New Gem | No More Learning

Unfortunately, except for the Thiên Uyen*, none of the other "lamp history" texts is extant except in fragments or in brief references in other literary works.

Referring to a statement at the end of Vô Ngôn Thông's biography that "[having lasted] up to now, the twentyfourth year, dinh* suu*, of the Khai Huu* era (1337), the Zen tradition in our country started withhim,"27 Trân Van* Giáp suggests that the year 1337 can be considered as the exact date of the composition of the Thiên Uyên.
Émile Gaspardone has pointed out that Trân Van Giáp's solution is not completely satisfactory, since Giáp seems to have ignored some difficulties in the passage on
which he bases his conclusions. For instance, the Khai Hu'u era (1329–1341) under Trân Minh Tông lasted only twelve years28 and not twentyfour years. Besides, the year dinh su'u was the ninth year of the Khai Hu'u era and not the twentyfourth. Gaspardone also points out some inconsistencies in Giáp's interpretation of the same passage in his essay. 29 Gaspardone concludes that we cannot establish the exact date for the Thiên Uyên based on such an obscure passage. We cannot resolve the inconsistency of the passage, and in any case we cannot conclude that the year dinh su'u of the Khai Hu'u era (1337) was the year the Thiên Uyên was composed. I am inclined, however, to take the date 1337 (dinh su'u, Khai Hu'u ninth year) seriously, at least as the earliest plausible date for the Thiên Uyên. That the text gives "twentyfourth" instead of "ninth" could very well have been due to a scribal error. In any case, the author did give us a clue, and taken together with other evidence, it appears to be a significant one.
In sum, we can say only that the Thiên Uyên is a work composed during the Trân dynasty, probably sometime after 1232 and before the end of the fifteenth century. Three facts lead to this conclusion: (1) The decree to change the Lý family name to Nguyên was issued in 1232. (2) Nguyên Van Chat*, who lived in the fifteenth century, drew on the Thiên Uyên to compose the legend of Sóc Thiên Vu'o'ng in his appendix to the Viet* Dien*. (3) Although the Thiên Uyên claims to record life stories of eminent monks of the Ðinh, [Former] Lê, Lý, and Trân dynasties, none of the monks whose biographies were recorded lived beyond the middle of the thirteenth century. This shows that the author did not live beyond the Trân dynasty.
Authorship
At present we know virtually nothing about the author's identity. Lê Quí Ðôn and Phan Huy Chú give us nothing. Both Tran * Van* Giáp and Émile Gaspardone are almost silent on this issue. We can conjecture that the author of the Thien* Uyen* might have been a monk belonging to the Vô Ngôn Thông school, because the biographies of the monks of this school are put before those of the Vinitaruci* school, and the author remarks at the end of Thông's biography that the Zen tradition in Vietnam began with him. This is somewhat odd, since we know that according to tradition, Vinitaruci arrived in Vietnam and established a Zen lineage almost three centuries before Vô Ngôn Thông.
Lê Manh* Thát, the only modern scholar who attempts to solve the problem of the authorship of the Thiên Uyên, has suggested that a monk named Kim So'n was the author of the Thiên Uyên. 3 0 Thát makes the following argument.
During the fourteenth century, the only Zen tradition that remained in Vietnam was the Trúc Lâm (Bamboo Grove) school, of which Emperor Trân Nhân Tông (r. 1279–1293) was the first patriarch. 31 We learn from the [Hue* Trung] Thu'o'ng* Si* Ngu'* Luc* [Recorded Sayings of the Eminent Hue* Trung]32 that this school originated with Thông Thien*,3 3 a Zen master of the Vô Ngôn Thông lineage. Trân Minh Tông (r. 1314–1329), Trân Nhân Tông's grandson, reputed to be a literary man, was very interested in history. During his reign he was known for requesting eminent monks to compose books on topics related to Buddhism. 34 There are records still extant about the relationship between Minh Tông and Kim So'n. 35 Lê Manh Thát therefore suggests that Kim So'n must have composed the Thiên Uyên at the request of Trân Minh Tông. Since there are no historical records directly (or indirectly) referring to Kim So'n as the author of the Thiên Uyên, I mention Lê Manh Thát's suggestion merely as a hypothesis, pending the discovery of more materials concerning this issue.
Source Materials for the Composition of the Thiên Uyên Tap* Anh
The Thiên Uyên, as evidenced by the title and contents of the text, was consciously intended as a work in the Zen tradition. This is reflected clearly in his copious
borrowing from the model Zen biographical collection, the Jingde chuandeng lu [Transmission of the Lamp Composed during the Jingde Era] (Chuandeng lu). 36 It is the author's manifest intent that gives the Thiên Uyên its unique historical and cultural value.
Let us examine the sources that the author of the Thiên Uyên used and his method of drawing on them. Inspired by Chinese Zen literature, the
Page 216
author of the Thien * Uyen* was moved to produce a systematic history of Zen Buddhism in Vietnam. With some oral transmissions and previous compilations as his source materials, and the Chuandeng lu as a model, the author composed a work that became the first comprehensive historical treatment of the Buddhist tradition in Vietnam.
The following texts are directly referred to throughout the Thiên Uyên as its main source materials:
1. The Chieu* Doi* Luc* [Collated Biographies] of Thông Bien* and Biên Tài.
2. The Nam Tông Tu'* Pháp Do* [Diagram of the Succession of the Dharma of the Southern School] by Thu'ò'ng Chieu* 3. The Liet* To* Yeu* Ngu'* [Essential Sayings of the Patriarchs] of Hue* Nhat*
(These texts are discussed in detail in Appendix II. ) As secondary sources, Thiên Uyên drew on:
1. The Su'* Ký [Record of History]
2. The Quoc* Su' [National History]37
The Quôc Su' is mentioned three times. According to Lê Manh* Thát, the Quôc Su' is probably the Dai* Viet* Su' Ký [A Recorded History of Dai* Viet*] composed by Lê Van* Hu'u. This history was a result of the revision of a work by Tran* Chu Pho* by Lê Van Hu'u by royal decree under Trân Thái Tông (r. 1225–
1258); it was finished in 1272. 38
The second historical source cited in the Thiên Uyên is the Su' Ký [Recorded History]. It is mentioned only once, in the biography of Khánh Hy*, where it reads: "According to the Su' Ký, he passed away in the third year of the Thiên Chu'o'ng Bao* Tu'* era. "39 Hoàng Xuân Hãn suggests that the note was added by the editor of the 1715 edition, and thus identifies the Su' Ký with Ngô Sy* Liên's Ðai Viêt Su' Ký Toàn Thu' [A Complete History of Ðai Viêt]. Lê Manh Thát disagrees: his
opinion is that the Su' Ký cited here is the Su' Ký composed by Do* Thien*, a work quoted four times in the Viêt Dien*. 40 We know that the Viêt Ðiên was composed by Lý Te* Xuyên in 1329, so Ðô Thien's* Su' Ký must have preceded it.
