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MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING VINH UNIVERSITY NGUYEN THI KIM HONG RELIGIOUS INSPIRATION IN VIETNAMESE POETRY IN 20TH CENTURY Major: Vietnamese Literature Code: 9220121 SUMMARY OF LITERARY PHD THESIS Scientific instructors: Assoc.Prof Luu Khanh Tho Dr Bien Thi Quynh Nga Nghe An, 2022 This work was completed at Vinh University Scientific instructor: Assoc.Prof Luu Khanh Tho Dr Bien Thi Quynh Nga Opponent 1: Opponent 2: Opponent 3: This thesis is defended in front of the School-level Thesis judging Venue: ………………………… Time: …………………………… This thesis is available in: - National Library - Information Centre – Nguyen Thuc Hao Library, Vinh University i PREAMBLE Reason for chosing the topic 1.1 Religion and literature are closely related Religion can influence many aspects of literary creation; on the contrary, literature, including poetry, is the breeding-ground for religious ideas and psychology to express artistically Modern poetry has witnessed many gifted poet seeking the inspiration from religion such as: Han Mac Tu, Quach Tan, Che Lan Vien, Bui Giang, Thich Nhat Hanh, Pham Thien Thu, Minh Duc Trieu Tam Anh, Mai Van Phan, Phap Hoan, Phapxa Chan As can be seen from this fact, it can be affirmed that the religious inspiration is one of the most outstanding and unique inspiration of modern Vietnamese poetry 1.2 Poetry which consists of religious inspuration to a certain extent, is a possible choice for human to find their innerpeace, balance their material and spritual lives, especially in this current context, pertaining to the progress and civilisation is the ever-increasing instablity of people’s spiritual lives Because of this significance, researching this topic assist us to comprehend deeply about the role, value which is created by poetry consisting of religious inspiration bring to human life 1.3 Studies which are interested in the relationship between literature and religion, the investigation on the imprints of religion’s influence on Vietnamese literature in the 20th century in general, and poetry in particular, have existed but are still scattered, focusing on separate aspects Therefore, it is nescessary to have a thorough and systematic view of the influences of religion on poetry and literature over a century, in order to be able to objectively and scientifically assess a way to approach and express the life and people with their own special nuances, contributing to the national literary achievements Because of those reasons, we choose to research the topic Religious inspiration in Vietnamese poetry in the 20th century Research object and scope 2.1 Research object The research object of the thesis is: Religious inspiration in Vietnamese poetry in the 20th century 2.2 Research scope The thesis covers two prominent sources of religious inspiration in Vietnamese poetry in the 20th century, namely Buddhist inspiration and Christian inspiration The survey scope of the thesis is the compositions inspired by religion of Vietnamese poets of the 20th century (including the works of two groups of authors: the group of authors who are believers of religion and those who are not believers), which mainly focuses on surveying and in-depth research on a number of outstanding phenomena, authors who are typical for the two sources of religious inspiration aforementioned are: Han Mac Tu, Quach Tan, Che Lan Vien, Bui Giang, Thich Nhat Hanh, Pham Thien Thu, Minh Duc Trieu Tam Anh, Mai Van Phan, etc Obviously, religious inspiration in modern poetry also orcurred in the twenty-first century, which is evident in Mai Van Phan's poetry and poetry of some young poets such as Phap Hoan, Phapxa Chan Therefore, the poetry of poets at this period still attacts us to identify the movement and development of religious inspiration Research purposes and tasks 3.1 Research purpose The purpose of the thesis is to clarify the unique features of religious inspiration in Vietnamese poetry in the 20th century in terms of: content and method of expression; identify the continuations, additions and developments of this source of inspiration ranging from traditional to modern poetry; thereby contributing to a more complete identification and assessment of the achievements and contributions of the religiously inspired poetry section to the movement and development of Vietnamese poetry, and simultaneously affirming an interesting and full of meaning perspective for the study, reception and creation of poetry: spiritual-religious perspective 3.2 Research tasks 3.2.1 Analyze the social - aesthetic premises of religious inspiration, identify the movement process, and place of this inspiration in the history of national poetry in general and modern Vietnamese poetry in particular 3.2.2 Analyze, interpret the special features of religious inspiration in Vietnamese poetry in the 20th century in content aspects: the conception about the various world and beliefs; the conception about religion and life, the relationship of religion and life, the matter of egoism 3.2.3 Analyze and interpret the characteristics of the way of expressing religious inspiration in Vietnamese poetry in the 20th century such as: poetic form, way of organization, poem structure, symbols, language and tone Research methods To approach and solve the research problem, we use many different research methods such as: poetic approach, interdisciplinary method, structural-systematic method, the typological method, the biographical method, the comparative method In addition, the thesis also uses a combination of research operations such as statistics - classification, analysis - synthesis New contributions of the thesis The thesis identifies the factors that create religious inspiration in poetry, identifies and systemizes typical 20thcentury Vietnamese poets and authors influenced by religious inspiration On the basis of surveying, analyzing and interpreting these phenomena, the thesis elucidates the basic features of religious inspiration in Vietnamese poetry in the 20th century with a comprehensive and systematic view By placing religious inspiration on its movement from traditional poetry to the present, the thesis has a transparent, systematic and scientific view in assessing a way of expressing life and people with their own nuances, special features of modern poetry with religious inspiration, contributing