance and development and showed a strong
interest in the application of that theory. In this paper, we wish to
present three case studies of this application in the history of
Vietnam.
Pháp Thuận’s theory
The first case is the theory of good state
governance and development proposed by Zen Master Pháp Thuận (915-990).
In a poem entitled Quốc tộ (National destiny
國祚), in response to the
question by Emperor Lê Đại Hành (reigned 980-1005) about the destiny of
the Vietnamese nation, recorded in Thiền uyển tập anh (Collection
of Outstanding Figures in Zen Garden
禪苑集英), Pháp Thuận said:
Quốc tộ như
đằng lạc
國祚如藤絡
Nam thiên lý
thái bình 南天裏太平
Vô vi cư
điện các 無為居殿閣
Xứ xứ tức
đao binh
處處息刀兵
Nation’s destiny is just like a bunch
of intertwined rattan
Peace reigns
over the southern sky
No-action stays
in the palace
War will be
stopped everywhere
In this poem, Pháp Thuận discusses war and peace
and the method for stopping war, enabling peace to be maintained -
forever in Vietnam. These are the words that the Vietnamese people of
Pháp Thuận’s time aspired towards and fervently desired to be present in
their country after the resistance war for national independence in 939
A.D., and during the war between the warlords from 944 to 968. The key
issue here is how to stop war and bring peace to the people and the
Nation’s destiny depends upon the answer to that question. In Pháp
Thuận’s views, for the war to be stopped, the first and foremost
requirement is to have “no-action staying in the palace”. What does the
word no-action in this context mean? In Buddhist terminology, the
Chinese word no-action (wu wei
無為) is used to translate the
Sanskrit asamkṛta which means “the absolute” in Buddhist
epistemology and ontology and has nothing to do with the term
no-action in that poem.
In the collection of the sūtras on Six
Paramitās, there is a definition of no-action which has some
social and ethical bearing, which reads as follows: “Careful but not
haughty is the character of a learned man, to give away the ideas of
dirty love and not to be contaminated with the dust of six sentiments,
not to let those dirty loves even small as a strand of hair to be
camouflaged in our hearts, then every thought will become extinct, that
is no-action”.
But then, this definition is not fit quite well in the context of the
above poem.
We have to look another place for the meaning of
no-action. In the Chinese literature, this term appears quite
frequently, especially in the works of Lao Tzu (老子)
and Confucius. In the Book of the Way, Lao Tzu is believed to
have said: “The sages manage affairs with no-action, carry out
teaching without speech... Act by no-action, then, nothing is not in
order”.
But, what the term no-action means, Lao Tzu does not state
clearly. Therefore, it is very difficult to specify the content of that
concept, and there are different explanations of it in the history of
Chinese thought.
On the contrary, in the Book of Sayings, Confucius
is said to have the following statement: “Governance with no-action,
only Emperor Shun did it. How could that be done? It needs only to be
serious about himself and facing southwards”
(子曰無為而治者其舜也歟夫何為哉恭己正南面而已矣 Tử
viết: Vô vi nhi trị giả, kỳ Thuấn giả dư?
Phù hà vi tai? Cung kỷ chính nam diện nhi dĩ hĩ). Although the concept
of no-action here is used to define the governance and is said to be the
way of the governance of Emperor Shun, but the content is not clearly
specified, except the property of being serious about himself (恭己).
Such a specification evidently is not sufficient to define the way of
governance of Emperor Shun. Fortunately, there are two other places
where Conficius is reported to describe Emperor Shun’s way of
governance.
The first place is a statement in the section 31
entitled The Middle (中庸) of
the Book of Rites (禮記): “Is
Emperor Shun a great wise man? Emperor Shun likes to inquire and discuss
in order to speak, hide people’s bad sides and show their goodness,
maintain two extremes, but use the Middle for the good of people. Is it
because of this that he became Emperor Shun?” (子曰舜其大智者歟?
舜好問而好察以言,隠惡而揚善執其兩端,用其中於民,其斯以為舜乎).