Analyzing the source materials for the Thiên Uyên provides us with a basis for evaluating the methodology and content of the text. Given the explicit content and the implicit intention of the Thiên Uyên, I find it hard to agree with Lê Manh Thát's remark that the author of the book "wished to achieve a method of writing history in an objective and scientific way. "41
Rather, in compiling the text, the author of the Thiên Uyên had a more complicated intention and objective, one that has exercised a significant and lasting influence on the Vietnamese Buddhist tradition: to provide a legitimating framework for Vietnamese Buddhism as an independent tradition with a definite, deeprooted history of its own.
Page 217
Appendix II—
Additional Supporting Data for Chapter Two
"Transmission of the Lamp" Texts in Vietnam before the Thien * Uyen* Tap* Anh
From the records in the Thiên Uyên we learn of a few texts of the "transmission of the lamp" genre that existed in Vietnam prior to the compilation of the Thiên Uyên. This indicates that the efforts to establish Vietnamese Buddhism as a legitimate continuity of Chinese Zen had been going on even prior to the time of the Thiên Uyên. It is interesting to note that prior to the period from 1272 to 1400, which E. S. Ungar has characterized as the period of political/historical maturity in Vietnamese intellectual history,1 the Chuandeng lu had provided the Vietnamese Buddhist elite with a conceptual model for an awareness of the transmission of Buddhism as an independent history.
The compiler of the Thiên Uyên relied considerably on earlier texts to compile his book. These were the Chieu* Doi* Luc* [Collated Biographies], Hue* Nhat* Liet* To* Yeu* Ngu'* [Essential Sayings of the Patriarchs Composed by Hue* Nhat*], Nam Tông Tu'* Pháp Do* [Diagram of the Succession of the Dharma of the Southern School], and Lu'o'c* Dan* Thiên Phái Ðô [Summarized Diagram of the Zen Schools]. Unfortunately, none of these works is extant, except for a short
preface to the Lu'o'c Dân Thiên Phái Ðô. 2 Some scanty information about them can be gleaned from the records in the Thiên Uyên and from other descriptive bibliographical notes.
Chieu* Doi* Luc* or Chiêu Ðôi Ban*
This text was composed by Thông Bien* (died 1134) and later revised by Biên Tài. 3 We read in the biography of Than* Nghi (died 1216)4 that when he asked Thu'ò'ng Chieu* (died 1203) for instruction on the successive generations of Zen transmission in Vietnam, Thu'ò'ng Chiêu showed him Thông Biên's* Chiêu Ðôi Ban*. This tells us that by this time the idea of Zen transmission and lineage had been in circulation for some time
Page 218
Page 219
among the Vietnamese Buddhist elite. In Bien * Tài's biography it is said that he obeyed a royal order to revise the Chieu* Doi* Luc*. We do not know whether the original text was entitled Chiêu Ðôi Ban* and Biên Tài's revised version was called Chiêu Ðôi Luc, or there was a single text referred to by both names. In any case, both texts are lost so we do not have much information about their contents. They might have been the first works of the "transmission of the lamp" genre in Vietnam, and as such, the first texts to establish the Zen lineages in Vietnam.
Nam Tông Tu* Pháp Do*
This was composed by Thu'ò'ng Chieu* (died 1203). 5 This work is mentioned five times in the Thien* Uyen*, in the biographies of Thu'ò'ng Chiêu, Than* Nghi, Ma
Ha, and Dinh* Hue*, and in the list of the Thao* Ðu'ò'ng lineage. 6 We learn that the Nam Tông Tu'* Pháp Do*, despite its title, is more than just a diagram of the lineages, for it also contains biographies: The Thiên Uyên itself states that the "main biographies" (benzhuan) of Không Lo* and Giác Hai* can be found in the Nam Tông Tu' Pháp Ðô. 7
Thu'ò'ng Chiêu uses the expression "Nam Tông" [Southern School]. The Vinitaruci* school is traditionally referred to as "the Southern school. " We know that the Nam Tông Tu' Pháp Ðô records biographies of both the Vinitaruci and the Vô Ngôn Thông schools. By "Nam Tông," Thu'ò'ng Chiêu probably means the Southern school of Chinese Zen, the school that considered Huineng the Sixth Patriarch of Zen in China. Thu'ò'ng Chiêu thus seems to agree with Thông Biên in approving of both Zen schools in Vietnam as legitimate offshoots of the Southern school of Chinese Zen. The compiler of the Thiên Uyên, on the other hand, does not seem to agree with him.
To sum up, Thu'ò'ng Chiêu appears to have studied Thông Biên's works very carefully and considered them authoritative. He even defended Thông Biên for not
recording the two lineages of Nguyen* Dai* Diên and Nguyên Bát Nhã. 8 Thu'ò'ng Chiêu, therefore, might have used the Chiêu Ðoi Luc as a model he followed in composing his own Nam Tông Tu' Pháp Ðô. These two works proved to be the main sources for the author of the Thiên Uyên in compiling biographies of Vietnamese "Zen masters" from the sixth to the end of twelfth century.
