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Vietnam Confucianism - Some General Specialties

Hoang Thu Trang*, Hoang Thi Kim Oanh

Institute of Philosophy, Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, Hanoi, Vietnam

Abstract: Confucianism has followed the footsteps of the Chinese and entered Vietnam, but owing to some particular reasons, it has been modified with distinct features, differentiating it with the Chinese original version. This research concentrates on analyzing some basic characteristics of Vietnamese Confucianism, which is that Vietnamese Confucianism is practical Confucianism, with its main focus on the realistic efficiency rather than academic function, or that the moral standard of Vietnamese Confucianism is discrete, and its male-dominated mindset is not as strict as that in Chinese Confucianism. Additionally, in this writing, the authors mentioned that these specialties are the result of the fact that Confucianism in Vietnam has been combined with different ideologies, theories and religions, and Vietnamese Confucianists have successfully “Vietnamize” its initial version…

Keywords: confucianism, confucianism in vietnam, confucianism in china, vietnamese confucianism, confucianism morality

Received January 19, 2020; Revised March 25, 2020; Accepted March 31, 2020

Citation: Hoang Thu Trang, Hoang Thi Kim Oanh, Vietnam Confucianism - Some General Specialties. World Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, 6 (2). 45-50. January 2020. doi:10.12691/wjssh-6-2-3

1. Introduction

Confucianism is one of the trends in ancient Chinese philosophy, generated by Confucius (551 – 479 B.C. Entering Vietnam since the Chinese domination years, Confucianism, in general, and the moral of Confucianism, to be specific, has been accepted and used by Vietnamese feudal dynasties, and once has become the official ideology of the feudal dominant class for a long period of time (from the middle of XV century to the end of XIX). Despite being implanted in Vietnam by the Chinese, apart from the notable similarity, Vietnamese Confucianism still possesses many distinguishable features. Many research conducted by Vietnamese scientists have indicated these features:

1.1. Study group on the history of Vietnamese ideology during the Feudalism period portrayed by influential authors who are also Vietnamese representative Confucianist (Nguyen Trai, Le Thanh Tong, Nguyen Binh Khiem, Le Quy Don…); for instance, History of Vietnamese doctrine (1993) by Nguyen Tai Thu, A brief summary of Vietnamese Political Ideology (2015) by Nguyen Tai Dong, Confucianism in Vietnam (1994) by Le Sy Thang, to name a few. Through the analysis on the doctrine of mentioned Confucianists, the writers also established the disparity between Vietnamese and Chinese Confucianism.

1.2. The study group delved into the difference of Confucianism in Vietnam and China with works such as Several features of Vietnamese Confucianism by Nguyen Tai Thu or The similarities and differences between Chinese and Vietnamese Confucianism by Hoang Ngoc Vinh. Several notable distinguishing marks between Vietnamese and Chinese Confucianism as well as the fundamental reasons for them are presented in the above study. To be more specific, in Nguyen Tai Thu’s Several features of Vietnamese Confucianism, the writer claimed that, the factors contributing to Vietnamese Confucianism being so dissimilar to its Chinese version are: first of all, the propagation and advancement of Vietnamese Confucianism occurred on unusual condition; secondly, the Absolute Feudal system in Vietnam limited Confucianism development to a way and a range that benefits the dynasty domination; and finally, the underdevelopment of Vietnamese agriculture results in the lack of essential facilities for elevating Confucianism.

Inheriting from the former study, not only would we continue to elucidate the exclusive features of Vietnamese Confucianism in comparison to that in China, but also signify the underlying reasons for this phenomenon from a different perspective. We hereby reckon that Confucianism was imported to Vietnam from China, yet upon its entering, the Chinese version of it has failed to maintain originality and was “Vietnamized” with distinctive Vietnamese qualities.

