Trần Nhân Tông: A Biographical Study

Emperor Nhan Tong of the Tran dynasty was a national hero who made monumental contributions to Vietnamese history across various dimensions. It was under his leadership that the Vietnamese people reached the pinnacle of their era. Together with most of the talented military strategists, he possessed the ability to unleash their latent strength to defeat the most ferocious and veteran Mongol armies of the time in glorious battles such as Ham Tu, Chuong Duong, Bach Dang, and Tay Ket. The Emperor also succeeded in expanding the country's borders, laying a solid foundation for the collective mission of "Marching Southward"—a cause that the Vietnamese people will always remember with deep gratitude.

Furthermore, two highly significant developments occurred in Vietnamese culture during his reign. The first was the use of Vietnamese alongside Chinese as the official written language of the royal court. In previous dynasties, Vietnamese must have been used to some extent; however, this practice was not proven by any documentary evidence until his reign. It can be said that the official use of Vietnamese during his reign led to the emergence of a series of literary works composed in the native tongue, such as Tieu An Quoc Kien Thi by Chu Van An; a translation of the Shih Ching (Classic of Poetry) by Ho Quy Ly; poems by Nguyen Toi and Tran Truyen Quang, a Buddhist monk at An Quoc Pagoda; notably, Quoc Am Thi Tap by Nguyen Trai; and the first Vietnamese translations of the Buddhist texts Phat Thuyet Dai Bao Phu Mau An Trong Kinh and Phap Hoa Kinh, which are believed to have been translated by Zen Master Vien Thai. Secondly, the Emperor established a new branch of the Zen school, namely Truc Lam Yen Tu, which advocated that the path to enlightenment could be peacefully cultivated right within secular life.

Accordingly, under the reign of Nhan Tong, many major and interconnected events took place in political, military, and cultural spheres: the double victory over the Mongol invaders, the annexation of the two districts of O and Ly into the country's territory, the use of Vietnamese alongside Chinese as an official written language, and finally, new developments in philosophical thought.

Author:  Lê Mạnh Thát

Publisher: Nhà xuất bản Tổng hợp Thành Phố Hồ Chí Minh

Released Date: 1999