Buddhism as a Contribution to Peace in Vietnam

Cao xuan Pho

I. The Concept of Peace

In Vietnam since early times, peace has been largely conceived of as peace in ones mind,
peace towards ones fellows, and peace with nature. Those aspects of peace are greatly
influenced by Buddhism. Each social stratum has its own approach to the serenity of mind
through Buddhism. The intelligentsia practised Zen (dhyana) firstly through Zen masters
coming from India 1 and later from China2 to ultimately establish their own Zen sect in the
thirteenth century called the Thien Truc Lam (Bamboo Forest Zen Sect).3 They abided by the
teachings of Buddha:
Those who practise meditation steadfastly,
Always strong in determination and perseverance,
The wise ones enjoy nibbana,
Safe from any bondage, the highest
Dhammapada, 234
or
. . . He does not cleave to sense-desires,
Cool he is, and without germs to a new life,
All clinging are cut down,
Pains in the heart are overcome,
Serene and calm, he leads a life of happiness,
And his mind has attained peace and calmness
Samyutta Nikaya, I, 2635
Learned Buddhist scholars enjoyed great influence on the daily life of the common people.
Through them the commoners could have an understanding of the gist of Buddhas teach-ings
on His attitude towards other religions and antagonistic doctrines, His love and com-passion
for the world, and on fundamental topics of daily life such as dispute and harmony, anger and
gentleness, harmfulness and harmlessness, hatred and friendliness, killing and respect for life,
etc. Among many teachings they were most impressed by such words as:
One should take oneself as ones own refuge,
Because there is no other refuge,
By a self well tamed and restrained,
One obtains a refuge that is very difficult to obtain
Dhammapada, 1606
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or
By oneself, evil deed is done,
By oneself, one is defiled,
By oneself, evil deed is not done,
By oneself, one becomes purified.
Purity and impurity are done by oneself,
No one can purify another
Dhammapada, 1657
They were fully aware of the value of self-reliance on the way of deliverance to obtain
fundamental peace, that in ones mind. They had an insight into the expression of Buddhism,
that to be born as human is the most advantageous status for every living being, as it is only he
who may realize the Four Holy Truths and practise the Eightfold Holy Path to deliverance. It
is the human, rather than any deity or other supra-human force, who determines his own
happiness, his own destiny. They understood the statement by Buddha: Over is Sky, under is
Earth, only the Self is exclusive.
Peace in ones mind lays the foundations of peace in the community and the world, as was
expounded by Buddha:
Oh Bhikkhu, you should go forth for the welfare of the many, for the happiness of the many,
out of compassion for the world, for the advantage, for the welfare, for the happiness of the
deities and human beings. . . . Oh Bhikkhu, teach the Dhamma, that is good at the beginning,
good in the middle, good at the end, with meaning and with form. Reveal the holy life that is
completely and entirely pure. Samyutta, I, 1288
That is the work to be done by the Samgha. As for common people, they try their best to
exercise the Four Cardinal Virtues put forth by Buddhism to maintain and expand harmony
and peace in their community. These are loving-kindness (metta); compassion (karuna);
happiness (piti); sacrifice (upekkha) under the disinterested and altruistic spirit. People
understand metta as bringing happiness and tranquillity to others; karuna as relieving
suffering and danger to others; piti as being happy with the achievements material and
mental of others; upekkha as being ready to give up personal belongings, including body,
wealth and happiness for the benefit of others; disinterested as acting fairly, not being
influenced by personal advantage; and altruistic as being forgiving towards those who
sincerely show repentance after having been led astray.
These virtues have had a strong impact on the minds of the Vietnamese people and together
with Confucianism have shaped their behaviour. If Buddhism provided the Vietnamese people
with a good-natured heart, Confucianism provided them with wisdom translated into the sense
of order, discipline and responsibility. Two major contributions of Confucianism to traditional
Vietnamese society are the materialization and institutionalization of benevolence as
advocated by Buddhism into regulations and laws; and defining the responsibility and duty of
each individual towards himself and the community in which he is living, including family,
village, and the country, out of the concept of the Five Constant Virtues (Ngu Thuong). They
are humanity (Nhan), righteousness (Nghia), rites (Le), wisdom (Tri), and trust (Tin); the first
three have been set great store by.
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Humanity is conceived of as benevolence and charity. Righteousness means that speaking and
acting should be in accordance with the conscience, in line with the right way. He who can
respond to these two criteria is worthy of being human. It was written in the Book of Changes:
Yin and Yang are the principle of Sky, Rigid (Hard) and Flexible (Soft) are the principles of
Earth, Humanity and Righteousness are the principles of Humanity. Rites are regulations,
discipline, order in society and respect towards these institutions. Rites were set up to ensure
the maintenance of Humanity and Righteousness. Obviously, these five Confucian virtues
complement the four Buddhist virtues for the peaceful behaviour of the Vietnamese people,
especially the sense of tolerance and benevolence towards their fellows. Buddhism and
Confucianism constituted the basis of Vietnamese peoples individual and social behaviour in
every circumstance, especially in peace-making and peace-keeping.

