What Systems Make Up Eastern Philosophy and How Did They Enter Vietnamese Culture?
Yin yang, the Five Elements, the I Ching, Confucianism, Buddhism and Daoism: their origins, differences and how these systems blended into Vietnamese culture.
Results for "Confucianism"
How long is the mourning period? Mourning terms and attire by kinship
How long is mourning, and which mourning dress goes with each degree of kinship? The rules in three old Vietnamese ritual books, up to trừ phục.
Tống ôn, tống gió and Covid-19 Era Peace-Praying Ceremonies: Vietnamese Epidemic-Expelling Rituals and the Changes During the Pandemic
Tống ôn, tống gió is a Mekong Delta ritual that sends epidemics and misfortune away by river. It explores how Covid-19 changed these ceremonies.
The Truc Lam Yen Tu Zen School: Tran Nhan Tong's Monastic Renunciation, the Three Patriarchs, and the Thought of 'Cư trần lạc đạo'
The Trúc Lâm Yên Tử school founded by Trần Nhân Tông: its three patriarchs and the idea of cư trần lạc đạo, living in the world yet glad in the Way.
Traditional Vietnamese Funerals: Cultural Significance and Common Forms
Explore the deep cultural significance of traditional Vietnamese funerals, common burial forms, and trends of change in modern society.
What Is Yin and Yang? Origins of the Doctrine and How Divination Arts Use It
What yin and yang mean, where the terms come from, and how Kinh Dịch, Bát Tự, Tử Vi and phong thủy use them, each by its own conventions.
Ti and Yong in Mai Hoa Dich So: Which Trigram Is Ti, Which Is Yong, and How Do the Five Generating and Controlling Relations Reveal Fortune or Misfortune?
In Mai Hoa Dich So, the trigram without the moving line is ti (the querent) and the trigram with the moving line is yong (the matter).
Vietnamese Buddhism Through Periods of Development: From Luy Lâu and the Lý Trần Era to the Lê Nguyễn Period and the Revival Movement
Vietnamese Buddhism over nearly twenty centuries: the Luy Lâu centre, fusion with local beliefs, the Lý and Trần flourishing.
Who was Huyền Quang, the third patriarch of the Trúc Lâm Zen school?
Huyền Quang (Lý Đạo Tái), third patriarch of the Trúc Lâm Zen school after Trần Nhân Tông and Pháp Loa, is profiled via his life, deeds and surviving poetry.
How the I Ching Became a Classic: How Song Scholars Read the Changes, and the Routes the I Ching Took to Vietnam and the West
Canonized in 135 BCE, the I Ching was reread by Song scholars along image-number and meaning-principle lines, then spread to Vietnam and the West.
Han dynasty Yijing studies: how do Jing Fang's image-number methods differ from Wang Bi's meaning-principle approach?
Han Yijing studies by Meng Xi, Jiao Yanshou and Jing Fang used image-number; how does this differ from Wang Bi's meaning-principle reading.
Why Do Vietnamese Hold Annual Death Anniversaries and What Does the Day of Gio Mean
The gio day is an annual memorial rite held on the lunar death date of a family member. This article explains its origin, meaning, and how it is understood.
What Is Trùng Tang, and Why Do Vietnamese Choose the Hour of Coffining and Avoid Certain Burial Days: Funerals Seen from Anthropology
Trùng tang, the hour of coffining and avoided burial days are folk beliefs from Bắc Kỳ; anthropology reads them as easing unease when someone dies.
What Feng Shui Is in the Eyes of Anthropologists and Historians: From the Compass to Lineage Power
Anthropologists describe feng shui as a symbolic system for reading landscapes and a social tool within lineages. In the West, it became a home decor product.
How early 20th century Vietnamese consulted fortune tellers, picked auspicious days, and practiced mediumship: rereading Phan Ke Binh, Diguet, and Nguyen Van Huyen
Three early 20th century recorders found fortune telling, day selection and mediumship widespread in northern Vietnam, each seeing them differently.