to national literary achievements Researching modern poetry from a spiritual-religious perspective, the thesis contributes to orienting an interesting and practical approach in the creation and reception of modern poetry, affirming the positive meaning of the poetic part consisting of religious inspiration in balancing people's spiritual life, helping people to be inclined to the good The research results can also be used as a reference material for the study and teaching of modern Vietnamese literature Structure of the thesis Apart from the Introduction, Conclusion and References materials, the main content of the thesis is seperated into chapters: Chapter Overview of the research problem and theoretical basis of the topic; Chapter Continuity and movement stages of religious inspiration in Vietnamese poetry in the 20th century; Chapter Religious inspiration in Vietnamese poetry in the 20th century, viewed from the showed content; Chapter Religious inspiration in Vietnamese poetry in the 20th century, viewed from artistic methods and means CHAPTER THEORETICAL BASIS OF THE TOPIC AND OVERVIEW OF RESEARCH MATTER 1.1 Theoretical basis of the topic 1.1.1 Some theoretical issues about religion and the relationship between religion and poetry 1.1.1.1 Some theoretical issues about religion Religion reflects a concept, a perspective, a human interpretation about the universe, the world, and life Vietnam has been a country with the introduction of many types of religions for a long time until now, Buddhism and Christianity are the two religions with the widest coverage Hence, Buddhist inspiration and Christian inspiration have become two typical religious inspirations, prominent in national poetry and literature Therefore, in order to create a theoretical premise for the research problem, we generalize some core ideological issues of these religions in two aspects: world outlook and outlook on life - basic aspects which are origins of creative inspiration in national poetry 1.1.1.2 Relationship between religion and poetry Religion and poetry have a close relationship Religion is the object of interest and description of poetry Religion is an endless afflatus of inspiration for artistic creation And poetry is used as a form for religion to express doctrines and religious law On the other hand, religion can also affect the poet's contemplation and consideration about life and person, as well as the ways of organizing the poetic art world As can be seen from this perspective, religion contributes to raise the thought and feeling of poetry Religion is not only a material but also the destination of art, while poetry as a form of expression has brought new vitality, new rhythms to enrich human spiritual life, make it become more beautiful 1.1.2 Some theoretical issues about creative inspiration in literature and religious inspiration in poetry 1.1.2.1 Creative inspiration in literature Inspiration (Ancient Greek: pathos) refers to the deep, passionate feelings and high excitement of an artist facing a certain phenomenon of life that profoundly affects them It is a psychological and emotional state, a high excitement which can stimulate the creativity of the artist When emotions and intellect are sublimated, artists can create unique and attractive works of art Creative inspiration in literature, especially mainstream inspiration, is intense and passionate sentiments and emotions, expressing the writer's sincere and burning thoughts and aspirations about the target figure in the work Inspiration is associated with the writer's noble ideals about people and life It opens the emotion of each reader's heart, leaves a deep feeling, opens the intellectual wisdom, helps to recognise the object in many aspects, energizes the spirit and leads to the right actions which are full of enthusiasm 1.1.2.2 Religious inspiration in poetry According to us, the basic condition for being religiously inspired is that the poet must understand, believe and assimilate religious doctrines These doctrine would become deeply imprinted in the artist's consciousness, create a passionate religious aesthetic Under the impulse of profound experiences of those doctrines, the poet will approach reality with a spiritual point of view and reflect in their work with their own expressive methods, imbued with religious colors Thus, here, the emotion of religion has transformed into a lyrical consciousness, impelling the creative action of the artist, making them turn to religion as a foundation that manipulate the world of poetic art… In other words, it can be understood that religious inspiration in poetry refers to the poet's intense vibrational state about religion, formed on the basis of profound experiences in doctrine and faith, which has transformed into a lyrical consciousness, motivating the poet to create a unique and separate artistic world From the aforementioned understanding of religious inspiration in poetry, we have several ways to classify religiously inspired poetry: - From the perspective of the author - the creative subject, in modern Vietnamese poetry, there are two group of authors write about religious inspiration, including religious believers and nonbelievers - From the perspective of religious types, modern Vietnamese poetry has two main afflatus of inspiration, including: Buddhist inspiration and Christian inspiration Apparently, the division here is relative In fact, there are poets who were once religious followers but later returned to secular, like Pham Thien Thu, etc There are poets who are followers of Christianity but are still passionate about writing poems inspired by Buddhism such as Han Mac Tu, Mai Van Phan… There are other poets who simultaneously compose poems with different religious inspirations such as Han Mac Tu, Bui Giang, Mai Van Phan, Inrasara, And among these, we focus on surveying and in-depth research on the phenomena mentioned in the Scope of research section 1.2 Overview of research situation 1.2.1 General studies on religious inspiration in Vietnamese poetry in the 20th century Until now, there have been many treatises, reports, scientific articles, and dissertations mentioning religious inspiration in Vietnamese poetry in the 20th century XX In order to to observe the movement, continuity and several important changes of religious inspiration, we divided the research matter according to the