II. Buddhist Experience

The Buddhist contribution to peace in Vietnam could be seen through various aspects
prevailing in four major instances:
1. In times when people suffered the atrocities of foreign domination, aggression and wars. At
those junctures, Buddhism was closely connected with national independence, which was
considered indispensable to a socio-political environment for peace. Without national
independence there is neither freedom nor happiness, which are seen as two major factors of
the peaceful life. Buddhism then came up as a mental support to the striving for peace of the
Vietnamese people. It served as a means for rallying people against the tyranny of oppressors
by its basic tenets of democracy, self-reliance and self-deliverance as happened in the sixth
century when an insurrection against Chinese domination burst forth under the leadership of a
leader who named himself Ly Phat Tu (Ly the son of Buddha) versus Thien Tu (son of
Heaven), the appellation of the Emperor of China.
In and after resistance wars against aggressors, the typical Buddhist sense of humanism and
forgiveness has been extended to war prisoners. They were treated with humanity, as was
shown during the wars against the French colonialists and the American imperialists in the
second half of this century. They were provided with food and means of transport to return
home, as were Chinese war prisoners in the fifteenth century.9 The Vietnamese people
considered them victims and dupes of their ruling circles; and such an act was just aiming at
maintaining peace between nations.
2. In times when people could live in peace to rebuild their country after disastrous wars,
Buddhism served as a means for relieving peoples sufferings caused by wars and natural
calamities out of its spirit of mutual help, its sense of tolerance and benevolence. This
tolerance policy prevailed in eleventh to early thirteenth centuries under the Ly dynasty, and
was expressed through edicts of exemption from reducing taxes, declaring amnesty and
reduction of sentences. A very compassionate word of Emperor Ly Thanh Tong (eleventh
century) has been recorded in the Annals: My affection for my daughter [princess] is the
same as for the common people to whom I assume the role of parents. They are guilty due to
their lack of knowledge. I am full of pity for them. From now on, howsoever serious or light a
guilt may be, the sentence should be reduced.10
It was by practising the benevolence policy that the Tran Dynasty (thirteenth to fifteenth
century) could raise the living standards of the people and ensure stability by defeating the
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Mongolian invaders. Especially in the era of the Democratic Republic, such great events as the
Dien Bien Phu victory (1954) or National Reunification (1975) could have not happened if the
people could not exercise their freedom, democracy, equality in specific conditions of war
under a national spirit imbued with the Buddhist sense of self-reliance and benevolence.
3. Nowadays Vietnam is practising renovation and developing the market economy in the
situation of peace and stability inside the country and the boom of the information revolution
over the world. Stability is the basic condition for healthy and sustainable development. Social
stability requires, first, the stability in each person, or in other words the peace in ones mind.
The Vietnamese people always keep cheerfully in mind the philosophy: keeping still to cope
with changes. Still does not mean motionless, immobile or frozen, but rather a state of
equilibrium and harmony. Equilibrium implies inner motion of each element sharing the
structure. And the harmony of something is the way in which the parts of it are combined into
a suitable and desirable arrangement. Equilibrium and harmony bring about force, just as the
practising of Buddhas teachings gives us peace in our minds.
By the practice of this philosophy the Vietnamese people could overcome many historical
vicissitudes. Now, in the market economy, there are many negative aspects, especially the
superstition of money and supra-consumerism, and the endangering of Vietnamese ethical
values. The question is how to combat them successfully. Administrative measures to tackle
this problem are necessary but not radical. That requires rather the enhancement of the
spiritual life, or in other words equilibrium between material and spiritual life. At this juncture
Buddhism, combined with Confucianism, is playing a significant role in Vietnam. Buddhism
in fact does not deny the material life, rather it preaches the ethical and spiritual life by
encouraging good deeds and shunning evil actions which are deeply rooted in the selfish
