The Vietnamese Cultural Heritage towards Contemporary Life

This is a summary of the paper written by Dr. Kim Dinh for the XVIII World Congress of Philosophy held at Brighton, England from August 21-27, 1988. In Section: Metaphysics and Culture; Co-ordinated by Prof. Tran Van Doan, National Taiwan University

I. THE VIETNAMESE CULTURAL HERITAGE

1. The Vietnamese cultural heritage lies exactly in the term “Viet”, which refers to the sense of transcedence. This is where two ultimates, the lofty heaven and the low earth, meet and merge into one, the human’s. Researchers of South-East Asia have identified a dual-unit as the characteristic of the culture in this region. It is from this special dual-unit point of view that both ultimates are considered, not as opposing and struggling entities, but as two complementary and reciprocal sides of the same entity. It is also from this duality characteristic that wisdom is derived, because what is wisdom if not the potential to combine both ultimates together.     

Practically speaking, wisdom is the supreme art of knowing how to arrange family and national affairs in order to bring about happiness for everyone. Throughout nearly five thousand years of history, the Vietnamese culture has realized such a goal. During this long period of time, it has never been inconsistent or has it met with any contradiction such as caste, class, or master-and-slave relationship, because every one of its people can participate in national properties, and evryone has freedom of thought and freedom of religion. Even among more than 50 ethnic minorities with quite different beliefs, there has never been any religous friction. That is the Vietnamese Cultural Heritage which can be called the Supreme Harmony Philosophy.     

2. This heritage was sublimated into the charming legend of the Supreme Mother Au Co. She married Dad Lac Long, and gave birth to a one-hundred-egg pouch that hatched into one hundred children. When Mom Au Co and Dad later parted from each other, 50 children followed Mom up to the mountains, and the other 50 followed Dad down to the seas. The one-hundred-child pouch, which eventually split into two groups of children, was sublimated in a circle divided by an S curve into two parts as follows: This is a marvelous circile, and it is impossible to draw, in this life, any circle more beautiful, more profound, and more enveloping than this one. The S, which curves at both ends, indicates that there exists a tiny Yang in Yin, and a tiny Yin in Yang. Thus, an absolute Yin or absolute Yang can be avoided.     

When speaking of cultures, one usually thinks of two influences: one from Western Europe which inclines to be scientific, and the other from India which tends to be mystic. Yet, one often forgets that there also exists the third trend from East Asia which inclines to be aesthetic, and belongs to the Viet race whose heir might be Viet Nam. While the scientific spirit is symbolized by a square, white in color, showing the specific clear-cut distinction of Yes or No, the mystic is symbolized by a black circle designating No or the gloomy incorporeity. The easthetic sense then can be symbolized by a circle consisting of both black and white parts, or both Yes and No, because the nature of aesthetics is harmony and flexibility. That is why the aesthetic circle is divided, black from white, not by a straight line as in letter I, but by a curve resembling the shape of an S. This S curve was found abundantly on the surface of the Drum of Dong Son in the following forms: ~ , and scholars called them Dongsonian (signs) marks. The curve characteristic of the Viet race’s culture.     

3. If India inclines to Round Heaven, and Western Europe to Square Earth, then Viet will embrace both concepts as it often associates Heaven with the number 3, and Earth with he number 2 (three-Heaven and two-Earth are basic numbers). It is the combination of both square and circle that creates the curve. Because the curve is the authentic sign of the culture, Viet ancestors had its shape stamped on the items that they used in heir daily lives. It even served as the design principal for their houses and boats — both of which bore the big curve to remind their descendants to observe harmony and flexibility as a way of life. Unlike things, life should not be ruled strictly by laws, but by rites and melody which are supple and receptive. Thanks to that suppleness and receptivity, it is possible to reconcile black and white, circle and square. Later on, Ju called that partitioned circle the “supreme ultimate circular diagram” which is the holistic knowledge circle or the Harmony Circle. Harmony here should be understood as Supreme Harmony because it is the root of all other transient harmony. For example:     

* Within a person, harmony is between sentiment and reason, or the spiritual and material.* Within a family, harmony is between wife and husband, father and mother, or older children and younger ones.* Within a society, harmony is between the people and the government. Hence there can not be two cultures as in many places: one for the government, and the other for the people.* Within makind, harmony is among countries. This harmony can achieve peace and lead to a universal brotherhood among all peoples on earth.* On the metaphysical level, harmony is between Yes and No, No and Yes. There should be neither the Yesism of Western Europe’s ontology nor the Noism of India’s advaits (non dua) Signs of this original stage have been crystalized in the book of I Ching featuring yin-yang, k’un-ch’ien, and mother-father.   

