The person who breathed Yen Tu soul into the pages of books

Loving and attached to the "4th blessed land of Giao Chau", Mr. Nguyen Tran Truong (Phuong Dong ward, Uong Bi city) has spent a lot of time researching and preserving the cultural and spiritual values of Yen Tu. His works and articles about this "sacred mountain" have contributed to making Yen Tu landscape more and more known to domestic and international friends and tourists; at the same time, they are the basis for scientists and historians to approach and research, serving the process of preparing a dossier to submit to UNESCO to recognize the Yen Tu Monuments and Landscape Complex as a World Heritage Site.

Mr. Nguyen Tran Truong has many in-depth research works about Yen Tu.

Attachment to Yen Tu begins with a poem

“The greatest opportunity in my life was to know Yen Tu. The story began during the years when I was teaching at the 10+3 Pedagogical School of Quang Ninh Province (later the Pedagogical College, now Ha Long University). At that time, in addition to my professional duties, I was also in charge of the school’s youth union and youth movement. A poetry and prose writing contest was organized by the Youth Union, receiving many entries from union members. Among them, I was particularly impressed by a poem about the Buddhist King Tran Nhan Tong. The opportunity with Yen Tu began from there, and has lasted until now,” Mr. Truong shared.

Later, when he was assigned to work at the Cultural and Sports Department of Uong Bi Town (now the Department of Culture and Information of Uong Bi City), directly in charge of the state management of historical and cultural relics in the area, Mr. Truong had more opportunities to access Yen Tu and spent a lot of time researching information related to the Yen Tu relic and scenic spot. But perhaps the passion for the values of Yen Tu began to blossom most strongly in his life during his time working at the Yen Tu Relic Management Board - where he was the first Head of the Management Board. During his 11 years here, he worked hard to collect, research and publish many works about Yen Tu and Buddhist King Tran Nhan Tong.

Some books written by Mr. Nguyen Tran Truong about Yen Tu.

“In the early 90s, there were not many documents about Yen Tu. At first, I only had the conference proceedings of Non Thieng Yen Tu - a collection of scientific research papers by experts, professors, and archaeologists. From this valuable source of documents, I began to travel to the National Library, read ancient books to collect documents, and nurtured the intention of writing a book about Yen Tu" - Mr. Truong shared.

In 1994, Mr. Truong published his first book titled "Non Thieng Yen Tu" - a comic book introducing the Buddha King Tran Nhan Tong. Up to now, he has had 6 books with tens of thousands of copies printed and distributed and dozens of articles about Yen Tu published in central and provincial newspapers and magazines. Typical examples include: "Danh nhan Yen Tu", "Chua Yen Tu", historical story "Buddha King Tran Nhan Tong", memoir "Yen Son Ky Uc", memoir "A time back to Yen Tu". His works about Yen Tu have contributed significantly to introducing, promoting and spreading the value of the Buddhist land of Yen Tu to people and tourists from all over the world.

One of his many compositions about Yen Tu.

“There are many ways for scientific research on Yen Tu to reach the public. For me, I choose literature as the medium, the most familiar and easy-to-understand way of writing to bring dry historical data closer to readers,” Mr. Truong added.

Heavy heart for sacred mountains

Up to now, although he has been retired for ten years, Mr. Truong still continues to research Yen Tu, participates in compiling content introducing relics to be engraved on stone steles, teaches knowledge training for tour guides working at Yen Tu, and consults on related historical and cultural issues...

Talking with him about the relics in the Yen Tu Monuments and Landscape Complex, he can talk in detail about each relic without documents, what is still there, what is lost, which parts have just been invested in, renovated, embellished and restored by the State... Because he understands Yen Tu well, although he has retired, he was still invited to be a member of the delegation to survey the historical and cultural relics on Yen Tu mountain range and surrounding areas in the three provinces of Bac Giang, Hai Duong, Quang Ninh with a group of international experts including: Professor Paul Dingwall, Dr. Radhika and Professor Ueno. He gave a keynote speech at the Yen Tu Scientific Conference in 2015, wrote a paper for the Yen Tu Conference in August 2020 organized by the Provincial People's Committee. From mid-2021 to present, Mr. Truong has participated in part of the work in building a dossier to submit to UNESCO to recognize Yen Tu as a World Heritage Site with the topic of Truc Lam Buddhism.

Mr. Nguyen Tran Truong (2nd row, far right) participated in the Scientific Seminar on identifying outstanding typical values of Yen Tu Monuments and Landscape Complex, organized by the Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism in 2020.

Talking about Yen Tu's opportunity to become a World Heritage Site, Mr. Truong said: This is a prestigious title. At that time, Yen Tu will become more and more famous, the value of Yen Tu will spread throughout the world. This is not only my personal wish, but also the wish of every citizen who loves the sacred Buddhist land.

Sharing his future plans, Mr. Truong affirmed: I will continue to spend time and passion on scientific research on Yen Tu. I am planning to publish another book, a collection of in-depth articles on Yen Tu. To me, Yen Tu is not only a valuable historical relic, a place I have been attached to in my career, but also my soul, a part of my life.

Mr. Nguyen Tran Truong's contributions have been and are contributing to making Yen Tu's value more and more famous, as shown in the couplet he wrote about the famous Yen Tu mountain:

"Yen Tu's reputation spreads from North to South

The Truc Lam Dharma abides in heaven and earth.

Source