movement process of modern Vietnamese poetry into three stages: from the first half of the 20th century to 1945, from 1945 to 1975 and from 1975 to the end of the 20th century… According to our observations, religious inspiration in modern Vietnamese poetry has received a lot of attention In particular, the influence of Buddhism is studied the most, there are quite intensive and systematic scientific works The influence of Christianity and other religions in modern poetry has received little attention This, of course, stems from the extent of influence of religions in the reality of cultural history, national literature and poetry composition However, these works will help us have a more comprehensive and in-depth view of the problem posed in the thesis 1.2.2 Studies on religious inspiration in poetry by prominent authors of the twentieth century Besides the works discussing the influence of religion in modern poetry in general, the researches on religious inspiration in the some specific poems also appear quite a lot We have reviewed the works, research articles on religious inspiration in poetry of some typical authors that we focus on surveying such as Han Mac Tu, Che Lan Vien, Quach Tan, Bui Giang, Thich Nhat Hanh, Minh Duc Trieu Tam Photo, Pham Thien Thu, Mai Van Phan… In general, research works have identified religious inspiration from many different angles, from ideological content (religious philosophies, faith, deification, relationship between religion and life, etc.) to forms of expression (poetic genre, structure, language, tone, image, symbol ) Moreover, many treatises and articles have studied a number of typical phenomena for this inspiration and have provided relevant and interesting explanations (for example, those of Vu Ngoc Phan, Phan Cu De, Dang Tien, Nguyen Thanh Tam ) These studies are very helpful on our research path However, according to our overview, most of the works just focus on research on specific poetic phenomena; or just mention several aspects of religious inspiration in poetry; sometimes through other issues related to religion that indirectly refer to this topic Clearly, in fact, there is a lack of a systematic, specific, direct study about religious inspiration in a vibrant poetic century with its own remarkable characteristics and features With our research efforts, we hope to contribute to this research gap Sub-conclusion of chapter 1: On the basis of introducing a number of religious issues (concepts, prominent types of religion in Vietnam, Buddhist and Christian thoughts); establish the key connotative concept of the thesis (religious inspiration in poetry); identify the connection and reciprocal relationship between religion and poetry, the important role of religious inspiration in poetic creation; we have identified and classified religious inspiration in poetry (from the perspective of the author - the creative subject, and from the perspective of the types of religion), and at the same time identify and study in-depth typical phenomena: Han Mac Tu, Quach Tan, Che Lan Vien, Bui Giang, Thich Nhat Hanh, Pham Thien Thu, Minh Duc Trieu Tam Anh, Mai Van Phan In terms of the research situation, religious inspiration in Vietnamese poetry in the 20th century is an issue which captured a great attraction of many researchers and critics Exploring modern poetry from a religious perspective is still a promising research direction with many scientific and practical meanings CHAPTER CONTINUATION BASE AND STAGES OF MOVEMENTS OF RELIGIOUS INSPIRATION IN VIETNAMESE POETRY IN THE 20TH CENTURY 2.1 Historical - social, cultural - literary basis of religious inspiration in Vietnamese poetry in the 20th century 2.1.1 Religious perception of Vietnamese people Vietnamese people attach special importance to spiritual life, so they easily get used to and respect religion Religious forms in Vietnam are always in a harmonious, interwoven, reciprocal and supportive relationship Thanks to the tolerance in accepting religions, Vietnam - a multi-ethnic and multi-religious country still retains the tradition of solidarity, with little discrimination against beliefs and religions The religious perceptive characteristics of Vietnamese people have a great influence on the reception of religion in all aspects of life, including poetry and literature It is showed the most when an artist who can be influenced by many different religious inspirations in his composition simultanously, such as Han Mac Tu, Bui Giang, Mai Van Phan 2.1.2 The continuity of the national literary tradition The religious circulation in poetry and national literature took place very early, creating the length of history, crystallizing into a tradition, creating momentum for this afflatus of inspiration to develop strongly in modern poetry and literature Folklore is influenced by Buddhism and Taoism Medieval literature is characterized by the three religions namely Confucianism Buddha - Faoism, but the spirit of Buddhism seems to be active, especially in the Ly Tran era… In short, religious inspiration is the Han Mac Tu: Religion is deeply rooted in Han Mac Tu's mind and thinking, influencing the concept of creativity, making his compositions have an internal structure in the whole work Thich Nhat Hanh: Thich Nhat Hanh's poetry is the mystical incarnation of Zen into literature and art with a profound intellectual content Minh Duc Trieu Tam Anh: With his vision of Zen and his poetic talent, Minh Duc Trieu Tam Anh has successfully conveyed Buddhist philosophical thought through poetry Pham Thien Thu: Pham Thien Thu's poetry is imbued with Zen imprints In particular, he was the first person to "transform the Buddhist scriptures to poetry" in Vietnamese literature Mai Van Phan: The religious inspiration in Mai Van Phan's poetry is inspired by the traditions of the homeland and family, along with the individual's "destiny" and inquisitiveness Religion became the aesthetic beauty of Mai Van Phan's poetry, "engaging" in the "escape" journey of aspiration for innovation through many poetry collections 2.1.4.2 Non-religious poets Quach Tan: Quach Tan's poetry has a combination of the conciseness and elegance of poetry with the profound wisdom of Zen in the form of quatrains, creating a harmonious poetic world between Zen mind and Zen scene Bui Giang: The spirit of Zen breaking ego has greatly influenced Bui Giang in many aspects