4. The above symbols are always in harmony with themselves to derive many other composite symbols which suggest that action should follow talk, or practice should follow the initial stage of learning as both terms “hoc hanh” (to learn and practice) are always paired together. The Yin and Yang symbols were also designated by even and odd numbers: even numbers represent Yin, and odd numbers represent Yang. The numbers were then placed in a diagram, similar to he character # (well), and developed into a Five-Agent structure and other compound diagrams such as Great Plan, Nine Divisions, River Map, Book of Lo which are described in the attached pamphlet. At first, glance, they might look complicated, but fundamentally they simply express a clever combination of both black and white pieces the concept of which is derived from the primordial Mother Au Co’s pouch. All has shown that the Viet culture has achieved Tao or Wisdom. In other words, the culture has been able to combine both ultimate ends, and to create a happy life for the Viet people as recorded in history throughout thousands of years. The same has also occurred for the Chinese, Vietnamese, and other branches of the Viet race, such as Korean, Japanese, Taiwanese, Filipino, Malay, Indonesian, Burmese, and Laotian.      

II. CONTEMPORARY LIFE    

5. Contemporary life is both directionless and soulless, and can be compared with an ocean liner in the open sea which has no compass for orientation, or no harbour to head for. In other words, our present life has no Wisdom! This crisis is shown in the absence of diagrams clearly indicating the inclusive unity as in the dual-unit feature, but instead, there is only the presence of ineffectual rationalistic philosophies. As a result, life has to rely on the guidance of religions, laws, and ethics. On the metaphysical level, man is still in search of a way to reconcile the bleeding dichotomy. In reality, it is still not possible to settle the battle among cleasses. Therefore, contemporary life needs the following:     

a. First of all, a Supreme Harmony pholosophy to serve as basis for the reconciliation and unity between East and West, ancient and modern, and even a unity among all doctrines, politics, and economies.  
b. An overall holistic knowledge consisting of both Yes and No to replace the one-way learning which favors either Yesism or Noism, and is not broad enough as combined concept. Consequently, education often results in fragmentary or spilt-personality people, and a country cannot have anything beyond its Constitution or any Tao.
c. A practical and concrete philosphy leading to action instead of abstract philosophies which are usually too theoretical and have little practical application.
d. A living direction or a Directive to establish a meaning for life in order to achieve joyful living, instead of the sad and rigid philosphy which characterizes contemporary life.5. A universal brotherhood or fraternity for peoples on earth to interact as siblings of the same family — a mutual love instead of spiteful struggle.        

All of the above are found in the Vietnamese cultural heritage as a constribution to our present life.  Being too scientific, the Occident has lost its internal feelings, while the Orient is too poor with its mysticism. Now is the time to combine the scientific square with the mystic circle. After all, merging the two symbols into one to achieve the aesthetic circle is the art of living, isn’t it?     

Dr. Kim Dinh, Vietnamese Philosopher
Prepared for internet by Vietnamese Missionaries in Taiwan

TIỂU SỬ TRIẾT GIA LƯƠNG KIM ĐỊNH    

Triết gia KIM ĐỊNH sinh ngày 15.6.1914 tại Trung Thành, Nam Định. Sau khi tốt nghiệp triết học tại Giáo Hoàng Chủng Viện Sait Albert Le Grand, ông dạy triết tại Đại Chủng Viện Bùi Chu (1943-1946). Năm 1947, ngài sang Pháp 10 năm nghiên cứu về triết học tại Institut des Hautes Etudes Chinoise để thâu thập tài liệu xây đắp nền triết lý Việt Nam.   

Trở về nước năm 1957, ngài dạy triết Đông tại Học Viện Lê Bảo Tịnh, Đại Học Văn Khoa Sàigòn, Đại Học Vạn Hạnh và Đại Học Đà Lạt.    

Từ năm 1960, triết gia bắt đầu cho ra mắt một loạt những cuốn sách về triết Việt, mở đầu là cuốn Cửa Khổng, Triết Lý Giáo Dục, Nhân Bản, Căn Bản Triết Lý Trong Văn Hóa Việt Nam . . . Học giả Linh Mục Vũ Đình Trác viết về công trình của ngài như sau:
“Nhờ công phu mở đường trở về triết Đông của Giáo Sư Bửu Dưỡng và Nguyễn Văn Thích cũng như tâm huyết của Giáo Sư Nguyễn Đăng Thục, chương trình triết học Đông Phương được khai giảng tại Đại Học Văn Khoa Sàigòn năm 1958. Sẵn đường trở về Đông Phương, triết gia Kim Định tiện đường, đơn thương độc mã, ông lên một nước táo bạo, mở đường đi vào Triết Lâm Việt Nam. Trong suốt 16 năm trời tại giảng đường Đại Học Văn Khoa Sàigòn, giáo sư đã ảnh hưởng sâu rộng cho cả một thế hệ thanh niên và sinh viên. Mặc dầu bao chống đối, ông đã im lặng xây dựng một hệ thống Việt Nho khá trung thực và hấp dẫn. Không ai có thể chối cãi công phu xây dựng và ảnh hưởng sâu rộng của ông trong lãnh vực văn hóa dân tộc. Từ Đại Học Văn Khoa Sàigòn, ông mở rộng mặt trận tới các Đại Học khác: Đại học Đà Lạt, Vạn Hạnh, Minh Đức, Thành Nhân và An Giang. Chính trong giai đoạn này ông đã sáng lập chủ thuyết AI VI và VYẾT NHO”.