Liet* To* Yeu* Ngu*
This text was composed by Hue* Nhat*. This work is mentioned twice in the Thiên Uyên, in the biographies of Tinh* Không (1091–1170) and Nguyên Hoc* (? – 1181), without giving any information about its author. 9 Since the Liet* To* Yeu* Ngu'* is no longer extant, and no other source in
Page 220
Vietnamese literature besides the Thien * Uyen* refers to it, we know absolutely nothing about its author, Hue* Nhat*. 10
From the way the Thiên Uyên refers to these works, it seems that the Chieu* Doi* Luc* and Nam Tông Tu'* Pháp Do* provided the compiler of Thiên Uyên with
biographical notes on eminent monks, and that he had to resort to the Liet* To* Yeu* Ngu'* for encounter dialogues and instructional verses.
The biographies of Tinh* Không and Nguyen* Hoc* are two explicit examples. 1 1 Even the compiler of the Thiên Uyên calls our attention to the fact that encounter dialogues and instructional verses in these two biographies are identical with those in the biographies of the two Chinese Zen masters Jiashan and Huisu as recorded in the Chuandeng lu. 12 Let us look at a few examples:
1. In Tinh Không's biography, one of his encounter dialogues with another monk reads as follows:
One day, when Tinh Không had gone up to the teaching hall, a monk with a staff came and asked, "What is the Truth Body (Dharmakaya*)? " Tinh Không said, "The Truth Body is originally without form. " The monk continued, "What is the Dharmaeye? " Tinh Không said, "The Dharmaeye is originally without obstruction. '' He again said, "There is no Dharma in front of the eye. There is only consciousness in front of the eye. The Dharma is not within range of ear and eye. " The monk laughed loudly. Tinh Không said, "What are you laughing about? " The monk said, "You're the type who have left the world to become a monk but have not grasped the message [of Zen]. You should go study with Master Dao* Hue*. " Tinh Không said, "Can I still go see this master? " The monk said, "Above there's not a single roof tile, below there's not enough ground to stick an awl into. " Tinh Không then changed his clothes and headed for Mount Tiên Du. 13
Compare this with the encounter dialogue between Jiashan and Daowu in the biography of Jiashan in the Chuandeng lu:
One day Zen Master Jiashan Shanhui was coming up to the teaching hall when Daowu came with his staff. A monk asked, "What is the Truth Body? " Jiashan said, "The Truth Body is without form. " The monk continued, "What is the Dharmaeye? " Jiashan said, "The Dharmaeye is stainless. " He again said, "There is no Dharma in front of the eye. The Dharma is not within range of ear and eye. " Daowu laughed. Jiashan became confused and asked him, "What are you laughing about? " Daowu said, "Venerable sir, you're the type who left the world to become a monk yet haven't met a teacher. You should go to Zhezhong, Huating Village to study with the Venerable Chuanzi. " Jiashan
said, "Can I still go see him? " Daowu said, "With that teacher, above there's not a single roof tile to cover his head, below there's not enough ground for him to stick an awl into. " 14
2. It is recorded in Nguyen* Hoc's* biography that when he was about to pass away he spoke two verses instructing his students. One of them reads as follows:
The Dharma has no image or form,
It is right before your eyes, not far away. You have to turn back and find it in yourself, Do not seek it from others.
Even if you find it from them,
It wouldn't be the true Dharma.
But suppose you find the true Dharma, What kind of a thing is it? 15
This is almost identical with a verse spoken by Huisi recorded in the Chuandeng lu:
The Dharma is essentially not far away,
The ocean of the True Nature is not immense. Try to find it within yourself,
Do not seek it from others.
Even if you find it from them,
It wouldn't be the true Dharma. 16
The second verse by Nguyên Hoc* is also identical to another verse spoken by Huisi. The author of the Thien* Uyen* also informs us that the encounter dialogues and instructional verses in the above two biographies were taken from the Liet* To* Yeu* Ngu'*. This seems to show that the Liêt Tô Yêu Ngu' was an earlier Vietnamese "transmission of the lamp" text that drew heavily on the Chuandeng lu. (Note that cases of interpolation of dialogues and verses borrowed from the Chuandeng lu are not restricted to the biographies of Tinh* Không and Nguyên Hoc. )
Lu'o'c* Dan* Thien* Phái Do*
This work was composed by an unknown author of the Tran* dynasty: As its title suggests, this is a brief, annotated diagram of the origin and development of the Trúc
Lâm [Bamboo Grove] Zen school, the only genuine Vietnamese Zen school with a Vietnamese founder and a lineage of successors.
The Lu'o'c* Dan* Thien* Phái Do* is too brief and does not appear to have been an independent work; it is not mentioned by the compiler of the Thiên Uyên either. However, it is relevant in this connection, since it was an attempt to trace the transmission of Zen in Vietnam and thus
Page 221
Page 222
falls within the "transmission of the lamp" genre, and it is the only extant document of its kind. This "annotated diagram" is included in the preface to the [Hue * Trung] Thu'o'ng* Si* Ngu'* Luc* [Recorded Sayings of the Eminent Hue* Trung], a Tran* dynasty Zen teacher. 17 We have evidence to believe that the Lu'o'c* Dan*
Thien* Phái Do* was written circa 1310–1313. 18 The main purpose of the Lu'o'c Dân Thiên Phái Dô as reflected in its preface was to set forth the genealogy of the Trúc Lâm school within the broader context of the Zen tradition:
After our Great Sage Sakyamuni* Buddha transmitted the treasure of the eye of the true Dharma, which is the wondrous mind of Nirvana, to the Venerable Mahakasyapa*, it was transmited for twentyeight generations until it reached the Great Master Bodhidharma. He came to China and transmitted [the true Dharma] to the Great Master Shenguang. 19 From Shenguang the transmission continued for six generations until it reached the Great Master Shenhui. It was at that time that the true Dharma came to our country.
It is not known who was the first one to receive it [in our country]. The records begin with Zen Master Chanyue (Thien* Nguyet*) who transmitted [the true Dharma] to Lý Thái Tông, then to the Elder Dinh* Hu'o'ng, then to the Great Master Viên Chieu*, then to Zen Master Dao* Hue*—from one generation to the next, sometimes their names were known sometimes unknown. It is difficult to trace the lineage.