2. Content

2.1. Some Basic Specialties of Confucianism in Vietnam

Unlike Confucianism in China, Vietnamese Confucianism characteristics includes:

First of all, Vietnamese Confucianism is practical Confucianism, which focuses mainly on the realistic efficiency rather than academic function. The reason for this is that after entering Vietnam, Confucianism has always been accepted and used by Vietnamese as a helping hand in constructing and defending the country. Consequently, different from the academic Chinese Confucianism, the Vietnamese adaptation highlights applicability and practicability. The majority of Vietnamese Confucianists only set their goal of learning to handle practical tasks, meeting the requirements brought up in reality during a particular period, not to engage themselves in debate or discussion of academic and theoretical matters. In the face of the vast and erudite knowledge system of Chinese Confucianism, Vietnamese Confucianists often reduced the theoretical issues in order to directly extract the knowledge that could be helpful with problem solving. Moreover, the metaphysical concepts in Chinese Confucianism are adapted into realistic notions that can be applied in daily life by Vietnamese Confucianists. For example, the Confucian concepts of the universe’s origin is mentioned in Yi Jing as “Dịch hữu thái cực, thị sinh lưỡng nghi, lưỡng nghi sinh tứ tượng, tứ tượng sinh bát quái, bát quái định cát hung, cát hung sinh đại nghiệp” (The Yi has Taiji, a "Supreme Ultimate" state, from which yin and yang originate; yin and yang produce the Four Symbols, which construct Eight Trigrams; and these trigrams decides the good and the bad, which affects the great destiny). For Vietnamese Confucianism, the one that they pay attention to is not the study of Taiji or Four Symbols, but the the last two clauses " bát quái định cát hung, cát hung sinh đại nghiệp " (the Eight Trigrams decides the good and the bad, which affects the great). That means what the Confucianists concern about is not what makes the world but the things which are related to the fate of humanity, beneficial to the people and deeply connected with their lives.

Thus, in the immense wealth of knowledge owned by the Chinese Confucianists with many different theoretical issues, Vietnamese Confucianists normally just grasp the key points that assist solving problems in real life, and then compile them to be more comprehensible, easy to understand, easy to communicate, easy to absorb, easy to practice and easy to use. (For instance, if there is a complete compilation of Confucian books in China about a certain kind of problem, such as Sishu (four books) by Zhu Xi, or Sishu Daquan (the complete four classics) by Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing Confucianists, upon entering Vietnam has been modified into Thuyết ước (the summary of the doctrine) và Ước giải (a brief explanation of the doctrine). If the Tran dynasty has “Tứ thư thuyết ước” by Chu Van An, in the Le- Trinh dynasty we have Tứ thư ước giải by Le Quy Don, the Nguyen dynasty has Tứ thư trích giảng by Nguyen Van Sieu… This shows a common phenomenon in the reception and application of Confucianism in many Vietnamese feudal dynasties, which is the simplification of academic issue in Confucian reasoning system and the preference towards discovering what supports human life and compiling them to be more simple to comprehend, disseminate and practice.)

This can be considered as not only a more prominent feature of Vietnamese Confucianism compared to Chinese Confucianism but also a great advantage of it. However, this advantage also became a drawback as a result of immersing too much in practicality, causing Confucianists to unintentionally lose the inherent logical, systematic and academic aspects of Chinese Confucianism. This inevitably results in the limited ability to expand and develop the doctrine theoretically and propose new research directions. This also explains why, compared to Chinese Confucianism, Vietnamese Confucianism has fewer sects or arguments, and is lacking in the variety of perspective on the same topic [1]. The viewpoints of Vietnamese Confucian scholars are also often less contradictory and argumentative when it comes to the same issue. They often inherit and develop the views of their senior Confucian scholars. This contributes greatly to the homogeneity, or should we say monotony of Vietnamese Confucianism.

Secondly, in the system of Confucian moral standards, both Chinese and Vietnamese Confucianism highly promote ethical standards such as humaneness, manners, righteousness, wisdom, faithfulness, loyalty, filial piety, etc. Yet, in the conception of Chinese and Vietnamese Confucianism, the connotation of these standards is not completely identical. This is clearly portrayed through the belief of Vietnamese Confucianists.

