THE TRADITIONAL CONCEPT OF POWER OF THE HIGH RULER IN VIETNAM AND THE CHRISTIAN TEACHING (XVI-XIX c.)

Transcription

1 THE TRADITIONAL CONCEPT OF POWER OF THE HIGH RULER IN VIETNAM AND THE CHRISTIAN TEACHING (XVI-XIX c.) o. V. Novakova The study o f this problem is crucially important due to the fact that in today's post-industrial world not only the study of specific events or facts takes on axial character, but also the study of ideology. This problem is closely related to the problem of integration and assimilation of foreign, especially Chinese cultiral experience, on the ideological basis of Vietnamese society, the beginning of which dates back to the I millennium AD. This is clearly evident in the perception of imperial religion (imperial ideology), characteristic for the whole area of the Far Eastern civilization. Vietnam has undergone the most profound impact of Chinese culturc durirg a period of «northern dependence" when the main elements of Chinese naiure philosophy were "transplanted" on ihe Vietnamese soil. The idea of an eternal, nor anyone else created nature was typical woridv ew of the ancient Chinese civilization - "the world consists of 10,000 things." Philosophically, the essence of this vision was in the understanding and perception of the law of evolution as a universal law. The emergence of any kind of idea 'out of nothing", without former phases of development, is unimaginable for the m nd, sharing a belief in the universal law of evolution. From this perspective, the Christian doctrine in the context of China's philosophical views could only be a certain time element in the evolution of some general idea. The concept of supreme power is associated with statehood of the East. The supreme power is an ideological and philosophical political framework of the stite. The concept of sovereignty is a set of religious and mythological ideas about power and the personality of a monarch cultivated and used as an ideological justification for the public order and creates certain system2. * PhD. 1. Tikhom irov L. A. R eligious and philosophical foundations o f history. M oscow, p B andilenko G.G.T he concept o f m onarchy as the object o f system atic description. / / Three quarters o f a century. To D eopik D.v. - friends and disciples. M oscow, p

2 THE TRAD ITIO N AL CONCEPT OF POW ER OF THE HIGH RULER IN VIETNAM. Developed in China in the V-IV c. BC political doctrine and the concept of sovereignty subsequently became the official ideology of the imperial Chinese society, where the cult of the ruler was the leading element, which contained the archetypal model of sovereignty1. Their emergence is associated with the ancient Chinese concept of unity and controllability of social-space processes and tieht focus o f world space, w hich required the presence o f a single f ig u re o f the ruler. In this concept, the figure of the ruler stands in the center of understanding of the supreme power, so the ruler cult is crucial. Since Zhou era (XI-III c. BC) the description of the supreme ruler in China became perceived later in Vietnam "Son o f Heaven" (V ietnam ese - Thiên tử). This designation is the essence o f the sacred functions o f the ruler. The origin o f the suprem e ruler - divine. At the sam e time the supreme ruler acts as a person who stands in the center of socio-cosmic universe. Through his powers, and moral dignity governor had a world building influence on the Cosmos, including human and nature, ie, the supreme ruler maintains world harmony2. The organization of space by performing certain rituals is the main duty of the ruler. The Heavens could either approve or disapprove the governor. If The Heavens were angry, then droughts, floods and other disasters set in. Therefore, the governor had to be perfect. But these functions of the ruler had no direct relation to Confucian ethics. The doctrine of the Son of Heaven takes the main place in the state ideology of China, also known as the imperial religion. The whole model of the state is identified with the universal space, orderly and centralized space, this model is based on the idea of the spiritual and political integration of the territory in the space o f a m onarchical governm ent. This teaching of the Son of Heaven was perceived in Vietnam, where it has already been known from the X century, that is, from the first steps of an independent state. The most complete model and culture of the Chinese empire was taken by Vietnam in the XV century under the badge of Zhu Xi's teaching4, and then in the XIX century, especially the political institutions of the Qing Em pire5. The further the 1. Kravtsov M.E The history of Chinese culture. Saint-Petersburg, p M artynov A.s. State and ethical in imperial China. / / Ethics and ritual in traditional China. M oscow, P Bandilenko G.G.The concept o f m onarchy as the object o f system atic description. / / Three quarters o f a century. To D eopik D.v. - friends and disciples. M oscow, p 'Neo-Confucianism, system atizer and ch ief ideologist o f w hich w as Zhu Xi ( ), becam e the dom inant trend o f C hinese thought at the beginning o f the X IV century. It 5. N ikitin A. V. Universal characteristics o f traditional V ietnam ese thought / / Universals Eastern cultures. M oscow, p