[The Zen tradition in our country] can be divided into three lineages:
1. Our lineage has already been set forth in the diagram, so it is not necessary to recount it again.
2. Zen Master Vu'o'ng Chí Nhàn transmitted it to Venerable Nhiem* Tang*. Nhiêm Tang transmitted it to Layman Nhiêm Tú. This lineage is now lost, and its transmission is not known.
3. Venerable Nhat* Thien* received [the true Dharma] from a certain [unknown] teacher. He transmitted it to Prince Chân Ðao. At the present time, this lineage is also fading. Also, there was Layman Tianfeng (Thiên Phong) who came from Zhangquan and was a contemporary of Yingshun (Ú'ng Thuan*). Tianfeng claimed he belonged to the Linji school. He transmitted [the true Dharma] to National Preceptor Dadeng (Dai* Dang*) and Venerable Nansi (Nan Tu').
Dadeng transmitted it to our Emperor [Trân] Thánh Tông, to National Preceptor Lieu* Minh, to Huyen* Sách and others. Huyên Sách transmitted it to Pha* Trac* and others. Now this lineage is also deteriorating and is not in a very glorious state. Alas! The flourishing and decline of the Zen School is beyond words.
Now I am briefly enumerating the lineages of the Zen School [in our country] to leave [an account] to posterity, so that the generations of scholars to come will know that Zen has a source that can be traced. This is not just my own fabrication.
In this text, the author describes the origin and the situation of Buddhism in Vietnam during his time as follows:
1. The "True Dharma" (Buddhism) first came to Vietnam at the time of Shenhui (684–758). However, the author of the Lu'o'c * Dan* Thien* Phái Do* was quick to note that it was not known "who was the first to receive [the Dharma] in our country," and that the record only starts with Chanyue (Thien* Nguyet*),20 who transmitted the Dharma to Lý Thái Tông (r. 1029–1054), then to Dinh* Hu'o'ng (? –1051), to Viên Chieu* (999–1090), to Dao* Hue* (? –1073), and others. 21
2. By the early fourteenth century when the Lu'o'c Dân Thiên Phái Ðô was written, there were four Zen lineages in Vietnam: The first lineage started with Thông Thiên (? –1228),22 who transmitted the Dharma to Tú'c Lu*, to Ú'ng Thuan*, to Xiaoyao (Tiêu Diêu), and to Huizhong (Huê Trung). Huê Trung then transmitted the Dharma to Trúc Lâm, i. e. , Emperor Tran* Nhân Tông (r. 1279–1293), who founded the Trúc Lâm Zen sect. The second lineage was transmitted by Zen Master Vu'o'ng Chí Nhàn; the third by Zen Master Nhat* Thien*; and the fourth by Layman Tianfeng, a contemporary of Ú'ng Thuân, who claimed to belong to the Linji school. According to the author of the Lu'o'c Dân Thiên Phái Ðô, these three lineages were already fading at his time and not much was known about them.
As we review this account of Buddhist history, a few things deserve consideration.
First, the author of the Lu'o'c Dân Thiên Phái Ðô remarks that "the True Dharma" (zhengfa) came to Vietnam at the time of Shenhui. " Whether by "True Dharma" he meant either Zen Buddhism or simply Buddhism, this statement does not seem to be correct, since we have archeological and historical evidence of the presence of Buddhism in Vietnam prior to the time of Shenhui and very little evidence of the introduction of Zen to Vietnam at the time of Shenhui. 2 3 Still, the connection the author makes between Shenhui and the origin of Zen Buddhism in Vietnam might be more than a chance conjecture: There might have been Chinese monks of Shenhui's lineage who came to Vietnam to spread Zen Buddhism and whose Vietnamese disciples strove to establish some sort of a Zen school in Vietnam.
Second, note that the Lu'o'c Dân Thiên Phái Ðô was probably written less than thirty years before the Thiên Uyen*, yet the author of the Lu'o'c Dân Thiên Phái
Ðô seems to know nothing of either Vinitaruci* or Vô Ngôn Thông. In fact, he did not know of any teachers before Thiên Lão. 24 Some modern scholars like Lê Manh* Thát have argued that this is because these authors did not have access to the materials used by the author of Thiên Uyên. But then again, the author of the Thiên Uyên did not seem to know of some of the "lineages" mentioned by the author of
Page 223
Page 224
the Lu'o'c * Dan* Thien* Phái Do*, for instance. This suggests that there were various alternative versions of the history and contemporary situation of Buddhism in Vietnam current at that time.
While the Lu'o'c Dân Thiên Phái Ðô might tell us something about the genealogy of the Trúc Lâm school, its author seems surprisingly nebulous about the transmission of Zen Buddhism in Vietnam in general. Nevertheless, the author of the Lu'o'c Dân Thiên Phái Ðô seems to have recorded only what he actually knew, unlike other authors who tried to portray an unbroken line of succession connecting Vietnamese Zen to the Southern School of Chinese Zen (an aspiration that lasts even to the present time). In fact, although the Lu'o'c Dân Thiên Phái Ðô is not extremely informative about the transmission of Zen in Vietnam, it does give us a realistic impression of the historical situation. During the period of more than ten centuries before its author's time, there were records of émigré foreign monks of Cham, Indian, and Chinese provenance coming to Vietnam to teach Buddhism. Among them, there must have been some Chinese Zen masters who transmitted their teachings to Vietnamese disciples. Some of these Vietnamese Zen adepts in turn might have made efforts to establish Vietnamese lineages. But there is no documentary record to indicate whether these "lineages" were consistent and lasting enough to become legitimate "sects" or "schools. "
By the middle of the eleventh century, under the Lý dynasty, efforts were underway to construct a "history" of the transmission of Vietnamese Buddhism. The Vietnamese Buddhist elite in the Lý dynasty capital must have come under the spell of Zen literature, which enjoyed high prestige among cultured circles in China at the time, and been familiar with the "transmission of the lamp" genre, and especially the Chuandeng lu. Although we know that Buddhism came to Vietnam before the Zen school arose in China (and before the formation of the concept of "schools" in the Zen sense), for the Lý dynasty Buddhist elite, it was natural to portray Vietnamese Buddhist history as part of the history of the transmission of Zen, which was the form of Buddhism both intellectually paramount and socially most prestigious in their cultural horizon. Since the Chinese Buddhist intellectuals composed "lamp history" texts to rewrite the history of Buddhism according to the Zen school, the Vietnamese Buddhist leaders likewise composed ''lamp history" texts to assert Vietnamese Buddhism as the legitimate outgrowth of Chinese Zen.