For example, in terms of humaneness and righteousness, according to the theory of Chinese Confucianism, they are ethical standards with profound political values, which are attached to the aim to rule the country with a policy called De Zhi (using virtue to rule and win people's hearts) of Chinese feudal dynasties. Confucius indicated that: “Đạo chi dĩ chính, tề chi dĩ hình, dân miễn nhi vô sỉ. Đạo chi dĩ đức, tề chi dĩ lễ, hữ sỉ thả cách" (If we use commands to lead people, and use the law to maintain order, people can avoid committing crimes but would not feel ashamed when they do. On the other hand, if we use virtue to lead, people would build self-conscience and be a good citizen) [[2]; 215]; or "Vi chính dĩ đức, thí như Bắc thần cư kỳ sở, nhi chúng tinh củng chi" (One who does politics with virtue is similar to the North star, staying in its position and still have other stars follow it) [[2]; 214]. Following the idea of Confucius, Mencius also asserted: “Using force to win people's heart, it's not winning. It 's a result of people not having enough strength to fight back. Whereas using virtue, you will make people obey willingly." [[3]; 19]. As for Vietnamese Confucianists, humaneness and righteousness are not only used to implement De Zhi policy, of course, but they also include patriotism, the love for the people, the fight against enemies to protect the country. Specifically, from the prospect of Nguyen Trai (1380-1442) - an ideal Vietnamese Confucianist, humaneness and righteousness can be interpreted as political policy which prioritizes the people; therefore, to him: their main purpose is peace, and fighting against immorality is the means to bring justice [[4]; 35-36]. Nguyen Trai claims that

“In the name of Heaven, I (King Le Loi) hold the belief that compassion, and righteousness are intended to bring peace and when troops are dispatched to protect the population, their primary mission is to suppress tyranny.

As to Dai Viet, 32 a country of great culture with a long tradition, its mountains and rivers are lawfully delineated” [5].

To Nguyen Trai, these two factors are even shown in his attitude when treating enemies who surrendered with mercy, enabling them to retreat to the country instead of killing them. About this issue, he concurred with Le Loi's viewpoint that: “Revenge is common to human, but deep down inside the heart of those who are kind, they do not favor killing.

Besides, killing those who has surrendered is the heaviest sin. Rather than carrying the reputation of a murderer for years just to satisfy the anger in the blink of an eye, why don't we just spare thousands of lives and stop the war for good? To go down in history with an everlasting reputation, isn't that incredible?" [[6]; 49-50]. Logically speaking, the invaders are those who deserve to be killed as they have violated national sovereignty, plundered and brutally assault people, but Nguyen Trai and other Vietnamese Confuscianists still treat those enemies with tolerance. That is the most vivid demonstration of generosity and humanity - the respectful traditional of Vietnamese nation [[7]; 269-270].

Continuing Nguyen Trai's ideology, Nguyen Binh Khiem (1491-1585) - a representative Vietnamese Confucianist in the early XVI century, insisted that humaneness and righteousness should not be a mere theory published to mislead people. The two factors used in governing the country should be specifically expressed in the policies which cares for people's lives, especially for the poor. Nguyen Binh Khiem wrote: "Quân vương như hữu quang minh chúc, Ủng chiếu cùng lư bộ ốc dân" (If the king has a torch of light, he should look at the citizen's houses, even in the houses where the poorest neighborhood is - Inspiration) [[7]; 359].

Another example of Vietnamese Confucianism being not similar to its original version is that, in terms of loyalty, both in Chinese Confucianism and Vietnamese Confucianism, it was stated that the main content loyalty is the devotion to the emperor. Nevertheless, conflicting with Chinese Confucianism (especially Han Confucianism), which absolutizes loyalty with a claim that one must not worship two masters, and objecting the king's death command is unfaithful, Vietnamese Confucian scholars, for instance Le Quy Don (1726-1784) - typical Vietnamese Confucianist in the XVIII century, loyalty does not mean an unconditional obedience to the king but the conscience needed to know the disparity between right and wrong, and to rely on that conscience to judge and act accordingly. For that reason, to Le Quy Don, being loyal to the emperor does not equal obeying every of his command, but to interfere when the king makes an incorrect, unethical decision. Moreover, Le Quy Don also stated that being loyal not only is a moral standard kept narrow in the relationship between the nobles and the king, but it has expanded into devotion and dedication to the country and for the sake of the people. Therefore, loyalty must complement patriotism [[8]; 197-198]. It is indisputable that loyalty in the concept of Vietnamese Confucianism has added a new level of meaning to the native Confucianism.