3 VIỆT NAM HỌC - KỶ YÉU HỘI THẢO QUỐC TÉ LẰN THỨ TU Vietnam ese society was rem oved in time from the period o f "Chinese dependency," the m ore it borrowed the Chinese model o f administration, criminal law and he ideological justification o f pow er1. This apogee o f Chinese cultural influence vas largely associated with the creation of the empire Dainam in the XIX century, vith the unification o f the country. Thus impulse has been set in the construction of he Empire. For South-East Asia the creation o f such a large state in terms o f territcry, like Vietnam in the early XIX century, was the geopolitical news. N ever bebre Vietnam, as a state, did not exist in such a large scale. It is im portant to note that since Vietnam gained independence in X c., he growing influence o f Chinese culture began to be determined by the internal ne:ds o f the V ietnam ese com m unity. The em ergence and consolidation o f the Institute of the cult o f the ruler as he suprem e ruler in Vietnam were largely conditioned by econom ic factors - limied land resources, w hich prom pted rulers to seek after appropriation o f exclusive rights to ow nership o f land and the concentration o f pow er in the hands o f one m an as well as ancient ideas o f unity and order in the socio-cosm ic processes whch assum ed to have a single figure coordinator o f these processes2. In the concept o f suprem e pow er the most likely origin o f the ruler is fbm image o f the priest. But unlike the ancient world, in China and in the Far Eastern civilization the priestly class (who were intermediaries betw een the people and the Heavens) has not been formed yet. That is why in this region the ruler vas equally vested in the tem poral and sacred power, com bining in his person the secular and the spiritual leader o f the country, endowed w ith m agical povers (Vietnam ese - Đưc) and the divine origin. In m ythology ancestors turned into rubrs. In this w ay the V ietnam ese m onarch was the elect o f the Heavens, w ho govened China on behalf o f a special heavenly decree3. The m otif o f "miraculous conception" is necessarily present in the storie; o f legendary and semi-historical characters - rulers o f antiquity, as well as in the biographies o f the founders o f dynasties1*. 1. History o f A sia and A frica in m odern times. Part I. M oscow, p.l K ravtsova M. E The history o f C hinese culture. Saint-Petersburg, p T he sequence o f governance o f the legendary H ung dynasty is being built by V ietnanese historiography through a deity o f agriculture Shen-nung - one o f the "five divine ruler:" o f C hinese m ifological stories. He is the patron o f the fire and the southern part o f the Wirld. T hat is w hy the V ietnam ese rulers, realizing them selves as their descendants, "ow r the w hole country o f the w orld," they are the same "Em perors", as the C hinese rulers. - Nkitin A. V. U niversal characteristics o f traditional V ietnam ese thought / / U niversals Ea.tern cultures. M oscow, p K ravtsova M. E The history o f C hinese culture. Saint-Petersburg, p