The other place is also in the Book of the Middle: “Is Emperor Shun a
man of great filial piety? He is morally good to be a saint,
aristocratic to be a Son of the Heaven, wealthy spreading to four seas,
honored in the Palace, and having children to continue on. Therefore, if
the virtue is great, he will get the place, will have the enumeration,
will enjoy the fame and will have longevity. So, the Heaven gives birth
to all things and treats them depending upon their case. In consequence,
if they are good, Heaven will strengthen them and if they are not, It
will throw away... That is why man of great virtue will receive the
mandate from Heaven”. (子曰舜其大孝者
與德為聖人
尊為天子富有四海之內宗廟饗之子孫保之故大德必得其名必得其壽故天之生物必因其材而篤焉故栽者培之傾者覆之詩曰嘉樂君子憲憲栽令德宜民宜人受祿于天保佑命之自天申之故大德者受命).
Through these two statements by Confucius about
Emperor Shun and how he got the mandate from Heaven to be leader during
his lifetime, we know now that his way of governance by no-action
requires that the leader should have two necessary qualities in carrying
out his mission of leading the people, that is, the wisdom and the
virtue. Shun possesses these two qualities, so he becomes the Emperor of
China at his time. From this, we presently could understand what the
term no-action in the above poem by Pháp Thuận means. It means that if
the Vietnamese of his time have a leader who possesses the wisdom and
virtue, then the country will have a peaceful life.
Therefore thus, as a whole, Pháp Thuận’s poem
clearly states his Buddhist view on good governance and development in
the vietnam of 10th century. At the junction of history, when
Vietnam is facing an imminent war from the rising Sung Dynasty of China,
the question of the national existence comes into forefront. So, the
answer to that question is that in order to keep peace, the Vietnamese
should be in great solidarity, just like a bunch of intertwined rattan,
and in order to stop the war, they should have a leader who possesses
wisdom and virtue. So, quite early in the history of Buddhism in
Vietnam, the Vietnamese Buddhists, through the case of Zen Master Pháp
Thuận, have known how to exploit the Buddhist theory of good governance
and development to apply to the Vietnamese political and social reality.
Viên Thông’s theory
Nearly one century after Pháp Thuận passing away,
Zen Master Viên Thông (1080-1151) was born and he became our second case study of Buddhist
theory of good governance and development in Vietnam. He grew up in a
peaceful Vietnam and the country already became a Great Viet (大越).
The leadership of the nation started to show signs of separating from
the people and the mass began to ask for their rights. In this
circumstance, Viên Thông, as a royal adviser, has proposed a new theory
of good governance and development. Again, in this theory, the question
of how to keep peace and stop the war is dealt with, but there already
appears a shift in the emphasis from war to peace. I n a conversation
with Emperor Lý Thần Tông in the year 1130 A.D., which Thiền uyển tập
anh recorded, in response to Lý Thần Tông’s question about the
principles of political order and upheaval, of prosperity and decline in
the world, Viên Thông said: “The people is like an instrument. Put them
in a safe place, they are safe; put them in a perilous place, they are
peril. It all depends on how the leader of the people behaves himself.
If his benevolence is in harmony with the hearts and minds of the
people, then they will love him as a parent and look up to him like the
sun and the moon. This is putting people in a safe place.” (天下猶器也>
置諸安則安置諸危則危願在人主所行何如耳好生之德合于民心故民愛之如父母仰之如日月是置天下得之安者也>).
Through this answer, a shift clearly appears in the
theory of good governance and development from war to peace. And here,
the question of the behavior of the leader becomes a hot spot which must
be analyzed to find out what such a behavior should be composed of. Of
course, a good leader must possess wisdom and virtue, but how these
qualities are put into practice should be inquired. So, Viên Thông went
on to say: “Order or chaos rests with the officials. If they can win
the people over, then there is political order; if they lose the
people’s support, then there is upheaval. I have observed Emperors and
Kings of former time, no one succeeded without employing true gentlemen,
or failed unless he employed petty men.When we trace how these things
come about, it does not happen overnight, but develops gradually. Just
as heaven and earth cannot abruptly produce cold and hot weather, but
must change gradually through the seasons like spring and autumn, etc.,
Kings cannot suddenly bring about prosperity or decline, but rather it
is a gradual process depending on their good or bad activities. The wise
Kings of old knew this principle, so they molded themselves on Earth and
never ceased to rely on virtue to cultivate themselves; they molded
themselves on Earth and never ceased to rely on virtue to pacify the
people. To cultivate oneself means to be cautious within, as cautious as
if one were walking on thin ice. To pacify people means to respect those
who are below, to be as respectful as one riding a horse holding
worn-out-reins. If one can be like that, one cannot but succeed; if
otherwise, one cannot but fail. The gradual process of prosperity or
decline depends on this.”