Even for the moral standards of the rulers, compared to the conception of Chinese Confucianism (the king - the nobles in Confucius's doctrine must have three virtues: humaneness, wisdom and courage; in the notion of Mencius must have all four virtues: humaneness, manners, righteousness, wisdom; in the conception of Dong Zhongshu, there must be all five virtues: humaneness, manners, righteousness, wisdom, faithfulness), Vietnamese Confucian scholars added other standards. For example, King Minh Menh (1791-1840) said that the king should have diligence and providence. In particular, diligence means "The King should not be at ease and need to continue his hard work even when the mind is fatigued" [[9]; 85]. Providence implies reducing on personal consumption, unnecessary rewarding and royal extravagant celebration. One time when he was rewarding the eldest son, Kien An, Minh Menh exclaimed: “Your fortune is the blood, sweat and tears of the people. You should think of ways to economize to take up family traditions, do not pursue unrealistic luxury and harm our qualities. For the people we keep and protect their possessions, how can we use public wealth to reward our own liking?" [[10]; 100].

On the topic about the doctrine of becoming a king, Confucianist Nguyen Duc Dat (1823-1887) of the Nguyen Dynasty said that in the king's relationship with his people, he must not only love the people but also respect the them. It can be clearly seen that the king's respect for the people is something that was never mentioned before and after him, during the old feudal regime. In his work Nam Son Tung Thoai, Thien Quan Dao, Nguyen Duc Dat explained evidently that to become a king, one must love the people and respect the people, like how he loves and respects himself. Considering the fact that it is and will be the people who protects the king, how can he not love them? The people are the masters (leaders, authorities and supervisors) of his own, how can the king not respect them?

Besides, Nguyen Duc Dat also said that, even a king (Tian Zi - Son of Heaven) is still the same as the people when it comes to obeying the law. According to Nguyen (in Thien Quan Dao, Nam Son Tung Thoai): the king made the law to maintain his own uprightness. If one wants his people to follow the rule, he has to set himself a good example first. The law does not forbid the king cannot not forbid the people. If the king does not break the law, then his people would not. This was never demonstrated in neither the Four Books nor the Vietnamese heritage of notions from the nineteenth century backward [[11]; 133]. (In the Four Books, Mencius hypothesized: if Sir Co Tau (King Thuan's father) committed homicide, what would King Thuan do? As stated by Mencius, King Thuan would not be able stop the execution by the law, so "Thuấn thị khí thiên hạ do khí tệ tỉ dã, thiết phụ nhi đào, tuân hải tân nhi xử; chung thân hân nhiên lạc nhi vong thiên hạ" - (Sir Thuan would abandon his country and his people as if he was throwing away his slouched sandals, carry his father on his back, run away following the coastline where they live, and hide there for the rest of their lives while having fun, forgetting about the world) [[2]; 1323]. It can be understood here, according to the conception of Chinese Confucian scholars, people, including the king, the head of the country, would still possibly turn his back on the rules set by himself for the sake of his family.)

Accordingly, it can be seen that the categories of Chinese Confucian morality have been accepted and modified by Vietnamese Confucianists in accordance with the practical conditions of Vietnam, with the purpose of directly serving the construction of our country and protecting Vietnam.

Thirdly, the male-dominant mindset in Vietnamese Confucianism is less strict than Chinese Confucianism.