4 THE TRADITIO NAL CONCEPT OF POWER OF THE HIGH RULER IN VIETN AM... These motives o f "miraculous conception" has once again confirmed the thought that the idea o f a supreme divine power from outside o f the created world was completely alien to thinking o f representatives o f the culture o f the Far Eastern civilization. This thinking was focused only on the act o f birth, but since it was the birth of an extraordinary character - the supreme ruler, the m otif is repeated everywhere extraordinary, miraculous conception, which confirms the legitimacy o f the ruler. It is around the cult o f the ruler, not the worship o f the divine character concentrates original religious traditions o f China, followed by Vietnam, and this cult up to a certain tim e exhausts an official ideological system o f traditional Far Eastern society1. The cult o f the ruler did not have its ow n social organization, different from Rovernment agencies. This m eans that all the sacred functions were entrusted to the kina, and the administrative offices in accordance with their rank: the officials were in charge o f the organization and conduct of worship, ritual and social etiquette o f court ceremonies. Even astrology - typically priestly area for many other regions o f the Asian world - was in China and Vietnam in the conduct o f special officials com bined the duties o f the chroniclers, historiographers scientists and astronom ers2. Thus, the specific situation was created w hen the State in the person o f the supreme ruler had an authority in religious matters. The sacred sufficiency o f traditional state allowed him to treat all not related to the imperial religion, as an additional m eans o f the main function o f the suprem e ruler - "to transform " (hua) society through non-violent "teachings." Therefore, all religious system s, if they were adm itted in the empire, w ere treated as "auxiliary teaching." Imperial power religion and folk beliefs The basis o f the imperial religion became the Chinese philosophy o f nature, whose purpose was to find patterns o f functioning o f hum ans in nature, the development o f the concepts o f Heaven and Man. Natural philosophy and imperial religion took in Chinese culture a philosophical outlook. W orld was presented in the form o f one large organism, where all o f the parts were hierarchically and functionally related and subordinated. That transfer or transplant o f the main elements o f Chinese philosophy o f nature, but not the spread o f Confucianism, Taoism and Chinese Buddhism becam e the essence o f Chinese influence in Vietnam Tkachenko G. A C hinese culture. M oscow, p Kravtsova M. E T he history o f C hinese culture. Saint-Petersburg, p 'Nikitin A. V. U niversal characteristics o f traditional V ietnam ese thought / / Universals Eastern cultures. M oscow, p

5 VIỆT NAM HỌC - KỶ YÉƯ HỘI THẢO QUÓC TÉ LẦN THỨ TƯ The governm ent in China and in Far East countries was based on the system of people's beliefs and therefore had its own sacred functions, and the power was actually a synthesis o f religion and politics, a kind o f ritual and political unbn, personified by the figure o f the ruler. Interaction betw een governm ent and the folk beliefs was o f an active nature and was directed from the top down: the religious system o f the country didn't just represent a chaos o f people's belief, but a wellorganized system o f religious activity that obtained such a consistent look under.he undoubted influence o f the authorities'. The upper floor o f the structure represented actually power, state cult tnd political doctrine that explained the synthesis o f ritual and politics. State cult consisted o f three elements: the cult o f Heaven, o f the imperial ancestors and the sacrifices at the altar - she (fertility cult)2. It was the inclusion o f the third com ponent in the concept o f sovereignty was represented, in our view, as the most important, since it was based on the most ancient and powerful popular belief - the cult o f fertility, w hich could have influenced the welfare and prosperity, and often the very existence o f the nation and the state cultivating irrigated rice - one o f the m ost labor-intensive rural cultures. Imperial ideology and three teachings (tam giáo) A specific situation w hen the state had an authority in religious questions led to the fact that in the countries o f the Far East the spreading o f w orld religions, sach as Christianity and Buddhism w ent gradually, penetrating into different sphere!; o f life, but without bringing into belief the population. The existence o f organized religions (so called principle o f complimentaritv o f three religions)3 and a great num ber o f other beliefs caused an original relignus and ideological structure, according to which belief and unbelief were permanent principles. And that explains the question o f successful spreading o f Christianity in Vietnam. A dom inating position o f the state in a religious sphere and its inseparable connection with national beliefs explains unquestionable priority o f Confucianism. 1. M artynov A. s. State and Religion in the Far East. / / B uddhism and the state in the Far East. M., p.5. In fact, so does G.A.Tkachenko w ho believed that folk religion is an adaptation o f the principles o f natural philosophy, w hich serves as the basis o f the imperial religion. / / T kachenko G. A C ulture o f China. M., p Nikitin A. V. Universal characteristics o f traditional V ietnam ese thought / / U nivenals Eastern cultures. M oscow, p The term introduced by A.v. Nikitin. 542

