"Be a pine tree standing in the sky and singing"

“Be a pine tree standing in the middle of the sky and singing/ In the middle of the sky, a steep cliff/ Whoever can bear the cold will climb with the pine”. That is the declaration, the philosophy of life of Uy Vien General Nguyen Cong Tru...

Statue of Dinh Dien Su Nguyen Cong Tru at Nguyen Cong Tru relic site in Xuan Giang commune, Nghi Xuan district. (Photo: Khoi Nguyen).

There have been, are and will be many things said about Nguyen Cong Tru: A Confucian scholar with a dream of fame, a hero in troubled times who disregarded the ups and downs of life, an outstanding businessman who devoted himself to the people, a talented man with a heroic spirit, a pioneer of modern national poetry... everywhere Nguyen Cong Tru's personal cultural identity of a time and all times is evident.

1. Nguyen Cong Tru, son of Nguyen Cong Tan, was a district chief in the Le dynasty. He lost his position and returned to his hometown to teach for a living, then died in poverty, leaving behind a 3-room leaky house and 6 children. At that time, Nguyen Cong Tru was 20 years old. A sad family situation: "The head of the bamboo bed, the mole is crooked/ The corner of the earthen wall is crawling with worms/ The sunlight shines on the chicken eggs on the wall, the boy is hiding/ The raindrops shine on the mouse hole in the house, the cat is watching/ In the pig cage, the pig is lying and chewing on the trough, hungry but not wanting to cry/ The mouse on the pot is making noise, sad but leaving...". And the scholar-gentry master Nguyen Cong Tru had only a piece of cloth, using the cold as a blanket, the heat as a pillow, with poverty and constant debt.

In such a situation, people easily give up and accept their fate. Nguyen Cong Tru not only “stayed poor and lost his way”, but he also had a strong belief that he had the talent to “reinvent the country”. The only way to escape the deadlock of poverty and hardship was to devote himself to realizing his dream of fame: First as a scholar, then as a mandarin. He “Determined to sail against the storm/ With the ambition to split mountains and fill rivers/ To become a hero, it was clear”. However, he only encountered hardships. It was not until the year of Ky Mao, Gia Long 18 (1819), when he was 42 years old, that he passed the exam and was appointed to the position of Hanh Tau at Quoc Tu Giam.

No matter what the times are like, no matter what his family situation is like, he is still optimistic and loves life: "Heaven is not the only one who is difficult for me?/ Everyone has their own time to be honored or humiliated/ The spring news has a plum blossom branch there...", still boldly devoting himself to never choosing to live alone, to be content with his fate, to hide away: He declared: "I will definitely pay off my debt to the world/ Having fought in battle, I must strive to earn my bow/ To show my manhood/ In the universe, it is my duty/ I must have a name for myself in the mountains and rivers/ I will go empty-handed, I will not return empty-handed".

Uy Vien General Nguyen Cong Tru Temple in Xuan Giang Commune, Nghi Xuan District. (Photo: Khoi Nguyen).

2. Nguyen Cong Tru was an official for nearly 30 years, under the reigns of the following kings: Minh Mang (reigned from 1820-1841), Thieu Tri (reigned from 1841-1847), Tu Duc (reigned from 1847-1883), "Without the two words of loyalty to the country/ One heart for the country and the people", but his official career was full of ups and downs. A talented Confucian scholar, an official in charge of difficult and thorny regions, a military general who fought in the South and pacified the North and always brought victory to the court, a Dinh Dien Su who organized land reclamation with an area of 38,095 hectares, with up to 4,000 soldiers, an outstanding poet of the century... Yet he was demoted 7 times, in 1841 he was sentenced to death by beheading, in 1843 he was demoted to a soldier...

Nguyen Cong Tru, with high reputation as Minister, Governor, Governor, and low reputation as Lang Trung, soldier... One must have a bold and contemptuous spirit, a passionate love of life, and a burning ideal of dedication to withstand those harsh and unjust blows. Not only was he resilient and patient in endurance, in Nguyen Cong Tru, the desire to "govern the country and save the world", the ideal of "becoming a hero", always burned fiercely and intensely. It seems that in the human world full of absurdity, injustice, and deceit, at the "downfalls" on the road to officialdom, even in situations of "beheading and imprisoning after disobeying the imperial edict", Nguyen Cong Tru still kept his heart very upright, courageously devoted himself, without disappointment, discouragement, without resentment towards life, without bitterness, resentment, and choosing to live a life of weakness.

“Be a pine tree standing in the middle of the sky and singing/ In the middle of the sky, there is a steep cliff/ Whoever can bear the cold will climb with the pine tree”. That is the declaration, the philosophy of life of Uy Vien General Nguyen Cong Tru.

Ca tru will forever be preserved, conserved, and promoted in life...

3. For Nguyen Cong Tru, poetry is the place that most clearly and deeply displays optimism, confidence, freedom, boldness, pride, and romance: “Only thirty-six thousand lives/Ten thousand six hundred and sixty are all wasted/Tell the Creator to turn the times around/So that the guests can have a wide space to play”. He admitted: “There have been many amorous people in the past/Old Tran is one and I am two/The older I get, the more flexible and resilient I am”. And to fulfill his desire, there is no other way than to leave the world and enter the world. “Entering the shackles of the foot, the feet are not entangled/Coming to the mortal world, the shirt is not stained”.

In other words, Nguyen Cong Tru's commitment in poetry in the mid-late 18th century, for the first time in the history of Vietnamese poetry, affirmed the human need for enjoyment, raising it to a philosophy of life, which many poets of Ha Tinh in the 18th century such as Nguyen Huy Oanh, Le Huu Trac, Nguyen Thiep, Nguyen Du could not do. But in my opinion, in the moral space of that time, amidst the harsh limitations of historical movements, to do that unique thing, Nguyen Cong Tru was faithful to the philosophy of commitment from his humble beginnings.

4. 80 years of living in this world, 40 years as a poor scholar, more than 30 years as a high-ranking and low-ranking official, making great contributions to the people and the country in all fields of economics, culture, and poetry, but when he was old, he had no door or home, "Retired at 70, still living in rented accommodation".

Nguyen Cong Tru's life is a profound lesson in the philosophy of dedication. Dedication for ideals, for career, for life, for the masses and also for his own love of play: "The more you indulge in pleasure, the more profit you make/ If you don't play, who will compensate for the loss?"

(*) The poems of Nguyen Cong Tru quoted in this article are taken from the book "Nguyen Cong Tru in the history" - Nghe An Publishing House and East-West Cultural and Language Center - 2008.

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