Chinese Confucianism has many books written on the topic of educating women such as Kinh Thi, Kinh Le and a few in The Analects of Confucius and Mencius. The Han Dynasty had a book named Women of Ban Chieu; during Tang dynasty, there was the book of Classic of Filial Piety for Women by Hau Mac Tran; later in Song Dynasty, we had many well-known works, for example, “Nu'er Jing” or "Female Trimetric Classic". Most of these books forced women to train themselves following a basic set of principles or social code called Three Obediences and Four Virtues. To be specific, the Three Obediences are "Tại gia tòng phụ, xuất giá tòng phu, phu tử tòng tử”; the four virtues are ethics, speech, manners and diligent work, that is to say: specifically: “To keep one's virginity, to maintain one's maidenhood untouched, to behave with integrity, to move with manners, that is considered the ethics of women. To choose the correct words to say, not to tell bad words, to know what to say in the right timing, not to be a disgrace, that is called the speech of women. To clean the ashes and dust, to wear smartly, to bathe regularly, to have completely no feculence, that is the manners of women. To dedicated oneself to work, and not to enjoy fooling around, to prepare scrumptious dinner for new guests, that is the diligent work of women” [[12]; 156]. These are the basic standards for building a perfect socially accepted female model in feudal Chinese society. From Chinese Confucian scholars' point of view, a woman must wholly depend on the man in the family (when she was not married, she would follow the words of the father entirely, when she is married, she must obey the words of her husband, and when the husband died she must listen to the eldest son). The responsibility of a woman is to take care of the housework so that a man can rest assured to go out and achieve great accomplishment. It is written in The Book of Rites: “Men do not talk about household chores, and women do not talk about what happens outside the house” [[12]; 25].

Besides from that, the wife must be absolutely loyal to her husband. A man may have many wives but an ethical woman can only marry one husband. In the book Classic of Filial Piety for Women, there is a writing: "Wife is the land, husband is the sky. Under no circumstances should one of them be left out. However, the husband can go to places and the wife can just stay in one place being wholehearted to her man. (So), men can get married multiple times, but women are ban from remarriage” [[13]; 238]. Especially in the Song dynasty Confucianism, this belief had become even more intensely severe when Trinh Y Xuyen claimed that when a man marries a woman who has lost her maidenhood, he has lost his integrity too. As for widows, even when they are helpless, homeless and impoverished, they cannot get married for a second time. Because to women, being starve to death is no big deal, but losing her dignity is [[14]; 92].

The woman also does not own the right to decide her marriage but must completely adhere to the arrangements of her parents. In Chinese feudal society, according to the doctrine of Confucianism, women, overall, are always considered as the lower class than men and the "Seven disappointments" custom in the Chinese tradition is a clear example of it. "Seven disappointments" are seven reasons why a woman could possibly be disowned by her husband. Namely: the first reason, giving birth to no son; the second one, being lustful; thirdly, do not take care of her parents-in-law; reason number four, being big-mouthed; the fifth reason is, being a theft; six, being full of jealous and envy; and the last one, being vicious. From the Song dynasty until later on, the Confucianists proposed the view that women who are "without talent are virtuous" and "without talent are blessed" [[15]; 41].

Vietnamese Confucianism is also deeply influenced by the male-dominant mindset in agreement with the concept of Chinese Confucianism. However, compared to Chinese feudal society, the status of Vietnamese feudal women is somewhat more appreciated and Vietnamese women are less bound by rigorous moral standards that Confucianism poses to women like in feudal China. For example, in the Imperial Court Law (Hong Duc Law) - the official law of the Dai Viet nation during the early Le Dynasty (one of the most important legal codes of the feudal Vietnam) enacted a number of laws that protect the rights of women in the family. Specifically: Article 388 of the Hong Duc Law stipulates that daughters have the right to inherit the family's possessions as equal as sons. When a woman gets married, this part of the property is still hers, and is not merge in to the husband's family inheritance. Article 375 stipulates: When a husband dies, if there is no child, a woman is entitled to half of the couple's property. Article 391 stipulates: Daughters born in no-son family are entitled to inherit all property. Moreover, women are permitted to file a divorce when encountering these situation: Women can rightfully file a divorce after 5 consecutive months lacking of husband’s care (Article 322); Female can have their wedding canceled if their fiancé commits serious crime or goes bankrupt (Article 308) [[16]; 149]… Professor Insun Yu (Seoul National University, Korea) once commented that: “Although the Le law has an overall tendency towards discriminating in favor of the husband's legal rights, but in some aspects it also protects the woman. A wife is allowed to come to the authorities to file a divorce in case the husband does not take care of his wife for five months. If the wife brings the application for divorce to the law court, the law allows forcible divorce. This means that if a husband does not fulfill his obligations to his wife, then the wife is not required to fulfill her duty. This provision is not mentioned before in any Chinese law; it proves a fairly equal status between the wife and the husband in Vietnamese family [[17]; 128].