ranging from conception, thought, lifestyle to even in his compositions Buddhist thought in Bui Giang's poetry has met and mixed with many sources of idea coming from the Wast-East Che Lan Vien: Che Lan Vien came to religion when his soul was desolate because of the ruins of life, desire a world of spiritual freedom beyond the threshold The poetic world of Che Lan Vien is imbued with religious sensibility 2.2 Movement stages of religious inspiration in Vietnamese poetry in the 20th century 2.2.1 Buddhist inspiration in Vietnamese poetry in the 20th century In the 20th century, Buddhist inspiration in poetry in particular and literature in general still holds an important position 10 From the beginning of the twentieth century to 1945, many authors of the romantic literary tendency were interested in Buddhism From 1945 to 1975, in the North, some compositions of Che Lan Vien, Huy Can, Hoang Cam, etc were influenced by Buddhist philosophy to somw extent However, in general, the Buddhist inspiration in Northern poetry seems to have not been exploited in depth In the field of urban poetry in the South, spiritual issues and religious ideas, especially Buddhism, are interested and explored and exploited more Zen thought has met Western philosophical and aesthetic theories such as psychoanalysis, existentialism in expressing an irrational reality, the breakdown of beliefs and the sadness of the human condition After 1975, changes in awareness of religion and literature created favorable conditions for Buddhist inspiration to flourish In poetry, Buddhism was rethought, discovered in many new dimensions with many modern forms of experimentation 2.2.2 Christian inspiration in Vietnamese poetry in 20thcentury Christian inspiration is also a basic and typical religious inspiration of twentieth-century Vietnamese poetry, although it was less prominent than Buddhist inspiration From the beginning of the twentieth century to 1945, new poets, especially Han Mac Tu, had an interest and passion for Christianity From 1954 to 1975, in the South, Christianity developed quite quickly, having a great influence on political, social and literary life During this period, the authors all found in Christianity a great sympathy for the human condition in war, for ontological sadness and a faithful belief in God, a desire for change After 1975, Christian inspiration, in the common afflatus of religious inspiration, had the opportunity to raise a more democratic voice in literature The Christian inspiration of this period was expressed in poetic forms with many innovations in poetic creative methods, boldly touching many problems in modern life, spiritual hidden corners, unconscious realm, 2.2.3 Some other religious inspirations in Vietnamese poetry in the twentieth century Vietnamese poetry in the twentieth century also has the presence of some other religious inspirations However, the status 11 and contribution of these religious inspirations to national poetry is not really as prominent as that of Buddhist and Christian inspiration Sub-conclusion of chapter 2: Apart from identifying the historical, social, cultural and literary bases of the continuation of religious inspiration in Vietnamese poetry in the twentieth century, we focus on clarifying the concepts Buddhism and Christian inspiration and the movements of these two inspirations Buddhist inspiration prevailed, attracting a larger number of authors and gain more achievements Although there were periods that Christian inspiration developed less strong than Buddhism but there were also brilliant crystallizations and peaks like the phenomenon of Han Mac Tu's poetry Set in the journey of the whole twentieth century, the two sources of inspiration moved in parallel and there were moments of sublimation such as the the 15 year period starting from 1930 and the period starting from 1986 When identifying religious inspiration in modern poetry, we also posed the problem of distinguishing between "religious literature" and "religious inspiration in literature" CHAPTER RELIGIOUS INSPIRATION IN VIETNAMESE POETRY IN THE 20TH CENTURY, VIEWED FROM THE EXPRESSED CONTENTS 3.1 Religious inspiration about realms and faith in Vietnamese poetry in 20th century 3.1.1 Buddhist Inspiration on realms and faith 3.1.1.1 Inspiration about the realms In the Buddhist concept, nirvana and blissfulness are considered the realms of human liberation And people can find nirvana, ecstasy, and achieve happiness in this life if they know how to give up all anger, delusion, attachment, and miscellaneous thought There, people always live in peace of mind, freedom, and liberation in a world of unconditioned, permanent and peaceful Reaching that state means that man is already in the ideal realm that Buddhism wants them to aim for A common feature in the vision of this ideal realm can be seen in the poetry of many modern poets imbued with Buddhist thought such as Thich Nhat Hanh, Pham Thien Thu, Bui Giang, Minh Duc Trieu Tam Anh, etc 12 3.1.1.2 Inspiration for faith With Buddhism, faith is expressed in the belief in the ability of being enlighted (Buddhist nature) that is available in all species, not in the beliefs that the power can bring blessings and eliminate disasters The Buddhist faith in poetry appears with a variety of colors, but the common point is that the poets all aim for faith as a destination promising many good things Nhat Hanh's poetry presents a modern view of the Buddhist faith For poets, coming to the Buddha does not mean waiting for the miracle of the Buddha in some mysterious realm It is important that we must firmly believe in ourselves: The mind walks in stillness / The feet come back (Padmapani)… 3.1.2 Christian inspiration about realms and faith in Vietnamese poetry in 20th century 3.1.2.1 Inspiration about the realms Christian directs people to the truth, the light in the heavenly realm The image of Heaven has entered the senses of modern poets, especially devout poets such as Che Lan Vien, Han Mac Tu, Xuan Ly Bang, Trang Thap Tu, Vo Long Te as a the world of halo, brightness and beauty On the other hand, the realm of Heaven in the poet's sense, is close, illusory, and metaphysical Heaven has become the ideal world in human's aspiration, becoming the truth of faith 3.1.2.2 Inspiration of faith Christian faith is understood as a person's complete reliance on God's love and power, and