Unfortunately, except for the Thiên Uyen*, none of the other Vietnamese "lamp history" texts is extant except in fragments or in brief references in other literary works.
The fact that the authors of the various "lamp history" texts did not offer compatible accounts of Vietnamese Zen, and apparently did not
Page 225
even know of each other, demonstrates that in reality Vietnamese Buddhism at that time was not at all what these authors made it out to be: a coherent, unified transmission derived from some Chinese Zen lineages. Rather, Vietnamese Buddhism consisted of different groups, stationed at different temples, under the influence of émigré monks belonging to different traditions of Chinese, Indian, or Central Asian Buddhism. When the Vietnamese authors recorded what they observed (or heard), they structured their accounts to conform to the Zen lineage model that they believed to be orthodox.
A critical reading of the Thien * Uyen* shows us that its model of Vietnamese Buddhist history is based on interpretations derived from the Chieu* Doi* Luc*, a text of the "lamp history" genre composed by Thông Bien*, now lost. Although at present the viewpoint of the Thiên Uyên is accepted by the Vietnamese Buddhist community as the "official view," the writings of Phúc Dien* show that up to the middle of the nineteenth century the Thiên Uyens* account of Vietnamese Buddhist history was not accepted unquestioningly as it is nowadays.
Thông Bien's* Model of Vietnamese Buddhist History
Thông Biên was the first Vietnamese Buddhist author to establish a history of Buddhism in Vietnam based on the paradigms of Chinese Zen: the Zen school versus the scriptural school, the direct transmissions from one patriarch to another in successive lineages. In other words, Thông Biên was the first Vietnamese who endeavored to interpret the development of Vietnamese Buddhism in the form of transmission of the mind of enlightenment based on the model of Chinese Zen's "lamp history. "
Thông Biên's biography relates an incident that took place at a vegetarian feast held at the National Temple in 1096, where he gave this explanation on the origin of Buddhism in India and its transmission to Vietnam:
Out of compassion, the Buddha appeared to be born in India. This is because India is the center of the world. At nineteen he left home. At thirty he achieved enlightenment. He stayed in the world preaching the Dharma for fortynine years, setting forth all sorts of provisional teachings to enable sentient beings to awaken to the Path. This is what is called creating teachings for a certain period.
When he was about to enter final nirvana, he was afraid that people attached to delusion would get stuck on his words, so he told Manjusri*, "In fortynine years I have not spoken a single word. Will they think something was said? " So he held up a flower [in front of the assembly on Vulture Peak]. No one in the assembly knew what to say, except
Page 226
Later Moteng (Kasyapa* Matanga*) brought this teaching to Han China [ca. first century C. E. ] and Bodhidharma travelled to [the Chinese kingdoms] of Liang and Wei [ca. sixth century C. E. ] with this message. The transmission of the teaching flourished with Tiantai: it is called the school of the scriptural teachings. The gist of the teaching became clear with [the Sixth Patriarch of Zen] Caoqi: this is called the Zen school. Both these schools reached our country [Vietnam] many years ago. The scriptural teachings began with Mou Bo and Kang Senghui. The first stream of the Zen school began with Vinitaruci* (Ty* Ni Ða Lu'u Chi); the second with Vô Ngôn Thông. Vinitaruci and Vô Ngôn Thông are the ancestral teachers of these two streams [of Zen].
. . . The present representatives of the Vinitaruci stream are Lâm Hue* Sinh and Vu'o'ng Chân Không. For the Vô Ngôn Thông stream, they are Mai Viên Chieu* and Nhan Quang* Trí. [The successor of Kang Senghui] is Lôi Hà Trach*. The other side branches [of these two streams] are too numerous to mention them all. 25
Thông Bien's* remarks simply reiterated the typical traditional Zen model of Buddhist history. His concept of Buddhist history can be summarized as follows: (1) Both the "scriptural school" and "mind school" or Zen derived directly from the Buddha. (2) The scriptural school culminated in China with the Tiantai school, whereas the Zen school was transmitted by Bodhidharma from India to successive generations of Chinese patriarchs until it reached its zenith with Huineng. (3) Both of these schools, however, had come to Vietnam quite early: the scriptural school began with Mou Bo and Kang Senghui, the Zen school with Vinitaruci and Vô Ngôn Thông.
Note that although Thông Bien* obviously based himself on some of the ideas circulating in Zen circles in Song China, he did not seem to rate the Zen school as superior to the scriptural school as most of his Chinese Zen predecessors and contemporaries did. In fact, according to his biography Thông Biên attained enlightenment by meditating on the Lotus Sutra* and became known as "Ngo* Pháp Hoa" or "Awakened to the Lotus. "
Thông Biên's model of Vietnamese Buddhist history—although not known to or approved by some authors of the Tran* dynasty—was subsequently adopted by the compiler of the Thien* Uyen* and thus exercised lasting influence on the traditional understanding of Vietnamese Buddhist history.
the Venerable Mahakasyapa *, who cracked a slight smile. Buddha knew he had meshed [with truth], so he entrusted the treasury of the eye of the true Dharma to him, and he became the first patriarch [of Zen]. This is what is called the separate transmission of the mindsource outside the scriptural teachings.
Page 227
We have evidence that the author of the Thien * Uyen* derived his overall outline of Vietnamese Buddhist history from the Chieu* Doi* Luc*, a work composed by Thông Bien* himself. We learn from Than* Nghi's biography that when he enquired about the Zen transmission and lineages in Vietnam, his teacher, Thu'ò'ng Chieu*, showed him Thông Bien's* Chiêu Ðôi Luc in which was recorded the transmission of both the scriptural school and particularly the Zen school in Vietnam with the lineages of Vinitaruci* and Vô Ngôn Thông and other minor branches.