Here, Viên Thông expounds a new theory of good
governance and development by emphasizing upon what we with our modern
science of business management call the question of personnel, the
question of employing appropriate men for appropriate works. The leader
is now not reserved only for the king or the Emperor, or the head od a
state but also for the officials in the governing bureaucracy of a
country. In other words, if the working of a state machinery runs
smoothly with good officials, then, the country will be in great peace.
Otherwise, it will fall into chaotic state. Thus, there is an expansion
of the notion of leardership from one man to a group of people who are
responsible for the working of a state machinery. This is a new
contribution of Viên Thông’s theory of good governance and development.
Trần Thái Tông’s theory
Hundred years after Viên Thông’s death, Vietnam
underwent many changes. Even with his advice, the leadership of the Lý
dynasty could not reverse the course of history and the country fell
into a chaotic state. Warring factions fought each other and finally
appeared a new dynasty whose leader was a new young man under the name
Trần Cảnh (1218-1278), later on, widely known under the title Trần Thái
Tông. In the year 1236 A.D., due to the coercion by Trần Thủ Độ, the
imperial head of government, to accept his brother’s wife, Trần Cảnh
fled to Yên Tử mountain from the capital Thăng Long. There, he met Zen
Master Phù Vân and of course, Trần Thủ Độ got after him, asking him to
be back to the capital. After many requests and not receiving the
asquiescence from Trần Cảnh, Trần Thủ Độ decided to make the mountain
into a new capital. Phù Vân intervened, saying to Trần Cảnh: “To be
the leader of the people, one should take the wish of the people to be
his wish, the heart of the people to be his heart, now, that the people
wish to welcome Your Majesty back to the capital, then how can Your
Majesty not come back?” (凡為人君者
以天下之欲為欲以天下之心為心今天下欲迎陛下歸之則陛下安得不歸哉).
With this statement, Phù Vân again gives us a new
look on the theory of good governance and development in Vietnam of 13th
Century when the Vietnamese began to deal with the rising power of the
Mongolian empire in the north under the leadership of Genghis Khan
(1162-1227). Actually, this new theory for the first time discusses
about the desire and the will of people in relation to the governance
and development of the state in its clearest term and content. The
governance and development of a state totally depends upon the desire
and the will of people and reflects this desire and will. Thus, a new
and most important element is introduced into the theory of state
governance and developmnet, which Pháp Thuận’s and Viên Thông’s theories
do not explicitly state or marginally deal with, that is, the desire and
the will of people. The leader of the nation will act according to that
desire and will.
We can say this is a new contribution of the
Vietnamese buddhist theory of state governance and development of the 13th
century which still has a great bearing upon our time. this is because
this theory emphasizes the role of the people in the running of a
country and demands that any state policy should reflect faithfully
their desire and will. This explains why the Vietnamese of the 13th
century successfully defended their country against three military
invasions of Genghis Khan’s successor, Kublai Khan (1215-1294) in the
years 1258, 1285 and 1287.
Some Observations
We hope, in the discussion of the three case
studies of buddhists contribution to the theory of state governance and
development in Vietnam, we will realize how from a general buddhist
theory, three Vietnamese buddhists exploit and develop into new
theories of state governance and development still applicable to
Vietnam, with many concepts still open for discussion. These Buddhists
were all active political learders and personally took part in the
political advisers and leaders of the country. Therefore, what they were
discussing was the policy they were trying to apply, so that the
people’s welfare could benefit from their realizations. The people here
are all those whom the modern science of human resource management would
call: “stakeholders” with a small difference in that these stakeholders
are not limited to the members of a corporation, but belonging to the
whole society and their welfare should be taken care of, or managed, by
good leadership.
L.M.T.
Selected papers on Buddhist
Contributions to Good Governance and Development, the 4th
International Buddhist Conference on the United Nations Day of
Vesak and the Auspicious Occasion of His Majesty the King’s 80th
Birthday Anniversary at Buddhamonthon, Nakhon Pathom and United
Nations Conference Center, Bangkok, Thailand 26-29 May
2550/2007.
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