5.THIỀN TRÚC LÂM
Trần Thái Tông (1218 – 1277) was the first king of the Trần Dynasty. He reigned for 32 years (1225 - 1258), and remained as the Royal Father for 19 subsequent years. His name was Trần Bồ, which was later changed to Trần Cảnh. His father was Trần Thừa. Trần Cảnh was born on June 16 of the year of the rooster (that is, July 10, 1218), under Kiến Gia the Eighth of the Lý Dynasty. When he was born, the Trần clan had already seized key positions of the Lý. Arranged by his uncle Trần Thủ Độ, Trần Cảnh married the first and also the last queen of the Lý Dynasty, Lý Chiêu Hoàng, when he was only 7 years old. At the end of 1225, Trần Thủ Độ forced the queen to cede her throne to her husband. An orphan at he age of 8, King Trần Thái Tông had to rely on his uncle Trần Thủ Độ for advice. Later he was forced to marry his pregnant sister-in-law to get an heir. He became remorseful, and silently left the throne to go to the mountain to seek help from the National Master who was a well-respected monk named Phù-Vân. The hermit told him to return to the capital and complete his responsibilities as a king. Trần Thủ Độ and all the king's subordinates and servants also tried to find him and threatened to kill themselves if he denied his kingship to become a monk. Finally he listened to Phù-Vân the National Master and returned to rule his country.
During the time when Trần Thái Tông was the king, he changed his royal name three times: Kiến Trung (1225-1232), Thiên Ứng Chính Bình (1232-1250), and Nguyên Phong (1251-1258). Trần Thái Tông had successfully led the Đại Việt people in their fight against the first aggression of the Nguyên Mông (Mongolian) invaders. After 19 more years in public service, Trần Thái Tông demised on April 1 the year of the ox (May 5, 1277), at the age of 60.
After ceding his throne to his son Trần Hoàng (later King Trần Thánh Tông), Trần Thái Tông focused on studying and practicing meditation (Thiền) between 1258 and 1277. His works included: three versions of his writings about Thiền (Khóa-Hư-Lục) and two poems from King Trần Thái Tông's Collected Works in Verse and Prose(Trần Thái Tông ngự-tập), which was lost.
Trần Nhân Tông (1258 – 1308), whose name at birth was Trần Khâm, was the third king of the Trần Dynasty. His father was Trần Thánh Tông, and his mother was Nguyên Thánh Thiên Cảm the Mother Queen (Trần Thị Thiều). His successor was Trần Anh Tông. He was born on November 11 in the year of the horse, and demised at the age of 51 at Ngoạ Vân Hermit Hut on Yên Tử Mountain. Later he was buried at Đức lăng (Thái Bình Province nowadays). He reigned for 15 years (1278 – 1293), and served as the Royal Father for 15 more years. He had been a monk for 8 years with the Dharma name the Enlightened Royal Master (Đầu đà Hoàng giác Điều ngự), and was the founder of Thiền Trúc Lâm-Yên Tử School. In Vietnam history he was always considered one of the best, and the most heroic kings. Under his rule, and with the advice from his Royal Father Thánh Tông, from 1285 to 1287 Đại Việt had defeated the Mongolian invaders two times.
He had protected the western borders against the raids by Laotians in 1290. He often said, "Never lose an inch of the land we inherited from our ancestors to foreign aggressors. This is my advice to younger generations which should be recorded in my will.”
After ceding his throne to his son Trần Anh Tông, he became a monk and practiced the Dharma at Vũ Lâm, Ninh Bình Province. Afterwards he moved to Yên Tử (Quảng Ninh) , and founded Thiền Trúc Lâm-Yên Tử School, with the Buddhist name Điều Ngự Giác Hoàng (the Enlightened Royal Master) or Trúc Lâm đầu đà (Trúc Lâm the Ascetic). He was the First patriarch of this Vietnamese Thiền School. That was why he was also called the “Buddha-like King.” He demised on Novemebr 3, 1308, and was buried in a vault at Quy Đức,Long Hưng County. His relics were preserved at Ngọa Vân Stupa. In Hanoi there is a boulevard named after him in Hai Bà Trưng District.
Pháp Loa (1284-1330) was a Thiền master of the Trúc Lâm-Yên Tử School. He was Trần Nhân Tông’s disciple, and the Second patriarch. It was he who took charge of the publication of the Vietnamese Tripitaka about 1329. He also wrote many famous works about Thiền, and treatises on Lankavatara Sutra (Nhập Lăng-già), Lotus Sutra (Diệu pháp liên hoa), Prajnaparamita Sutra (Bát-nhã-ba-la-mật-đa).