Phúc Dien's* Model of Vietnamese Buddhist History
I have pointed out that from the middle of the Lý dynasty there were sporadic efforts by selfconscious Vietnamese Buddhist leaders to compose texts recording or interpreting the transmission of Buddhism in Vietnam. The Thiên Uyên itself is one important milestone in this ongoing enterprise of constructing history.
Nhu' So'n, an eminent monk of the [Later] Lê dynasty, composed the Ke* Dang* Luc, intending to trace Vietnamese Buddhism back to the time of the ancient, mythical Bhismagarjitasvararaja* Buddha, the paradigmatic symbol of the mind of enlightenment. But Nhu' So'n's work turns out to be nothing but a summary of the Wudeng huiyuan chronicle of Chinese Zen and is almost useless for the study of Vietnamese Buddhist history.
It was not until the middle of the nineteenth century, during the Nguyen* dynasty, that there appeared, in the writings of Phúc Dien*, another sustained effort at understanding the transmission of Zen in Vietnam. Phúc Ðiên's writings inform us of the transmission of Linji and Caodong Zen in medieval Vietnam and shed some light on a few historical issues in the Thiên Uyên.
Through Phúc Ðiên's biography in the Kê Ðang Lu'o'c* Luc, we learn that one of his main concerns is to collect materials for a complete history of the origin and transmission of Vietnamese Buddhism (which he understood to mean Zen Buddhism). 2 6 This is the reason why Phúc Ðiên reprinted and edited writings and materials that he thought related to this issue. Phúc Ðiên stated in his "New Preface to the FiveFascicle Transmission of the Lamp" that he composed the Kê Ðang Lu'o'c Luc as a supplement to the Thiên Uyên, yet we notice that he did not seem to believe completely in the model of Vietnamese Buddhist history set forth by the Thiên Uyên. Phúc Ðiên wrote:
The successions from generation to generation among monks of various schools in the Zen community of Vietnam from the Ðinh, [Former] Lê, Lý and Tran* to the [Later] Lê, could not be recorded. [Concerning the transmission] from the Trân up to the present time (Nguyên), I have many times searched among the adepts, records,
Page 228
and legends, without much success, and I have not been able to do a thorough study of the lineages of dharmaheirs. Therefore, I do not dare to compose anything but only record briefly [information] on the Tran * dynasty about the adepts, Buddhist sites, eminent monks, together with famous mountains, monasteries, renowned monks, transmissions from teachers to students, and the patronage by the aristocrats. 27
Thus, instead of continuing the Thien* Uyen*, Phúc Dien's* Ke* Dang* Lu'o'c* Luc* becomes an effort to investigate the complete history of "the transmission of the lamp" in Vietnam.
Another point worth noticing is that Phúc Dien* did not discuss extensively Vô Ngôn Thông. In his "New Preface to the FiveFascicle Transmission of the Lamp" he only mentioned the name of Vô Ngôn Thông as the founder of Zen in Vietnam (actually, he seems to reiterate the viewpoint of the Thiên Uyên). In his Kê Ðang Lu'o'c Luc, Phúc Ðiên presents a picture of Vietnamese Zen in which Vô Ngôn Thông does not appear to play any role. It is the same with Vinitaruci*. Phúc Ðiên only refers to Vinitaruci in passing in the story of Khâu Ðà La,28 merely as a monk who dwelt at Co* Châu Temple.
Phúc Ðiên stated that his intention was to compose a supplement to the Thiên Uyên. As a result we have the Kê Ðang Lu'o'c Luc. Phúc Ðiên himself seems to have been of the opinion that the value of Nhu' So'n's Kê Ðang Luc consists in connecting the patriarchs of the two schools of Linji and Caodong—in both China and Vietnam—with the beginning of Zen since Bhismagarjitasvararaja* Buddha; therefore, in his Kê Ðang Lu'o'c Luc, he followed the example of Nhu' So'n and strove to
retrace the inception of Zen in Vietnam in ancient records. 2 9 Phúc Ðiên wrote as follows about the beginning of Zen in Vietnam:
The inception of Zen in Dai* Nam: During the reign of Hùng Vu'o'ng there was [a young man named] Dong* Tu'* who went up to the grass hermitage on Mount Quynh* Vi. In the hermitage dwelt a monk from India named Phat* Quang (*Buddhaprabha). When Ðông Tu' passed the age of forty, Phât Quang transmitted the Dharma to him, giving him a hat and a staff saying that they contained all his miraculous power. Ðông Tu' transmitted the Dharma to Tiên Dung (his wife) and together they cultivated the Dharma.
On their way home, they had to stay overnight at some place, taking shelter under the hat supported by the staff. At the third watch, there appeared citadels, palaces, boy and girl servants, armies, and a whole court. Next morning, the nearby people were amazed and referred to it as the celestial court. [Ðông Tu' and Tiên Dung] arranged them into ranks, and they became a separate country. When Hùng Vu'o'ng heard about this, he thought that his daughter (Tiên
Page 229
Dung) was rebelling, so he sent his troops to fight them but they did not succeed. One night, strong wind arose scattering the sand and shaking the trees. Tiên Dung, Dong * Tu'*, their subject, citadels, and palaces all rose to the sky. The empty lot was transformed into a swamp. The next day there was nothing to be seen. People then built a shrine to worship. The swamp was subsequently named Da* Trach*, the province Tu'* Nhiên, the town Hà Mau*. 30
This strongly mythical story does not seem to have anything to do with the transmission of Zen. Perhaps Phúc Dien's* intention was to say that Zen was as old as the country of Vietnam. Traditional history gives the date of Hùng Vu'o'ng—the mythical ancestor of the Vietnamese people—as 2879 B. C. E. 31 For Phúc Dien*, Zen had been transmitted by Bhismagarjitasvararaja* Buddha since the beginning of time. Obviously, from the viewpoint of critical history we cannot accept this position, because Zen did not really take shape in China until the middle of the seventh century. To interpret the unfolding of Buddhism in human history symbolically as the transmission of the enlightenment experience in the Zen fashion is one thing, but to regard this as actual history is another.