simultaneously giving his whole heart and life to God (who has million thanks) Poets who were early Christians met faith in God They turn to poetry to express their experiences about faith Han Mac Tu must be mentioned as the strongest profession of faith in poetry The faith in his poetry has gone beyond the meaning of a specific religious faith to reach a pure and noble poetic faith, tinged with surrealism: Faith is more fragrant than jade (Miracle omen) That faith is the truth of divine and eternal beauty, the origin of poetry, the only consolation that the poet desire to seek for 3.2 Religious inspiration about religion and life, the relationship between religion and life in 20th century Vietnamese poetry 13 3.2.1 Buddhist inspiration about religion and life, the relationship between religion and life Modern poets all find sympathy with the concept of suffering in Buddhist doctrines, especially the sufferings about fragile birth and death, the finiteness of human life, love and separation, the desire to obtain but cannot, life is illusory The metaphysical poetry in The Ruins of Che Lan Vien is imbued with the pain of a lonely, melancholy ego, a self that is deeply aware of the existence of essence, the nothingness of identity: I am a crystallization of the clear moonlight/ Why don't you let me go to nowhere? (Moonbathing) Pham Thien Thu saw the sorrowness of the world and clearly saw that it was fleeting: How long is our life / But immeasurable sorrowness (Flying bird imprints) Nhat Hanh attests to all the sufferings of the nation and human life: The pain that groan and burns in the minds / It is still on the ground Bui Giang is concern about the fragility of human life, the reason for birth and separation, the obsession of death However, poets are well-awared that the origins of suffering lies in human nature, in its own existence This is a unique point of the Buddhist view of life, clearly showing the relationship between religion and life Buddhism helps people to realize the nature of sufferings and practice not to fall into a state of despair, so that when facing with the sufferings in real life, people know how to live positively in this very short life Deeply awaring of the relationship between life and religion in the philosophy of Buddhism, modern poets have come to Buddhism as a gateway for scouting 3.2.2 Christian inspiration about religion and life, the relationship between religion and life The ideological nucleus of Christian doctrine is the idea of creation and redemption Tao is the supreme origin of life, the origin of all things Life is gratitude to God's creation and redemption Han Mac Tu declared this thought in the poem Ave Maria: Nhu song loc trieu nguyen on phuoc ca … Mai Van Phan admit the the profound influence of God's light God's guiding and saving light is clearly shown in the poems Call Blue, Morning Prayer Mai Van Phan also emphasized the feeling of being resurrected, returning to the origin: Kiss you for a long time to mark / Here This hour / That cloud is low / The day the earth returns 14 (Wakes up in the rain - 4) The impregnated faith has contributed to illuminating the world outlook and the outlook of life of the poets, making they always look towards life with passionate and intense love More specifically, for poets, the awakening of human beauty in the depth of each person's humanity has prompted them to devote themselves to poetry, to life and to religion 3.3 Religious inspiration about self/ego 3.3.1 Buddhist Inspiration on Self/Ego The trait of the idea of no-self is the awareness of the "everything is similar" People reach no-self when they find their self in external objects The self in the external world can be understood as the moment when the individual consciousness merges with the universal consciousness When one realizes the inevitable change and impermanence of life and the universe, people can accept all the advantages or disadvantages of the external environment in the spirit of no-self This is the attraction of Buddhism to poetry In poetry, there is always the image of a lyrical ego with a peaceful and free mind because he has deeply understood the idea of no-self of Buddhism The image of the lyrical ego in Pham Thien Thu's poetry is always at ease in the midst of nature The ego in Quach Tan's poetry is always leisure because the poet always keeps his composure before real world which changes over time The ego in Nhat Hanh's poetry is the mind of Zen incarnation 3.3.2 Christian inspiration of the self/ego The Christian sense of self/ego shows itself in the concept of liturgical mission Christianity upholds the spirit of freedom to give oneself, freedom to liturgy This thought has deeply influenced poets, reflected in the intense desire for devotion For Han Mac Tu, creating poetry is the expression of the most intense and sacred self-consecration For poets, poetry and religion have overlapped and merged, bringing poetry to the culmination of artistic creativity: "poetry above other poetry" (Han Mac Tu) This concept of consecration in creation is also strongly convinced in the soul of Mai Van Phan's poetry The poet has always pondered, explored, and experimented his charecteristics through non-stop, non-repetitive creations, as his own statement: I am a fish with a 15 mouth full of moon / Leaving the flock to thrash around in the rough sea … Sub-conclusion of chapter 3: Religious inspiration on several matters such as faith, realms, religion and life, self/ego has created a multi-dimensional view of the world, opening endless limits for artistic creativity, empowering poetry in opening a separate world of spirituality Buddhist inspiration helps people understand the impermanence of life, the no-self nature of all entities, thereby calmly accepting the law of birth and death, accepting happiness in peace and freedom Christian inspiration awakens people an attitude of gratitude and appreciation for life, integrating with the community in the spirit of love and sharing However, in the deepest depths, Buddhism and Christianity meet in goodness, in holiness, in human and values ò humanity This explains the meeting of many religions in the sense of the same poets such as Han Mac Tu, Che Lan Vien, Mai Van Phan, etc In each different period and different cultural atmosphere of the ages, each poet has different religious experiences, religious inspiration in poetry