Saju: Korean Four Pillars Astrology: Origins, Calculation, and Its Place in Korean Life
Saju is Korea's Four Pillars astrology, rooted in Chinese Bazi but with its own interpretive tradition, still used for marriage and career choices.
Which text do you read when a divination produces many moving lines? Chu Hy's method for judging change from one to six moving lines
Chu Hy's method for judging change in the Dịch học khải mông sets out which text to read when a hexagram has one to six moving lines.
What Is Cưới Chạy Tang, Why the Rushed Wedding, and What Did People of the Past Think of This Custom?
Cưới chạy tang is a rushed wedding before the funeral announcement, squeezed into one or two days because mourning would force postponement.
Trang Trinh Nguyen Binh Khiem (1491-1585): Cultural Celebrity and the Heritage of Vinh Bao Temple
Trang Trinh Nguyen Binh Khiem was a 16th century cultural celebrity. His temple in Vinh Bao, Hai Phong, is a special national relic.
Calligraphy for the New Year at the Temple of Literature: the beautiful cultural tradition of the calligrapher during Tet
Asking for calligraphy at the Temple of Literature is a beautiful Vietnamese Tet custom, showing respect for knowledge and sending new year wishes.
Village Guardian Deity Worship (Thành Hoàng) in Vietnamese Culture
Thành Hoàng is the guardian deity believed to protect each Vietnamese village, worshipped at the communal đình. Its origins, deity types and royal decrees.
Can You Combine Death Anniversaries and Hold One Joint Offering for Several Ancestors? Customs, Rituals and Proper Conduct
Combining death anniversaries into one day is a practical choice for families whose children work far away. Here is what is reasonable and what to watch for.
What to Do When a Loved One Dies: The Sequence of Traditional Vietnamese Funeral Rites from the Moment of Death to Burial
What to do when a family member dies: the order of a traditional Vietnamese funeral, from shrouding and mourning dress to burial and the later rites.
Star Worship and Misfortune Resolution at the Start of the Year: Origins, Cultural Significance, and a Buddhist Perspective
Vietnamese star worship and misfortune resolution (dâng sao giải hạn) at lunar new year: its Taoist origins, cultural meaning, and a Buddhist view.
Shao Yong and the Huangji Jingshi: Song dynasty image and number studies and the yuan hui yun shi system
Thiệu Ung (Shao Yong, 1011 to 1077) and Hoàng Cực Kinh Thế: the image-and-number learning of the Song and the cycle of nguyên, hội, vận, thế.
What rituals make up a Northern Vietnamese funeral, from wrapping the body to announcing the mourning?
Funeral rites in northern Vietnam, from shrouding and encoffining to thành phục, the burial and the ngu rites that follow, as old ritual books record.
Vietnamese Women's Day 20/10: origin and meaning
Vietnamese Women's Day on October 20 marks the 1930 founding of the Vietnam Anti-Imperialist Women's Union, a date that honors Vietnamese women each year.
Traditional Hue Wedding: Valuing Rituals over Material Gifts through the Six Ancient Ceremonies
Traditional Hue weddings prize ritual over material gifts across six ceremonies, and though simplified today, they keep their solemn spiritual meaning.
What Does Hexagram 33, Thiên Sơn Độn (遯), Say About Retreating at the Right Time? Structure, Judgment, Six Line Texts, and Lessons
Hexagram 33, Thiên Sơn Độn, covers timely retreat: the Qian and Gen trigrams, the Judgment, the six line texts, and lessons on preserving oneself.
Tam Thức and Thái Ất in Vietnam, and the story of Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm studying the Thái Ất thần kinh: what is historical record and what is legend?
Tam Thức covers Thái Ất, Lục Nhâm and Kỳ Môn. This piece traces how it reached Vietnam and asks what is history and what is legend around Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm.