To sum up Phúc Ðiên's view, Zen had been present in Vietnam since the time of Hùng Vu'o'ng. Although this ancient transmission was not recorded clearly and there were not sufficient materials to restore a coherent history, the continuous transmission of Zen in Vietnam as a cohesive school was a reality beyond any doubt. In essence, then, Phúc Ðiên, like Thông Bien*, implicitly adopted the interpretive concepts of the Chinese Zen tradition to construct his view of Vietnamese Buddhist history.
The Linji School
Phúc Ðiên referred to a number of texts that purported to record Vietnamese Buddhist history from its inception through various dynasties, but he seemed most confident when writing about Buddhism in the Tran* dynasty. According to Phúc Ðiên, in the Trân dynasty there were already eminent Song monks coming to Vietnam to transmit "the true school of Linji. " He wrote:
Since the Trân dynasty, [eminent monks] from the Great Song such as National Master Dadeng, the Venerable Yingshun (Ú'ng Thuan*), the Venerable Tianfeng, the Eminent Yuanzheng, Patriarch Xiaoyao, and the Eminent Huizhong (Hue* Trung), came to our country and went into Mount Yên Tu', transmitting the [doctrine of the] true school of Linji to our Founder Patriarch Dieu* Ngu'*. Subsequently, Ðiêu Ngu' transmitted it to Pháp Loa, and Huyen* Quang, and the
Page 230
According to Phúc Dien*, the true school of Linji was transmitted into Vietnam twice: the first time in the Tran* dynasty beginning with Dadeng, the second time in the Lê dynasty with Yuangong. The founding patriarch of Linji Zen of Vietnam was Dieu* Ngu'* (i. e. , Trân Nhân Tông, the third emperor of the Trân dynasty, also considered the founder of the Vietnamese Zen sect Trúc Lâm), the Dharmaheir of the Linji lineage starting with Dadeng, Yuanzheng, and Tianfeng of the Song. The second Linji lineage was transmitted to Vietnam in the Lê dynasty with Yuangong (also called Zhuogong). This lineage lasted nine generations. According to Phúc Ðiên, all the Trân kings were adepts in Zen. Trân Thái Tông studied with Yuanzheng, Tianfeng, and Dadeng; Trân Thánh Tông studied with Dadeng; Trân Nhân Tông studied with Huizhong; Trân Anh Tông and Trân Minh Tông both studied with Puhui.
However, in his record of the Linji lineage at Mount Yên Tu'*, Phúc Ðiên reported that this lineage lasted twentythree generations. Its first patriarch was Hien* Quang, the second generation was Yuanzheng, the third was Dadeng, the fourth was Xiaoyao, the fifth was Huihui (probably a scribal error for Huizhong), the sixth was Ðiêu Ngu', the seventh was Pháp Loa, and the eighth was Huyen* Quang. This seems to accord with other sections of his Ke* Dang* Lu'o'c* Luc* and provides us with useful information.
There is one obscure point. In the above record of the Linji lineage in the Trân dynasty, Hiên Quang's name does not figure in the list of eminent monks from Song China. But here Phúc Ðiên records that Hiên Quang was the first patriarch of the Linji lineage in Vietnam with its headquarters on Mount Yên Tu', without giving us any additional information about Hiên Quang. According to the Thien* Uyen*, Hiên Quang (? –1221) of Mount Yên Tu' was a Vietnamese monk belonging to the fourteenth generation of the Vô Ngôn Thông school. 33
If Hiên Quang in Phúc Dien's* text was identical to Hiên Quang of the Thiên Uyên, the difficulty would be: why would those eminent monks of the Linji School from China have had to come to Vietnam to study Linji Zen with a Vietnamese monk? According to the Thiên Uyên, at first Hiên Quang studied with Thu'ò'ng Chieu*, but afterward he received the mindseal from Trí Thông and was ordained by Pháp Gió'i. Later in his life he went to Mount Tù' So'n and devoted himself to meditation and
patriarchate was handed down from generation to generation. During the Bao * Thái era of the [Later] Lê dynasty, the Venerable Yuangong, [an eminent monk] from the Great Ming again transmistted the Linji School in Vietnam. . . . [Subsequently], Venerable Yuangong went into Mount Tiên Du to repair the Phat* Tích Temple. 32
Page 231
asceticism. When he passed away, his disciple Dao * Viên took care of the funeral ceremony. If the records in the Thien* Uyen* were reliable, Hien* Quang was keen on practicing austerities and had the personality of a thaumaturge, with nothing about his Buddhism resembling Linji Zen.
According to tradition, Linji himself came from the same lineage as Vô Ngôn Thông. If Hiên Quang himself was a patriarch of the Vô Ngôn Thông School, why did he suddenly become the first patriarch of the Linji lineage in Vietnam? The only plausible answer, albeit still a surmise, is that Hiên Quang himself repaired the temple on Mount Yên Tu'*; afterward when Yuanzheng came to Vietnam and went into Mount Yên Tu' to transmit the Dharma, he might have honored Hiên Quang with the title of first patriarch of the (Linji) Zen lineage on Mount Yên Tu'. This explanation seems plausible because one of Phúc Dien's* methods was to record the transmission based on information gathered at the monasteries.
The Caodong School
According to Phúc Ðiên's records, Caodong Zen came to Vietnam after Linji Zen, was not as popular, and was not transmitted for as long. In his Ke* Dang* Lu'o'c* Luc*, perhaps from sectarian loyalties, Phúc Dien* does not seem to pay as much attention to Caodong Zen as he does to Linji Zen.