also takes many forms Religious inspiration always continues and moves, develops throughout the length of Vietnamese poetry with a apparance that is very diverse and has its own characteristics, creating an irreplaceable position and contribution CHAPTER RELIGION INSPIRATION IN VIETNAMESE POETRY IN THE 20TH CENTURY, VIEWED FROM ARTISTIC MEANS 4.1 Selecting a variety of poetic forms and organize, construct the poem according to the movement of spirituality 4.1.1 Buddhist inspiration with the selection of poetic form and organize, construct the poem 4.1.1.1 Poetic form As a long-standing genre of inspiration in national literature, Buddhist inspiration is very suitable for traditional poetic forms such as the hexagonal form, the Tang Lu (especially the quartet), even the haiku of Japanese literature Poets have fully exploited the lyrical and narrative ability of the poetic form to express longlasting vague sadness, sorrowful emotions, human reflections 16 about a life of nothingness, awareness of the finite life, dusty, small status of human beings in the world and strong aspirations for faith, nirvana, and heaven This expression can be found in the poems of Thich Nhat Hanh, Pham Thien Thu, Bui Giang, Quach Tan, Mai Van Phan, etc Poets also make extensive use of modern poetic forms such as freestyle, prose poetry, etc , 7-word form, 8-word form Modern expressions have advantages in expressing new, metaphysical theological contents of religious thinking However, traditional poetic forms which are concise, condensed, and "meaning beyond the words" are best suited to the characteristics of Buddhist aesthetic, so they are used the most 4.1.1.2 Organization and structure of the poem Besides the structure of the usual poems of traditional Zen poetry (such as poems of Thich Nhat Hanh, Minh Duc Trieu Tam Anh, Tue Sy, Tru Vu ), the poets also "poeticize" "transform" Buddhist scriptures to the form of Buddhist stories (such as Pham Thien Thu's poetry) In addition, Buddhist inspiration with many complex spiritual situations of modern people also seeks to innovate the structure of poetry, make poetry to be more and more closed to the movement of spiritual emotions To capture that emotion, modern poetry often uses an opening structure Poetry inspired by Buddhism has an opening structure, rich in meanings with many symbols that contain religious philosophy Han Mac Tu and Che Lan Vien's poems consisting of Buddhist tone through automatic spiritual writing, with symbolic images of ambiguous, illusory space, 4.1.2 Christian inspiration with the selection of poetic form and organize, construct the poem 4.1.2.1 Poetic form With the ability to perform songs, tell stories, and rhymes that are easy to remember and memorize, the hexagonal form was used by many poets to vividly reproduce biblical stories and preach religious morality The seven-word and eight-word forms are also used to tell religious stories in poetry There are biblical stories that have been "poeticize" by believer poets such as Le Dinh Bang, Trang Thap Tu, Vo Long Te, etc Various levels of Christian inspiration also guide the poets to turn to the forms of freestyle, prose poetry to discover the most elusively mysterious regions of 17 the human soul, create subtle poems, awaken humanistic ontological vibrations (such as poetry of Han Mac Tu, Mai Van Phan, etc) In general, in the opportunity to choose from a variety of poetic forms, if Buddhist inspiration favors the use of traditional poetic forms, Christian inspiration prefers modern poetic forms, especially freestyle, prose poetry This stems from the aesthetic characteristics and cultural roots of each type of inspiration 4.1.2.2 Organization and structure of the poem Christian inspiration also has a structure which is in the form of stories to convey the doctrine of God Along with the narrative structure, the Christian inspiration in modern poetry also favors the structure following the movement of the spirit The structure of many poems by Catholic authors is often organized in an opening direction, moving freely and liberally in the world of intuition and unconsciousness The flexible and modern structure not only brings readers to an attractive spiritual world but also evokes imagination and creativity This type of structure is very evident in the poems of Han Mac Tu, Che Lan Vien, Mai Van Phan, etc The organization and structure of the poem follows the spiritual movement circuit, on the one hand, it is suitable for exploiting the deep spiritual domain of the religion, on the other hand, opens up many innovative opportunities for poetry, enrich modern poetry with many effective forms of expression 4.2 Highlight the sacredness of the symbol 4.2.1 Symbolism inspired by Buddhism Surveying modern Vietnamese poetry, it can be seen that many natural images have been pushed to symbolic meaning, of which the most popular are spring, lotus flowers, water, Modern poetry also has symbols bearing the characteristics of Buddhist culture It is a symbol of Buddha, Bodhisattva, saints, monks, ; about temples, pagodas, the sound of bells; The use of symbols helps poetry to convey the profound and meaningful meanings of the spirit of Buddhism 4.2.2 Symbolism inspired by Christian Christian inspiration also leads modern poets to exploit the symbols of nature Sky - earth, water - fire, light - darkness are the most used pairs These simple images, in the Christian sense of the 18 poets, have been clothed in mysterious, sacred colors with many meanings In short, the poetic symbols inspired by Buddhism and Christianity in modern poetry are extremely rich, having both unity and unique characteristics of each type of inspiration If the Buddhist-inspired poetic symbology focuses on expressing the spirit of compassion, advocating the fate, and focusing on the true nature of all things, the symbolism of Christian inspiration aims to express ultimate strength of the universe in the creative spirit of God At the same time, these symbols in the religious sense of each poet are also personalized, expressing the poet's own vision Poets allowed philosophical thought to emerge naturally through artisticized religious symbols Thus, religious inspiration dominates not only in thought, but also in artistic thinking and expression 4.3 Tone and language with strong religious colors 4.3.1 The tone and language imbued with Zen Zen enters the poet's