Story 10: Temple of Literature

Story 10: Temple of Literature - Imperial Academy

Like previous kings, King ThanhTong Ly worshiped Buddhism but he also interested in Confucianism, the system of philosophical and ethical was used as standards of living in China over one thousand years of history. According to Confucianism, an ideal model had to followed three rules or three Moral Bonds (there regulated about three relationships, people and king, father and his offspring, husband and wife) and five moral qualities or five constant virtues (these were benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, fidelity)

King Thanh Tong Ly seemed to predict the development of Confucianism and he also realized that had no way to build talented people but Confucianism. Therefore, he was the first person who went on the way, developing Confucianism in the country. Vietnamese history had written:

“In spring 1070, King Thanh Tong Le ordered builders to build Temple of Literature (Van Mieu), built statues which were Confucius (Khong Tu), Zhou Gong (Chu Cong), four greatest students of Confucius and 72 other students who were considered good students of Confucius and there was place people worship them. The place was also where crown prince came to study”. That meant:

Temple of Literature was place which used to worship people who were teachers, masters of Confucius. They were…

1) Confucius (Khong Tu) who was born in 551 and died in 479 before Christ. He was a person who lived in Lo (a small country that time, and now the country was a part of China). He was Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher. His theories were developed to be a philosophical system (Confucianism). He taught many students. Therefore, his philosophical system was spread widely and he was called “The Model Teacher for the Myriad Ages”.

2) Zhou Gong (Chu Cong), none know exactly when he was born and when he died. He was one of person who had built Zhou dynasty (1121 – 356 before Christ. He had built monarchy rule system and was person who had a great influence on ancient culture.

3) Four greatest students of Confucius (Nhan Hoi, Tang Sam, Tu Tu, Manh Tu).

4) And, 72 good students of Confucius.

They all were considered people who had built and spread widely Confucius in China.

Worshiping was performed every year, that proved the king respected and was grateful the people.

Confucius was attached with learning that explained why the king ordered crown prince to come and study there. Therefore, Temple of Literature and Imperial Academy were attached together. Imperial Academy was the first school which was established in Vietnam by by the government. Firstly, Imperial Academy was place crown Prince came and studied. Later which was place where royal offspring and powerful mandarin’s offspting studied in.

But Imperial Academy (Quoc Tu Giam) was built after that. In 1076, Royal ConcubineY Lan ordered builder to build Imperial Academy inside Temple of Literature. And the first student of Imperial Academy was King Nhan Tong Ly. He was only ten years old though he had been king for four years.

The school was the first formal training facility which people studied in. Though King Thanh Tong Ly had died before Imperial Academy was built, he was the first person who used Confucius as foundation of the rule of the country. Till Tran dynasty, Dai Viet had a great teacher his name was Van An Chu. When he died he also was worshiped in Temple of Literature.

One more thing you should know about King Thanh Tong Ly that he was a person he created Thao Duong Buddhism. His theories were combination Confucius and Buddhism. He brought Buddhism into community. He made kindness to be practical action as helping others, building country… The king explained Buddha was not any where but in your heart. People directed to the Buddha because they didn’t hate the life but wanted a better life which they only found in Buddhism.

Temple of Literature - Imperial Academy is the place all Vietnamese people proud. People say that is the oldest university in the world. Today, Temple of Literature - Imperial Academy is famous tourist destination, people can come and see its unique architecture or show their respect to great teachers who are worshiped in there. Every year, the place always holds a ceremony to honor people who have had great contribution to education. Especially, students usually come there before having a important examination, they think that will bring luck to them.

THE END

"Translated by Hung Nguyen"

Read more:

Historical stories

Story 8: King Thanh Tong Ly

Story 9: Royal Concubine Y Lan

Story 11: King Nhan Tong Ly

Story 12: General Thuong Kiet Ly

Story 13: Van Thinh Le

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Truyện cổ tích Việt Nam

Vietnamese fairy tales

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BÀI ĐĂNG ĐƯỢC XEM NHIỀU

List of Vietnamese fairy tales

Vietnamese fairy tales includes many stories as Tam and Cam; So Dua; Hundred – knot- bamboo tree... which were spread in folk. Each stories has its own meaning. I think I can not translate exactly each word into english but I will try my best to convey its meaning to you. Hope you like them!

My Chau and Trong Thuy

Once upon a time, there had a king, named An Duong Vuong. After many years fighting, he get a large area. The king planed to build a castle but whenever it had been built as tall as a men’s height then it was ruined. The king was unhappy. Therefore, the king had made an altar to pray God for few days until an early morning, a old man from seaside went to talk him God Turtle was going come to help him. The king was very happy and forced soldiers to wait on the seaside. The next day, in the water appeared a big gold turles toward seaside. The soldiers invited God Turtle to set sat on a big gold platter and brought to the king. The God Turtle told the king that the castle couldn’t have finished because of demons. God Turtle helped the king to kill the demons so all demons was killed. Besides, the God Turtle help the king design a castle look like a seashell with many gate levels. Half a month later, the castle had been finished. The king was very pleased but a little worry. He a...