cravings of human beings. It is indeed somewhat unrealistic to destroy thoroughly the selfish
craving in human behaviour. It would be better to tame and restrain it, first in oneself, and
further to behave as such towards others as is taught by Buddha:
You should do to yourself
What you have instructed others to do.
Well tamed yourself, you should tame others.
Truly difficult indeed, is self tamed.
Dhammapada, 15911
or
Thinking of his own benefits, he does harm to others.
When other do harm to him in return,
Being harmed, he harms others.
Such is what the fool thinks,
When his wicked actions do not mature.
Samyutta Nikaya, 10312
Vietnam is a latecomer on the way of industrialization and modernization. However, this could
be advantageous as the country could draw experience from the success as well as failure of
other more advanced countries in the reducing of negative aspects of the market economy. The
most appropriate approach should be relying on traditional culture, in which ethical values of
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religion are salient features. In the case of Vietnam, these are Buddhistic combined with
Confucian ones. Actually, there is a Government Committee for Religious Affairs to regulate
the activities of various religions for the benefit of the many; an Institute for Buddhist Study,
in the framework of the Vietnam Buddhist Congregation with its various periodicals to deepen
Buddhist knowledge and popularize Buddhas teachings, especially on ethical values and
peace. Noteworthy are a good many humanitarian societies operating in the Buddhist spirit of
benevolence and under the motto untorn leaves protect and help torn leaves, aiming at
relieving the pain and suffering of the disadvantaged. Many central and local funds initiated
by Buddhist monks and named funds for eradicating starvation and reducing poverty were
raised and responded to warmly by people from various social strata. Now Buddhist monks
and laymen are among the most fervent humanitarian activists.
4. In foreign relations. In the course of history Vietnam has had two aspects of foreign
relations: peaceful and conflicting. In these two, Buddhism had made contributions to positive
solutions. No great matter is to be commented on the first issue, as Buddhism is a champion of
peace peace in ones mind and peace among humankind. As far as conflict is concerned,
some remarks need to be made in this context as it is related to peace.
Among the commandments of Buddhism, the first deals with non-killing. That is to ensure
peace and harmony between humans. Non-killing is the antagonist of killing. As the act of
killing, like every act of a human, is generated from the mind, the question is how to generate
a good thought rather than an evil one in ones mind. That could be achieved through Right
Meditation, one stage in the Eightfold Path. So, an act could be asserted as good or evil only
when it is considered from its motivation. There is no room here for the concept of the end
justifies the means. An act is good if it is done for the benefit of others or to help others. On
the other hand, Buddhism preaches that the origin of evil acts lies in ones selfish craving.
That is the concept of peace and war of the Vietnamese people. They had to face repeated
invasions by enemy forces. They had to safeguard their Fatherland by every means available,
including killing aggressors, for the sake of peace for their country and their fellows. While
practising Buddhism, the Vietnamese leaders and people had to undertake resistance wars to
fight against aggressors, wars waged by those people excited by so much selfish craving. And,
as always, after such wars, wherein they always came out victorious, the Vietnamese leaders
resumed their policy of good relations with those states who were once invaders. Even some
of them, such as Emperor Ly Thai Tong (eleventh century), Emperors Tran Thai Tong and
Tran Nhan Tong (thirteenth century), had cast off their monastic dress to put on armour and
lead the whole people to defeat the Chinese and Mongolian invaders. Especially Emperor Tran
Nhan Tong, after his sound victory over the Mongolian troops, re-took his monastic dress and
went into the forest to found the national Buddhist Sect of Zen, the Truc Lam (Bamboo
Forest) Zen Sect. Deeply imbued with the sense of Buddhist benevolence and tolerance, the
vast majority of Vietnamese always support the state policy of good relations with foreign
countries. Nobody other than the Viet people, who suffered great hardships caused by wars,
eagerly wish for peace and stability of society and peace and good relations with other
countries in order to improve their living standards, their quality of life.