mind, transforms into a lyrical mechanism in composition, making the tone and language of the poem also imbued with Zen The most obvious expression of Zen color in terms of tone is deep contemplative, philosophical and lyrical nuances To express the lyrical and philosophical tone, poets widely use Buddhist linguistics, a language that is non-verbal and surreal The profound reflections of Buddhism have given wings to the poetry's lyrics, brought poetry to borderless creations, created beautiful and strange notes on the contemporary poetry forum On the other hand, it is the power of poetry that has contributed to "poeticise" the Buddhist language, bringing the spirit of Buddhism closer to sentient beings and to life 4.3.2 The tone and language imbued with Christian Christian inspired poetry also has contemplative, philosophical, lyrical and surreal poetic tones Poets also sought to poticise the Christian biblical language However, while Buddhist inspiration often makes poetry more reflective and philosophical, Christian inspiration makes poetry more inclined to express, share and reverent praise With the same language which is surreal, howerver; one side is imbued with the spirit of Zen and the other is supernatural in the light of Christianity All contribute to the 19 diversity and richness of modern poetic tone and language; shows considerable efforts of poets in creating new expressive materials, new ways of saying poetry through religious sensibility Sub-conclusion of chapter 4: Religious inspiration has strongly influenced many poetic expression Poets Thich Nhat Hanh, Minh Duc Trieu Tam Anh, Tue Si, Trang Thap Tu and Xuan Ly Bang, in the role of active religious followers, they are very conscious of the use of poetry as a means to evangelize and save sentient beings so they pay more attention to the transmissive content of religious doctrines For Han Mac Tu, Quach Tan, Che Lan Vien, Bui Giang, Mai Van Phan, etc., the deep influence of religion has contributed to liberate the creative personality of the artists, motivating them to go further on the way to find new forms of expression for poetry Therefore, they pay more attention to the innovation in art methods and means Looking at the poetic journey of the twentieth century, it can be seen that today's religiously inspired poetry which has the imprint of surrealism and symbolism, has existed since New Poetry Period and was continued in the Southern urban poetic school Turning into the 21st century, poetry continues to develop with innovative and creative forms of expression Postmodern poetry has been experimented with contemporary religious poetic phenomena such as Mai Van Phan, Phap Hoan, Phapxa Chan, etc Thus, under the guidance of religious sensibility, poetry is increasingly capable of expressing broadly the complex states of the human psyche in modern times On the contrary, it is the self-renewal of poetry itself, religious inspiration also expands uniquely expressive dimensions, bringing a new aesthetic to the recipient CONCLUSION On the basis of profound effects of world oulook, religious outlook on thinking and perception of people; placed in the continuation of the abundant afflatus of inspiration from the national literary tradition; with strong changes of historical and cultural events of the twentieth century; it can be affirmed that the religious inspiration in modern Vietnamese poetry continues to develop and become one of the outstanding inspiration In particular, Buddhism and Christianity are two sources of 20 inspiration that have a wider spectrum of coverage In comparison, the Buddhist inspiration proved to be dominant, attracting a large number of authors and reaping more achievements, while the Christian inspiration reached brilliant crystallization These two sources of inspiration always move in parallel, have moments of sublimation, and make many unique and meaningful contributions to national poetry as well as human life Religious inspiration in modern poetry focuses on expressing issues of faith, realms, religion and life, and ego Buddhist inspiration helps poetry realize and expose the truth about the "suffering truths" of modern human life, understand the impermanence, attach importance to non-self, promote intellectual awakening, and realize true enlightenment and move towards a peaceful and free life, knowing how to love, share and sympathize with people and things Christian inspiration in modern poetry upholds the idea of creation, helps people realize to the origin and noble values of themselves and all species, awakens the strength to overcome all sufferings, appreciates and respect life, live devotedly in the spirit of love and sharing Thus, despite having different characteristics in the concept of faith, the ego, in the view of the realms, in the way of handling the relationship between religion and life, the religious inspirations are unified in humanistic purpose, in the sense of moving to goodness Thereby, poetry reaches the depth of its humanitive value, becoming a voice that opens up a world of its own spiritual life In other words, religious inspiration has created a multi-dimensional view of the world, contributing to enriching and deepening the content, raising the ideological and intellectual level of modern poetry Religious inspiration also influences the modes and means of expression of modern poetry Buddhist inspiration is best suited to traditional poetic forms The model of the hexagonal form is balanced with the rhythm of "bringing the cradle" which is capable of regulating emotions, bringing about a harmonious balance in the relationship between people and the eternal world With a concise appearance, language which is proned to the idea, the four-word form of Tang helps poets effectively convey the non-verbal and enlightened spirit of Zen Christian inspiration often turn to freestyle, prose poetry, even epic Within the long21 term framework of the epic, the openness and freedom of freestyle, prose poetry, spiritual euphoria, mental trance in the process of human revelation are clearly presented Along with the poetic form, the structure of the poem is also diversified, the most prominent of which is the way the poem is organized according to the movement of the spirit The system of natural symbols and religious symbols has an important advantage in crystallizing and conveying complex interactions among