So undoubtedly, in the feudal society of Vietnam, although profoundly affected by the male-dominant mindset of Chinese Confucianism, the asset of Vietnamese women is more or less still protected by the laws governed by the feudal dynasty, based on the ideological doctrine Confucianism. It also shows that, compared to Chinese Confucianism, that mindset of bias towards men in Vietnamese Confucianism is less severe and strict.

2.2. Justification

The reason why, compared to the original and indigenous Confucianism (Chinese Confucianism), Vietnamese Confucianism has some basic characteristics as mentioned above is due to the following factors:

First and foremost, the historical context of the Vietnamese nation (the process of building a country along with defending the country, associated with the fights against foreign invaders to protect the independence of the nation) is one of the reasons for the alteration of Vietnamese Confucianism with different characteristics from the original Confucianism in China. For example, as in Part I, we have affirmed that the virtue of loyalty in Chinese Confucianism upon becoming Vietnamese Confucianism had been expanded to be loyalty and patriotism, which completely stemmed from historical reality: the process of constructing the country of Vietnam is closely linked with fighting against foreign enemies to protect the independence of the nation. According to the historian Phan Huy Le: “From the third century BC till now, for the past 22 centuries, Vietnam was forced to join nearly 20 wars of defending the country and about 100 revolts to gain independence. War time against invaders from abroad is nearly 12 centuries. During its existence and development, Vietnam has faced many wars caused by the aggression and territory expansion ambition of the ancient and medieval feudal dynasties, as well as the great nations of imperialism in modern and present time” [[18]; 423]; “Foreign invasion is a nearly-permanent threat to this country. Not many centuries go by without our nation fight against invaders. The Northern domination period lasted more than 10 centuries of continuous anti-aggression. There are centuries of independence when our people must operate up to two or three very fierce patriotic wars to guard the Fatherland. In the thirteenth century of Tran dynasty, within 30 years (1258-1288), Dai Viet had to face three invasions from the notorious Nguyen Mong empire of the former world. At the end of the eighteenth century, within 5 years (1784-1789), our people were encouraged by the Tay Son movement has wiped out the two Siamese armies from the South and Thanh up to the north of the country …” [[19]; 38]. With such historical circumstances, in the conception of Vietnamese Confucianism, loyalty is not only to the king and the dynasty but also to the benefits of the country and the people, above all else. Because if the country loses its independence, the Vietnamese feudal dynasties will have no basis to exist.

Secondly, Vietnamese Confucianism is not pure Confucianism but has been mixed and combined with traditional ideas, doctrine, beliefs, culture ...

On one hand, it can be seen that, during the Northern domination period, besides Confucianism, there were many other doctrines that were propagated into Vietnam and had certain impact on the transformation of Vietnamese Confucianism, including Buddhism, Catholicism and Taoism. This can be observed through the constituents in the ideology of Vietnamese Confucianists in history. There, we see some of the element of Confucianism, some from Buddhism and some element of Lao. The close combination of these three religions takes place naturally, coming from the characteristics of Vietnamese people. That is for any school of thought or doctrine that is imported to Vietnam, they will be exploited by Vietnamese people in the aspects that can be used to help them solve practical problems, assist people reducing the burden in life as well as help them explain mysterious natural phenomena in their own ways. Therefore, besides receiving and using Confucianism as the ideological foundation of Vietnamese feudalism ... Vietnamese people also accept the Buddhist beliefs in good faith with the principles "benevolence, compassion, empathetic joy, equanimity and patience" as well as the concept of "Wu Wei" (inexertion), following the nature flow of Taoism. Each of the above ideals satisfies the different demands of the society and people in various situations [[20]; 48-49]. The blending and combining of these three religions in the form of "three religions of the same origin" not only takes place in the history of Vietnamese notions but also even in China, where Confucianism was born, this phenomenon also happened. However, in comparison with China, the phenomenon of "three religions of the same origin" in Vietnam happens more thoroughly and consistently throughout the history of the feudal regime s of Vietnam (in the feudal Chinese society, there had been a time when Buddhism were eliminated owing to the work of Emperor Thai Vu in the North Wei Dynasty, Emperor Vu in Bei Zhou, Vu Tong in the Tang Dynasty, etc [21],… However, this "Religious Catastrophe" did not occur in the history of Vietnamese feudal ideology) [1]. The phenomenon of "three religions of the same origin" inevitably leads to a change, whether wanted or not, to a certain extent within the ideology of all Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. Therefore, it is understandable when we see that the ethical categories of Vietnamese Confucianism no longer retain original as inherent in Chinese Confucianism but have been modified a little bit.

