Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Ta Nhi, Institute of Han Nom Studies, is considered a leading expert on Nom script in our country, a person with profound, deep and multi-dimensional knowledge of ancient Vietnamese. He is the author, co-author and editor of many valuable works on Vietnamese culture. During Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Ta Nhi's working trip to Ha Long City, reporters from the Quang Ninh Media Center interviewed him.
- Sir, during your survey trip to Ha Long City, which relics impressed you the most?
+ I thank Ha Long City for inviting me to survey some important historical sites. I am very impressed with the famous temples in Quang Ninh, such as Tran Quoc Nghien temple, King Le Thanh Tong temple on Bai Tho mountain, Long Tien pagoda and especially King Le Thai To temple in Le Loi commune.
- What do you think is special about the temple?
+ After returning to Hanoi, reading more historical data related to King Le Thai To, we focused on thinking and proposing the need to build a plan for King Le Thai To temple to match his stature as well as the current Ha Long City. What surprised us was that the King Le Thai To temple was located in Le Loi commune, the king's taboo name.
Coming here, we suddenly thought of another temple of King Le Thai To, also in Le Loi commune but in Muong Te district, Lai Chau province. Here, there is still preserved a Chinese poem of King Le consisting of 8 lines, each line has 7 words, written in 1432, carved on the cliff. In particular, I especially pay attention to 4 lines of poetry: "Bien phong hao bi tru phuong luoc/ Xa tac ung tu ke cuu an/ Hu dao nguy than tam bach phuc/ Nhu kim chi tac thuan luu khan". Roughly translated, it means: We must prepare a strategy to fight the enemy at the border/ To make the country peaceful for a long time/ Three hundred dangerous rapids and waterfalls are nothing/ Now we just see them as flowing water.
History books also record that King Le Thai To went to fight the enemy in Cao Bang in 1430, and in 1432 fought Deo Cat Han in Muong Te. Thus, we can also guess that King Le Thai To went to fight the enemy in Hoanh Bo also happened around that time, which means that it was nearly 600 years ago.
In the temple of King Le Thai To in Le Loi commune of Ha Long city, in addition to the deity Le Thai To, there is also a co-worship of Le Lai and Nguyen Trai. King Le Loi told his descendants to worship Le Lai. They even held a memorial service for Le Lai one day before Le Loi. Therefore, there is a folk saying: "Hầm lê Lai 21, Lê Lợi 22". As for Nguyen Trai, because his life was full of ups and downs, and at the end of his life he was involved in the execution of his entire family, so his worship was sometimes neglected. When the villagers of Hoanh Bo built the temple of King Le Thai To, they chose Nguyen Trai as the person to co-worship, which was truly meaningful and humane.
- Ha Long City has an investment project to renovate and expand the temple of King Le Thai To in Le Loi commune. During this survey trip, what suggestions do you have for this restoration project in terms of Han Nom expertise?
+ In my opinion, Ha Long City needs to keep the existing parallel sentences, but can also keep the original content and remake them on a larger, more beautiful scale. There may be parallel sentences that are not really good, but the writers are very sincere, expressing their wishes for society and their children, so they still need to be preserved for posterity. It is also necessary to add new parallel sentences, horizontal lacquered boards, and scrolls to King Le Loi's temple to match.
In my opinion, at the temple of King Le Thai To, it is necessary to add 9 parallel sentences from 9 to 15 words long, 9 horizontal lacquered boards. In the festival yard, it is necessary to make more parallel sentences and new scrolls. Of which, there are 9 parallel sentences from 9 to 11 words long, including 1 parallel sentence in Nom script; 9 scrolls with content of poems praising the merits of King Le Thai To and the gods. In the experience area, it is necessary to make 9 more parallel sentences from 9 to 13 words long, including 3 parallel sentences in Nom script and 9 large-character scrolls. In total, there are 27 parallel sentences, 27 horizontal lacquered boards.
At the same time, it is necessary to erect a version of the stele recording the battle of King Le Thai To in Muong Te to be placed in the temple. This has a precedent because that version is located at Ho Guom (Hanoi), and another version is located in Lam Son (Thanh Hoa). These versions are of interest to the public nationwide. Therefore, the city leaders should also allow the construction of a version of the stele recording the battle of King Le Thai To to be placed in the temple in Le Loi commune. Perspective of the project to expand the temple of King Le Thai To in Le Loi commune, Ha Long city.
- Why the number 27, sir?
+ In 1427, the country was cleared of the Ming invaders. The people of the whole country lived peacefully and happily. That merit was bestowed upon the Lam Son insurgents and upon King Le Loi. That great merit was deeply imprinted in the hearts of the Dai Viet people. They worshiped him, built temples, and most likely the Le Thai To temple in Troi village, Tri Xuyen commune, Tri Xuyen canton, Uong Bi district, now Le Loi commune, Ha Long city, existed from that time, but the scale was obviously small. About 500 years later, the people of Troi village renovated the temple on a new scale, the remaining vestige of which is the three-entrance gate as proof.
Up to now, the temple has been increasingly restored on a much larger scale. In the eyes of those who study historical culture through Han Nom documents, I am particularly interested in 3 areas: the temple of King Le Thai To, the festival yard and the tourist experience area. We propose to add 27 parallel sentences, 27 horizontal lacquered boards with the wish of the number 27 so that we can remember the year 1427. And hopefully by 2027, the restoration project will be completed in a perfect manner.
- Speaking of the cultural vestiges of the Le Dynasty, or those restored during the Le Dynasty, left in Quang Ninh, is there anything that catches your attention?
+ In Quang Ninh, the main relics are from the early Le Dynasty. Especially among these relics is Yen Tu, which Quang Ninh province, along with the two provinces of Hai Duong and Bac Giang, has submitted a dossier to UNESCO for recognition as a World Heritage Site. Traces of the Tran Dynasty relics have been found, which were greatly restored during the Le Trung Hung period. In Quang Ninh, architectural relics and artifacts have been excavated through archaeology; restored architectures from the Le Trung Hung period have been revealed, which is evidence of the most renaissance and development period of Truc Lam Buddhism. Quynh Lam Pagoda and Ho Thien Pagoda are large pagodas in Dong Trieu that were restored in the 17th-18th centuries during the Le Dynasty. These relics help us clearly understand that during the Tran Dynasty, the peak of spirituality converged in Yen Tu with the three founders of Truc Lam Zen sect, which was revived strongly during the Le Trung Hung period.
Traces show that the defensive works of the Le Dynasty were often located on large mountain peaks, near major traffic routes. These were also outposts that monitored the behavior of the Northern invaders. In Ha Long today, Truyen Dang Mountain (currently called Bai Tho Mountain, formerly called Roi Den Mountain) and Man Mountain (once considered as two twin mountains in legend) were used as places to light fires to signal that there were invaders invading the border. The smoke here would signal the outposts further inland. As we all know, in order for outposts to exist, they must have a spiritual system to protect them, in this case Buddhism. In fact, from the 16th to the 18th century, Buddhism developed again. Therefore, it can be said that Buddhism contributed to strengthening the outposts, contributing to protecting the Fatherland. Many researchers have been interested in this issue.
- What you just said has a bit of a spiritual and mythical tinge?
+ No. What remains and remains until now are the relics, which we sometimes mistakenly think are only associated with religion and beliefs, but are actually associated with national heroes. Vietnamese people consider gods to be spiritual forces necessary for the past, present and future. The heroes of heaven and earth are gods who bring favorable weather and good crops to people. That is true to Vietnamese tradition without being tainted with superstition. We must respect that.
- Thank you for the interview!
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