complex issues in life, which should be exploited more and more The poetic language which is also imbued with Zen and Christianity combined with surreal colors; associated with the tone of reflection and praising,… Under the influence of religion, modern poetic art becomes more attractive and new On the contrary, through the attractive expressions of poetry, religion which is abstract and difficult to understand becomes close and accessible to people On the other hand, looking at the history of poetry in the twentieth century, it is easy to see that religious inspiration has inherited and continued the tradition of national poetry, simultaneously renewing itself in many dimensions and colors, the acquisition of many creative experiences of Western poetry and aesthetics Obviously, poetry and religion have resonated in the artist's intuition, prompting the poet to create innovative poems, bringing new aesthetics to the recipient Throughout the length of Vietnamese poetry in the twentieth century, religious inspiration has gone through many stages of movement and flactuation If in the period before 1945, Christian inspiration was more dominant with Han Mac Tu, Ho Dzenh, Bang Ba Lan, Che Lan Vien, etc., then after 1954, Buddhist inspiration was interested again in the work of Thich Nhat Hanh, Pham Cong Thien, Pham Thien Thu, Bui Giang, Tue Sy, Minh Duc Trieu Tam Anh, Trinh Cong Son, etc After 1986, in the relatively open atmosphere of society, both inspirations were parallel and develop with strong poetic innovation in poetic phenomena such as Mai Van Phan, Phap Hoan, Phapxa Chan, etc Besides, modern Vietnamese poetry also witness the presence of Taoist inspirations, or inspiration comes from the amalgamation of many religions, indigenous cultural beliefs (such as the Cham culture in the Inrasara phenomenon, ), etc This process shows 22 that religious inspiration, in a long journey of Vietnamese poetry in the twentieth century, despite its twists and turns, it always inherits, continues, and becomes a prominent afflatus in national poetry and literature Currently, Vietnam has entered the 21st century - the era of globalization, the era of digital revolution However, behind the civilization and progress, people also face many challenges That is the breakdown, mental trauma facing with the pitfalls of modern cities; people's bewilderment before the labyrinth of so many trends and theories; the reversal of moral standards makes all values trivialized; That context makes people more inclined to look to religion In poetry, religious inspiration is concerned not only with domestic poetic phenomena but also with overseas Vietnamese poetic phenomena such as Phap Hoan, Phapxa Chan, etc From this fact, it can be affirmed: Firstly: religious inspiration is still developing constantly and promises to bring poetry to new dimensions in creativity, contributing to promoting the development of national poetry; Secondly, poetry with religious inspiration always has a positive meaning for human life Religious inspiration can, to a certain extent, help people rebalance their mental states, reexamine the questionable light of rational social doctrines, tame the abuses of development of the ego with many selfish calculations Moreover, the eternal human values of religion are at the same time the core living values of humanity Therefore, religious inspiration also helps poetry fight against the trivialization of poetry, raise the level of thought for poetry, and make poetry have the colors of humanity Particularly for the Vietnamese people today, the religious inspiration in poetry contributes to preserving the nation's good humanistic traditions and orienting the living values for modern human personality Poetry with religious inspiration, therefore, is always an attractive object and is ready to "invite" multidimensional interpretations 23 LIST OF SCIENTIFIC WORKS OF THE AUTHOR RELATED TO THE THESIS Nguyen Thi Kim Hong (February 2018), "Features of language and tone in modern Vietnamese Catholic poetry (surveying through anthology There is a garden of religious poetry)", Journal of Social Sciences and Humanities, University of Social Sciences and Humanities - Hanoi National University, Volume 4, No (February 2018) Nguyen Thi Kim Hong (April 2018), "The voice of interpretation in modern Vietnamese Catholic poetry", Proceedings of the National Scientific Conference on Research and Teaching Foreign Languages, Languages and International Studies in Vietnam, Hanoi National University Publishing Firm Nguyen Thi Kim Hong (July 2018), "Symbols in modern Vietnamese Catholic poetry", Ho Chi Minh City Journal of Social Sciences (Vietnam Institute of Social Sciences - Southern Institute of Social Sciences), No (235), (July 2018) Nguyen Thi Kim Hong (October 2018), "Aesthetic emotions in Vietnamese Catholic poetry", Science Jounal of Hong Duc University, No 41 (October 2018) Nguyen Thi Kim Hong (October 2018), "The Development of Catholic Poetry in Vietnamese Poetry", Proceedings of the International Scientific Conference for GRS Graduates and Postgraduate Students 2018, Hanoi National University Publishing Firm Nguyen Thi Kim Hong (2018), "Some poetic forms in modern Vietnamese Catholic poetry (Surveying through volumes of There is a garden of religious poetry)", Science Journal of Hanoi National University of Education, No 4/2018 VN Nguyen Thi Kim Hong (October 2019), "Religious imprints in Mai Van Phan's poetic language", Vinh University Science Journal, Volume 48, No 3/2019 Nguyen Thi Kim Hong (4/2022) ), "Research on religious inspiration in Vietnamese poetry in the 20th century", Ho Chi Minh City Journal of Social Sciences (Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences - Southern Institute of Social Sciences), No (284), 2022 24 ... inspiration in Vietnamese poetry in the 20th century, namely Buddhist inspiration and Christian inspiration The survey scope of the thesis is the compositions inspired by religion of Vietnamese poets... in Vietnamese poetry in the 20th century; Chapter Religious inspiration in Vietnamese poetry in the 20th century, viewed from the showed content; Chapter Religious inspiration in Vietnamese poetry... VIETNAMESE POETRY IN THE 20TH CENTURY 2.1 Historical - social, cultural - literary basis of religious inspiration in Vietnamese poetry in the 20th century 2.1.1 Religious perception of Vietnamese