Hexagram 35 Fire Over Earth (Jin, 晉): Advancing, Rising, and the Six Line Texts of the I Ching
Hexagram 35 Fire Over Earth (Jin) in the I Ching: the sun rising above the earth, a sign of advancing and being recognized.
Từ Đạo Hạnh, Nguyễn Minh Không, Dương Không Lộ: Three Lý-Era Zen Masters in Lĩnh Nam chích quái and in Village Belief
Từ Đạo Hạnh, Nguyễn Minh Không and Dương Không Lộ in Lĩnh Nam chích quái are tales of wonder about three monks of the Lý era, told as tales.
In what order should you read a Kinh Dịch hexagram: hexagram name, hexagram text, the six line texts, then the Thoán Commentary, Great Image, Small Image, and Văn Ngôn
A Kinh Dịch hexagram stacks several layers of text: name, hexagram text, six line texts, then the Thoán, Great Image, Small Image, and Văn Ngôn.
What Is the Thang Long Tu Tran: The Four Temples Guarding the Four Directions of the Capital, Who They Worship, and Why Each Deity Was Placed in That Direction
Thang Long Tu Tran is four temples guarding the old capital: Bach Ma in the east, Voi Phuc in the west, Kim Lien in the south, Quan Thanh in the north.
What Are Relief Stars and Fate-Mitigating Stars in Vietnamese Astrology, and Their Real Limits
Learn what relief stars and fate-mitigating stars are in Vietnamese astrology, their origins, and their real limits from Buddhist and cultural perspectives.
What Is Chu Công giải mộng, and Is It Really by the Duke of Zhou?
Chu Công giải mộng is an anonymous folk dream-interpretation book, not the Duke of Zhou's work. This piece covers its origins, structure, and how to read it.
Meaning of Number 5 in Eastern Numerology
Discover the meaning of number 5 in Eastern Numerology through the lens of the Five Elements, I Ching, and Vietnamese culture.
What Is the Ten Wings? The Ten Commentaries on the I Ching, What Each One Does, and Who Wrote Them
The Ten Wings (Thập Dực) are ten commentaries on the I Ching: Thoán, Tượng, Hệ Từ, Văn Ngôn, Tự Quái, Thuyết Quái, Tạp Quái.
What is the grave-opening ceremony three days after burial? Offerings, southern Vietnamese custom and the Buddhist view
The grave-opening ceremony about three days after burial in southern Vietnam: the offerings, the folk meaning of chick, ladder and sugarcane, a Buddhist view.
Traditional Vietnamese Wedding: The Sequence of 6 Basic Ceremonies
Explore the detailed sequence of 6 traditional Vietnamese wedding ceremonies: Chạm Ngõ, Ăn Hỏi, Xin Dâu, Đón Dâu, wedding banquet, and Lại Mặt.
Family Altars: How Northern and Southern Vietnamese Arrangements Differ
Northern and Southern Vietnamese family altars differ in structure, arrangement, generations honored and five-fruit tray choices.
No Scientific Basis Does Not Mean Worthless: Reading Folk Belief as Cultural Heritage Rather Than as a Truth Claim
Folk belief is not science, but that does not make it worthless. The right way to read it is as cultural heritage, a symbolic language of community.
What Is Duyên Phận and How Does It Differ from Nhân Duyên in Buddhism?
Duyên phận is a folk way of speaking about meetings as if preordained. Nhân duyên in Buddhism means conditions that give rise to phenomena, not fate.
What Are Impermanence, Suffering and Non-Self? The Three Marks of the Teaching in Buddhism
Impermanence, suffering and non-self are the three marks of the teaching: body, mind and world all change, are unsatisfactory and have no fixed self.
The Four Dharma Deities (Cloud, Rain, Thunder, Lightning) Worship at Dau Pagoda: Origins and Identity
The Four Dharma Deities at Dau Pagoda in Bac Ninh blend Indian Buddhism with ancient Vietnamese nature worship of Cloud, Rain, Thunder and Lightning.