6 THE TRADITIO NAL CONCEPT OF POWER OF THE HIGH RULER IN VIETNAM... It's because Confucianism was close to state ideology and practical nature of this teaching. And other traditional religions in Vietnam such as Buddhism, Daoism and, later, Christianity were declared to be the odd principles "1, which means that they were secondary. The main criterion was importance o f imperial ideology, utility to the state, which included a set o f ideas of a Supreme ruler. Any o f these «odd principles)) and any re ligion could be excluded from the unity of the three religions - Buddhism, Daoism and Confucianism. The exception was Confucianism (and sometimes Daoism) as belonging to the East, unlike Buddhism and Christianity that came from the West. A dom inant position o f one or another teaching in the history o f Vietnamese ideology is the result o f a state patronage, and a change o f a religion is just a change off an object o f patronage.2 Confucian criticism has always qualified Buddhism as an odd principle excluding it from a num ber o f true teachings. But they criticized not the doctrinal si de o f Buddhism but the ineffectiveness o f this teaching in state administration. In C hristianity Vietnam ese m onarchy and scholars (sĩ phu) could see the oddness in non-recogniotion o f such notions as the father and the ruler» that is ancestor cult o n family and state level. Catholicism destroyed a coordinated system that had been functioning for centuries in Vietnam. A traditional part o f population considered it to> be a blasphemy. So we can clearly understand the point o f view Vietnamese ruling elite who criticized Christianity. Imperial ideology and Christianity In the m iddle o f the X IX century, when there was a real danger o f European imvasion, Vietnam ese rulers began to realize that Christianity could be a powerful W'eapon for underm ining state and Confucian system within the country. According to the text o f the official chronicles Dai N am Thuc Luc (Đại N a m thực ỉụic, hereinafter referred to as DNTL), famous for persecuting Vietnamese Christians thie emperor Thanh-to was convinced that it is necessary to educate the people in the spirit of Confucian teaching, so that they would live according to the main ideas of the Gonfucian teaching.3 With this purpose the Emperor decided to spread the Confucian teaching more actively and developed his theory of the ten rules. 1. Nikitin A. V. Universal characteristics o f traditional V ietnam ese thought / / Universals Eastern cultures. M oscow, p Nikitin A. V. Universal characteristics o f traditional V ietnam ese thought / / Universals Eastern cultures. M oscow, p Đ N TL, t.ix, tr

7 VIỆT NAM HỌC - KỶ YÉU HỘI THẢO QUỐC TÉ LÀN THÚ T ư He opposed a cult to a cult, holiday to a holiday, the Confucian ten rules to the Christian Ten Com m andm ents. Thanh-to showed him self as a m ajor Confucian scholar o f his time. He fought against the harmful teaching, false religicn - Christianity from ideological and theoretical point o f view, and he decided to com bine moral postulates o f Confucianism with some rules o f the Christian Church. The em ergence o f the ten rules is a unique attempt to oppose in a philosophical wav the essence o f The Christian teaching (the Ten C om m andm ents) and the ten rules reproducing the main ideas o f the Confucian teaching. Another Vietnam ese emperor Due Ton (era name M inh M ans, ) u;ed the ideological legacy o f emperor Thanh-to. In 1870 he personally translated the ten rules' from the Classical Chinese into chừ nôm. Practically the ten rules was an official catechism o f Confucian morality. It was written in 1834 and published vqth comm ents by Due Ton several decades later. That was a fundam ental document for educating the people in the spirit of Confucian morality, but it also had a politcal nature.1 But the ideas o f Christianity, which are absolutely different from the Vietnam ese beliefs, accum ulated those pow er lines, around w hich the Vietnamese society has been forming. So Christianity becam e an opposition o f a Vietnamese society, underm ining the main systems o f state organization. But in the emerging Christian com m unities Vietnam ese spiritual traditions w ere not forgo'ten completely. They w ere changcd in the direction o f Christianization by missionaries, and they were filled with new content and took their place in the em erging Catholic comm unities. By adopting Christianity, Vietnam ese Catholics felt chosen and tiey were free from the old rules and orders. So, the conditions o f new coflicts vere created and the traditional society tried to prevent those conflicts by all means. 1. Langlet Ph. Point de vue sur N guyễn T rường Tộ et le reform ism e vietnam ien au m lieu X lx -e sièle Saigon, p. 195.