Idiot

Once upon a time, there was an idiot whose name was Ngoc. Ngoc had a wife who didn’t like him to stay home and do nothing. One day, when they were sitting by the other, his wife told: “Husband you can’t continue doing nothing. You must find a job to do if you want to live with me in long time” “Do what?” said Ngoc, “I don’t know write or read and besides, not smart as others so what can I do?” “Do business”, said his wife. “Business? What?” said Ngoc. “All things which bring to you benefit”, said his wife, “Firstly, you can buy and sell chickens and ducks. Later, you can buy and sell wood”. Few days later, Ngoc brought money and set off. He remembered his wife’s saying so that he found the way to trade ducks. He didn’t need long time to find what he need. He saw ducks they were about dozen of ducks swimming in the lake which was by his way but they were wild ducks and he didn’t know that so he walked to find the owner of the ducks. He saw some children near that....

The liar Cuội

A boy named Cuoi had lost his parent when he was child he lived with his uncle and aunt. He was co clever but used to lie and he always had his fun whenever people had been cheated. A landlord had heard about him but he didn’t think that he could lie him so he called him came and asked. “I hear you are very well in cheat. Now I sit at here, if you can make me go to the door I will give you this pocket of coins. People here will be witnesses for my words.”, said the landlord. Cuoi expressed as if he was feeling embarrassed. “You have prepared before you sit here so I can not make you go to the door. Now if you stand at the door I can make you come in.”, said Cuoi. The landlord thought what Cuoi had said was true so he stood up and sprinted to the door. But when he came to the door he saw Cuoi was laughing and clapping his hand. “I’ve cheated you.”, said Cuoi. The landlord lost for words and was forced to give him the pocket of coins. vietnamesefairytales.blogspot.co...

Story 12: General Thuong Kiet Ly

His birth name is Tuan Ngo, an offspring of Quyen Ngo. He was borned in 1019 at Thai Hoa ward, Thang Long (now Hanoi). When he was child, he early showed brave and martial spirit what were inherited from his family who had been generals, dedicating to Ly dynasty. His father, An Ngu Ngo was also one of them he was a great general. When he was 13 years old, he lost his father and was taken care by his aunt and her husband. Tuan Ngo was taught by Cong An Ly, a royal great teacher at that time. His teacher complimented that he had talent but he headed to be a general instead of a mandarin. Therefore, he studied literature in daytime and research art of warfare in night time. When he was enough 18 years old, he opened a martial class. People coming and studying were crowded. The news came to the recent king who summoned him to castle and conferred him to be a low martial mandarin. Two years later, he became the king’s guard staying by the king entire day. That time, the king realize...

The Tale of the Hundred - knot Bamboo tree

Once upon a time, there had a boy who was poor, had no field. Therefore, he found the way to work for a landlord. He was healthy, worked hard and great in working so the landlord wanted him to work for him long time without any pay. One day, he called the boy to come. "You are honest and healthy. If you agree to work for me in three years without pay, I will let you marry with my only daughter after that." The boy agreed. He believed completely. He worked very hard, help the landlord turn richer that he could build more houses, buy more fields and cattles. Then, time passed. Three years nearly crossed, the boy always remembered his master's promise while his master, the landlord didn't want to do his promise. He in secret had found another boy for his daughter, a son of another landlord in that area. Therefore, what he need was a reason to refuse the boy. One day, he called the boy to come. "You have worked very hard for three years, waken early, slept late....

Bài 1.5: Cách sử dụng at, on, in cho thời gian, ngày, tháng, năm, mùa.

Chào các bạn! Bởi vì mình có hay dich truyện và một vài thứ linh tinh khác nên thường bắt gặp ngày, tháng năm. Thật ra khôngkhó để sử dụng đúng nhưng mỗi lần cần đến mình lại phải tra lại tra cứu. Điều đó rất mất thời gian nên hôm nay mình viết một bài liên quan đến at, on, in + thời gian để giúp bạn nào chưa biết và giúp chính mình nhớ được cách sử dụng của các giới từ at, on, in và dạng thời gian được theo sau giới từ đó.

Thanh Giong

Once upon a time, a woman was old but she had not given birth a child. One day, when she went to her field, she saw a stranger footsore on the ground. The big footsore made her surprise and said: “omg, this footsore is so big” the she put her foot into the footsore. More 9 months later, she gave birth to a little boy named Giong. The boy was extraordinary that he was over three years old but had not spoken. He only knew lying and smiling. vietnamesefairytales.blogspot.com That year, the enemies they were known An planed to attack the country of the boy. They were merciless. Wherever they had gone, houses were ruined, fields were fired, people were killed. The sight behind them is mess of corpse and blood and ashes.The King was worry he forced his servants to look for person who could fight against the enemies. One day, a servent went to Giong’s village while the woman was holding the boy in her arms, she said sadly that: “Giong, I wonder that when you hav...

Story 3. Cong Uan Ly moved the capital

In days of spring, 1010 Thai To Ly king and some courtiers went to his hometown on a ship. They went from Hoa Lu capital (Ninh Binh province) to Co Phap (now, Bac ninh province) on a ship. The king had delight as he saw the country seemed to change better. Fields were green and were going to give great harvests. Whenever, the ship arrived to a port, the king stopped to go on ground and had sightseeing and asked people about their lives. When the ship came to “Đông Bộ Đầu” port which was outside of Dai La citadel, the ship stopped, the king went on and realized Dai La was crowded place with convenient transportation. Dai La had been headquater of government when the country had been dominated by another country. Its name had been Tong Binh, had been rebuilt and repaired many times. Especially, it was repaired carefully when Cao Bien was the manager (See more about CaoBien here ). The visit gave the king a deep thinking. Though the king had left Dai La and came to his ho...

Vietnamese fairy tales

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