Conclusion
Buddhism in Vietnam is becoming a factor in traditional and national culture. It is so
combined with Confucianism that it is hard to define it explicitly. Buddhism is so closely
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connected with national consciousness that one cannot understand it thoroughly unless it is
seen in the context of national history. It has made significant contributions to the maintaining
and preserving of peace and stability for Vietnamese society during periods of peace as well as
war. Now, when Vietnam is practising renovation and the market economy and the open-door
policy, Buddhism is proving indispensable, especially for the maintenance and improvement
of ethical values of restraint and to reduce socially negative aspects. Its sense of benevolence
and tolerance is of great support to peaceful coexistence and friendly relations between
various countries.

References
1. The Indian monks Mahajivaka and Kalacharya(?) came to Giao Chau (Vietnam) between 168 and
189 ad. These two monks were quite popular among the local people for their powers (abinna),
especially the power of calling rain for peasants to cultivate their rice fields.
Another monk, named Kang-san-hui (transcripted from Chinese), originated from Sogdiane. His
parents came to India, then settled in Giao Chau (third century ad), where the monk was born. He
devoted himself to Buddhist studies and was strongly influenced by the Middle Discourse
(Madhyamika) of Nagarjuna. Noticeable among many sutras he had translated from Sanskrit to
Chinese is the Astasahasrika, a discourse on the Madhyamika.
In 580, Vinitaruci, an Indian Zen master, came to Giao Chau and founded the first Zen sect in
Vietnam, laying emphasis on meditation. This sect existed until the second decade of the thirteenth
century. The most prominent representative is Tu Dao Hanh (?1117).
2. Vo Ngon Thong (Enlightened without Speech), a Chinese Zen master, came to Vietnam in the early
ninth century and founded the second Zen sect in Vietnam, influenced strongly by Chinese Zen, laying
emphasis on sudden enlightenment. It lasted until the early thirteenth century.
3. Founded by King Tran Nhan Tong in the early thirteenth century, emphasizing sunyata and
Absolute Truth in Heart. It is a mediator between Sudden Enlightenment and Gradual Enlightenment.
4. Quoted from Bhikkhu Thich Minh Chau, Some Teachings of Lord Buddha on Peace, Harmony and
Human Dignity, Vietnam Buddhist Congregation, Ho Chi Minh City, 1984, p.154.
5. Ibid., p.125.
6. Ibid., p.166.
7. Ibid., p.142.
8. Ibid., p. 20.
9. The Complete History of Dai Viet (Dai Viet Su Ky Toan Thu), T.II. Social Sciences Publishing
House, Hanoi, 1985, pp. 281-83. Before the ending of the resistance war against the Chinese
expeditionary force in 1427, Emperor Le Thai To ordered governors of the provinces of Bac Giang
and Lang Giang to repair bridges and roads, afford boats to those Chinese war prisoners and
surrenders about 30,000 persons returning home. And right after the war, prisoners and
surrenders were provided with 500 boats, 20,000 horses and sufficient food for their withdrawal.
10. Ibid., T.I., p.165.

11. B. Thich Minh Chau, Some Teachings . . . , p.169.

12. Ibid., p. 68.