Phúc Ðiên reports as follows about the Caodong lineage in Vietnam:
The right branch of the Sixth Patriarch Huineng was the transmission to Venerable Qingyuan Xingsi. The eighteenth generation of the branch was Venerable Dongshan Liangjie who founded the Caodong School which was transmitted to Zen Master Yiju Zhijiao. . . . The Caodong School was transmitted to our country with Venerable Shuiyue, also known as Daonan, as the first patriarch. The second generation was Venerable Zhenrong Zongyan, who founded Hong* Phúc Temple at Hòe Village, Hà Noi* Province, and was granted the title of Dai* Thù'a BoTat* (Mahayana* Bodhisattva). 34
According to Phúc Ðiên, this Caodong lineage with Shuiyue as the first patriarch lasted nine generations with three different centers: Hông Phúc Temple in Hà Nôi (from the first to the fifth generation), Ðai Quang Thien* Tu'* Temple in Bac* Ninh (from the sixth to the seventh generation), and Bích Dong* So'n Temple (from the eighth to the ninth generation). Subsequently, three subschools developed: The first had its headquarters at Ðai Quang Thiên Temple (Bac Ninh) under the guidance of Ðao Nguyên Khoan Duc* and lasted four generations. The second, at Hàm Long (Hà Nôi), started with Zen Master Chiêm Giác and lasted three generations. The third subschool was at Pho* Giác (Hà Nôi); it started with Zen Master Khoan Hòa and lasted four generations. 35
Page 232
Although Phúc Dien's * records do not verify the traditional image of a "school" as a unified, unbroken lineage transmitting fixed doctrinal systems, they are evidence of the presence of Zen, Linji Zen, and Caodong Zen in Vietnam. In the centuries from the Tran* through the [Later] Lê to the Nguyen* dynasty, there had been a number of émigré Chinese monks with certain connections to Linji and Caodong Zen coming to different temples in Vietnam to spread their religion. Therefore, even though we do not accept the traditional understanding of the term "school," it would be wrong to deny the presence of these Zen "schools" (or rather, "lineages'') in Vietnam.
Appendix III—
Biographies of Eminent Monks from Other Sources
Không Los * Biography in the Dai* Nam Thien* Uyen* Truyen* Dang* Tap* Luc*
[20a6] Zen Master Không Lo*, whose personal name was Chí Thanh*, was a native of Lai* Trì, Chân Dinh* Prefecture, Nam Ðinh Province. His lay family name was Nguyen*. He was a spiritual companion of Giác Hai* and Tù' Dao* Hanh*. When he was twentynine, the three of them went to India together to study with a certain sramana* and attained the six supernatural powers. 1
When Không Lô returned to his native province, he built Diên Phúc Temple and devoted himself to the chanting of the Great Compassion Mantra. 2 At that time he wished to build the four great vessels of Dai* Nam,3 notwithstanding the fact that his family was poor and his strength was limited. One day, he had the thought that there must be plenty of good copper in the great land of Song that could be used to build them. He immediately traveled northward.
[20b] At first he stayed as a guest at the house of an elder. He asked the latter for a sixfoot square of land to build a temple. The elder laughed and said: "Formerly, when the Crown Prince of Liang built a temple, he needed a thousandsquaremile piece of land and covered it with gold. What can you do with a sixfoot square of land which is only enough for a hencoop? " That night Không Lô spread his monk's robe, and it covered ten miles of land. Witnessing his supernatural power, the elder and his family bowed down to thank him. Henceforth, the whole family took refuge in the Three Jewels (triratna).
<><><><><><><><><><><><>
The next day, wearing his monk's robe and carrying his monk's staff, Không Lô came to pay a visit to the Song court and stood in reverent posture in front of the imperial palace. When the Song emperor came to
Page 233
Page 234
court to discuss political issues with his civil and military officers, seeing the old monk, he called him and asked: "Old man, of what country are you a native? What is your name? What is your reason to come here? " Không Lo * said: "I am a poor monk from a small country. I left home to become a monk years ago. My present wish is to build the four vessels of Viet* Nam, but my physical strength is not enough to carry out this intention; therefore I took the risk of traveling a thousand miles to come here. I humbly ask Your Sagely Majesty to show your compassion and provide me with a little good copper to facilitate the work of casting [the four vessels]. The Song emperor asked: "How many disciples did you bring with you? " Không Lô said: ''I came here alone. I am only asking for this bagful of copper, and that will be enough for me to carry home. " The Song emperor said: "It's a long way to the south, [21a] you are welcome to take as much as you can. It's a trifle not worth talking about. "
Không Lô took all the copper in the Song store, yet his bag was still not full. Some people gaped in amazement, some shook their heads. When they reported this to the emperor, he was stunned and regretted he had given his permission. But because he already promised Không Lô, he could not do anything about it. When the emperor wanted his officers to escort him back to his country, Không Lô declined, saying: "I can carry this one bag of copper myself, do not bother to escort me. " Then he went outside, and slipping his staff through the bag [to carry it on his shoulder] he gently walked away. He used his bamboo hat to cross the rivers on his way back, and reached the shore of the Yellow River in the twinkling of an eye.
<><><><><><><><><><><><>
Không Lô then went to Quynh* Lâm Temple, Ðông Trieu* District, Hai* Du'o'ng Province, and cast a huge statue of Amitabha* Buddha. He also built the Báo Thiên Stupa in the capital, a big bell in Pho* Lai*, and a caldron at Minh Dinh*. He used the rest of the copper to build a big bell at the temple of his native village, which weighed 3,300 pounds. He also cast a big bell at Diên Phúc Temple, Giao Thuy* Prefecture, which weighed 3,000 pounds. After finishing his task, he wrote a eulogy:
Crossing the great ocean on my straw hat, A thousandmile journey in one breath. Filling my bag with all Song's copper,
My arms can heft ten tons.
<><><><><><><><><><><><>
In the meantime, Emperor Lý Nhân Tông was building the Hu'ng Long Palace. It took him over a year to finish it. [21b] The palace was extremely
Page 235
grandiose and ornate. Suddenly two lizards appeared on the beams and raised a great cry: the sound was as a giant thunderstorm. The emperor was very unhappy about the event. The commander then reported: "Only Giác Hai * and Không Lo*4 can do away with this strange apparition. " [The emperor ordered the commander to go look for Không Lô,] and he immediately carried out the order. On the fifteenth day of the first month of that year, he arrived at Không Lo's* retreat. Không Lô said: "Why have you come so late, Commander? " The commander said: ''How do you already know my rank? " Không Lô said: "I often ride with the moon and clouds. Sometimes I inadvertently enter the emperor's palace. I already know everything. "
On the same day Không Lô came to the capital.

Word:

Question:

Answer (optional):