His name at birth was Đồng Kiên Cương. He was born on May 7 the year of the monkey (May 23, 1284), at Cửu La Village, Chí Linh County, Nam Sách Borough, Lạng Giang
(Ái Quốc, Hải Dương City, Hải Dương Province). His father was Đồng Thuần Mậu, and his mother was Vũ Từ Cứu. It was said that his mother dreamt of being given a magic sword one night, and after that she got pregnant. Before he was born, his mother had given birth to eight daughters. She was afraid of having another baby girl, so she tried to abort the fetus. After her four attempts without success, a baby boy was born, and was named Kiên Cương, which meant “solid and strong.” During his childhood, he was quite different from other kids, for he never had unskillful utterances, and he refused to eat meat and fish.
In 1304, the Enlightened Royal Master Trần Nhân Tông traveled all over the country, in search for a successor. When he came to Kiên Cương’s village, the latter prostrated in front of the Master, asking him to accept him to become a monk, Trần Nhân Tông said: "This boy has the Dharma eyes; he would become a Dharma means later," and allowed Kiên Cương to receive the precepts to become a novice. The Master also told him to go to Quỳnh Quán to learn with Most Venerable Tính Giác. After his training at Quỳnh Quán was completed, the disciple returned to learn with his Master.
One day, Pháp Loa presented to his Master three stanzas to chant, all of which were turned down. The Master told him to study further by himself. Pháp Loa went to his own room, started to contemplate in depth, and stayed up till it was past midnight. When he saw the burning candle wick falling down, he immediately got enlightened. The Master silently granted him the Dharma transmission to become his successor. From that moment on he started to practice the twelve precepts of an ascetic.
The following year, the Master himself granted Pháp Loa the Thanh văn (for those who learned the Four Noble Truths, and based their practice on these Truths) and the Boddhisattva precepts. In 1306, following his Master’s instruction, Pháp Loa began to disseminate the Dharma at Báo Ân Temple at the age of 22. Here he met Huyền Quang the first time. When the Master demised two years after that, it was Pháp Loa who was assigned to bring the relics to the capital. When he returned to the mountain, he gathered and arranged his Master’s works when the latter practiced the Dharma at the Stone Hut under the pen name Thạch thất mị ngữ (Secret Words from the Stone Hut).
In December 1319, Pháp Loa propagated a blood drive movement among monks and Buddhist laypeople to print over 5,000 books of Tripitaka. Even King Trần Anh Tông joined the movement. It was said that whenever Pháp Loa gave talks about the Flower Garland Sutra (Avataṃsaka Sūtra/Hoa nghiêm), thousands of people came to listen. His work on this Sutra was later destroyed by Trương Phụ (Ming Dynasty) during the Chinese domination. Pháp Loa had many disciples who also got enlightened. The best among them was Huyền Quang. In 1330, Pháp Loa was seriously ill, and before he demised, he wrote the following stanza:
萬緣裁斷一身閒。
四十餘年夢幻間
珍重諸人休借問。
那邊風月更邇寬
(in Chinese Vietnamese)
Vạn duyên tài đoạn nhất thân nhàn
Tứ thập dư niên mộng huyễn gian
Trân trọng chư nhân hưu tá vấn
Na biên phong nguyệt cánh nhĩ khoan.
(Translated into Vietnamese)
Muôn duyên cắt đứt, tấm thân nhàn,
Hơn bốn mươi năm cõi mộng tàn.
Giã biệt! Xin đừng theo hỏi nữa,
Bên kia trăng gió mặc thênh thang.
(Translated into English by nttv)
All conditions halted, the body rested peacefully,
For more than forty years, now the dream was over.
Adieu! No more clinging questions,
The immense space of liberation moon and wind on the other shore.
He put the brush pen down and passed away at the age of 47. His body was buried at the Thanh Mai Mountain Stupa.
His works included:
Đoạn sách lục;
Tham thiền chỉ yếu ( Fundamentals of Meditation);
Kim cương đạo trường đà-la-ni kinh (The Dharani Sutra for the Diamond Congregation);
Tán Pháp hoa kinh khoa sớ (Encomium to the Lotus Sutra);
Bát-nhã tâm kinh khoa (A Study of the Perfection of Wisdom/Prajñāpāramitā Sutras);
and the above stanza which was composed before his death.