For example, as analyzed above, one of the basic characteristics of Vietnamese Confucianism is that the thought of valuing men above women in Confucianism in Vietnamese Confucianism is less strict and less severe than Chinese Confucianism. The main reason is that Vietnamese Confucianism was influenced by our tradition of respecting women associated with Vietnamese cult of worshipping the Mother God. The belief of the Mother God worship is popular throughout the country. In the North, people worship Nguyen Phi Y Lan, Mother Lieu Hanh. In the Central region, Vietnamese people worship the four holy mother saints, Nu Ngu Hanh and Thien Y A Na. In the South, Vietnamese people worship Ba Chua Xu, Ba Den, etc. This belief has featured the role of women in social life [[15]; 56]. It has been proved in the history, Vietnamese people and Vietnamese Confucianists have wholeheartedly praised and have shown great gratitude to Hai Ba Trung and Ba Trieu, who bravely raised in revolt against the invaders, showed their patriotism and love for the people. There was also Nguyen Phi Y Lan under Ly dynasty, who was sent by the King to go to Kinh Ly to clear up the scourge and protect the people [22]…

Another example, in part 1, we pointed out that there have been differences from Chinese Confucianism in one of the basic characteristics of Vietnamese Confucianism, which is the ethical standards of Confucianism such as kindness, decorum, uprightness, wisdom, faithfulness, loyalty, etc. These ethical standards are less strict and include less social stratification than Chinese Confucianism. Specifically, for example, the kindness in Vietnamese Confucianism is associated with the spirit of fighting the dishonest and eliminate the violence to comfort their people, and to take care of people’s lives. In addition, loyalty means not only be loyal to the king and feudal dynasty but also be loyal to the benefits of the country and the people. Such modifications are the results of the ethical standards in Vietnamese Confucianism having been deeply influenced by Vietnamese people’s inherent tradition of solidarity and unity.

Thirdly, the Vietnamese Confucian intellectuals themselves are also one of the important factors that make the basic characteristics of Vietnamese Confucianism differ from those of Chinese Confucianism. It can be seen that, from the very first characteristic of Vietnamese Confucianism, we have made the assertion that solving practical tasks is the only reason why Vietnamese Confucianist scholars set their study purpose. Therefore, when learning about Confucianism, Vietnamese Confucianists would adapt the inherent theories of indigenous Confucianism (Chinese Confucianism) to suit the practical conditions of Vietnam in each historical period. That is not to mention Vietnamese Confucianists’ uptake of the Confucian based on the social status, ideological stance, cognitive ability, individual thought, etc of each Confucianist. Depend on this particular basis, each Confucianist would receive and modify the arguments of Confucianism, Confucian morality in different ways. This is also one of the main causes that create certain differences in characteristics between Vietnamese Confucianism and Chinese Confucianism.

3. Conclusion

Thus, from the above analysis, it can be affirmed that although Confucianism was imported to Vietnam from China during the Northern domination period, however, due to various reasons (both subjective and objective), Vietnam Confucianism compared to Chinese Confucianism has had certain differences. To be particular, they are: 1) Vietnamese Confucianism focus on practicality more than its academic function; 2) The inner meaning of moral standard in both kinds are completely non-identical; 3) The male-dominant mindset is less strictly followed in Vietnam. There are several reasons for these disparities: 1) the historical context of the Vietnamese nation (the process of building a country along with defending the country, associated with the fights against foreign invaders to protect the independence of the nation) altered Vietnamese Confucianism; 2) Vietnamese Confucianism are the combination of Chinese Confucianism and other doctrine, ideology, belief and traditional culture; 3) Vietnamese Confucianists played an quintessential role in the reformation of Vietnamese Confucianism doctrine.

It is the dissimilarity between the two types of Confucianism that create Vietnamese Confucianism distinctive qualities.

References

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