Huyền Quang(1254-1334) was named Lý Đạo Tái at birth. He was from Vạn Tải, Nam Sách County, Lạng Giang Provinve (Thái Bảo Village, Gia Bình District, Bắc Ninh Province nowadays). He excelled academically both in his hometown, and in the capital. He achieved the highest score (đệ nhất giáp tiến sĩ/trạng nguyên) in the National Exam held in the capital in 1272 or in 1274 (?), and was invited to join the Royal Internal Affairs Academy (Viện Nội Hàn). He was also the key figure at meetings with venerable monks from the northern kingdom/China, for he was eloquent and very well verse in prose and poetry. Later in his life he resigned and became Trần Nhân Tông’s disciple at the Bamboo Forest (Trúc Lâm). A Thiền master in Việt Nam, and the Third patriarch of the Trúc Lâm Yên Tử School, he was also a great poet whose works have been preserved, studied, and enjoyed for generations. Together with Trúc Lâm the Ascetic (Trúc Lâm Đầu Đà) Trần Nhân Tông, and Pháp Loa, he has been considered one of the great Thiền masters in Việt Nam, whose spiritual attainments were comparable to those of the six Chinese patriarchs, and the twenty eight patriarchs of ancient India.
According to The Archival Records of the Three Patriarchs (Tam tổ thực lục, 三祖實錄), Huyền Quang’s mother, Lê Thị, often went to Ngọc Hoàng Temple to pray for a child, for she was thirty years old but had not yet had one. In the year of the tiger of 1254, the abbot at that temple, Huệ Nghĩa, had a special dream. In his dream all the wards in the temple were brightly lit; all the Buddhas were in deep meditation, and many Bodhisattvas and Heavenly Guards gathered in the temple. The Buddha said to Ananda, “You shall be reborn to become a Dharma tool in the East. Remember your previous vow?” That year Lê Thị gave birth to Huyền Quang. As he grew up, he had a special appearance, and was appointed a high rank in the Royal Academy.
One day he went with Trần Anh Tông to Vĩnh Nghiêm Temple at Phượng Nhãn Borough to listen to Thiền Master Pháp Loa’s Dharma talk. At the event he remembered his “previous vow,” and requested the king to accept him as his disciple (it was also recorded that his master was Bảo Phác, at Vũ Ninh Temple). He became the novice servant to Trúc Lâm Đầu Đà, and, as a monk, was given the Buddhist name Huyền Quang. Later, following Trúc Lâm Đầu Đà’s appointment, he became the abbot of Vân Yên Temple (Hoa Yên Temple nowadays) on Yên Tử Mountain. Because he was so famous, many monks came to the temple to listen to his teachings
In the royal year of Đại Khánh the Fourth (1317), he received the Dharma transmission from Pháp Loa. After Pháp Loa demised (1330), he became the Third patriarch of Trúc Lâm School, but because of his old age, he designated responsibilities to the National Master An Tâm.
He had been the abbot of Thanh Mai Mountain Temple for six years, and moved to Côn Sơn to disseminate the Dharma. On January 23 the year of the dog (1334), he passed away at the age of 80. King Trần Minh Tông honored him as The Great Third Generation Trúc Lâm Thiền Master, Huyền Quang The Respected Compassionate One.
(To be continued)
Sources:
Thích Thanh Từ. Vietnamese Thiền Masters.(HoChiMinh City, Vietnam, 1995). Available in Trúc Lâm Yên Tử monasteries in Vietnam and abroad.
Nguyễn Huệ Chi (Ed.). Lý-Trần Verse and Prose. Volume II. (Hà Nội, Vietnam, 1988).
Nguyễn Lang. A Treatise on the History of Vietnam Buddhism. Vol.I-III. (Hà Nội: Văn Học Publishing Co., 1979, 1992).
http://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trần_Thái_Tông
http://www.daophatngaynay.com/vn/phatgiao-vn/con-nguoi-vn/9709-Triet-hoc-Tran-Thai-Tong.html
http://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trần_Nhân_Tông
http://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pháp_Loa
http://consonkiepbac.org.vn/NewsDetails.aspx?NewsID=32
http://www.vietgle.vn/trithucviet/detail.aspx?key=Pháp-Loa&type=A0
http://vi.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huyền_Quang
