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Buddhist factors in the cult of Tianhou in the Mekong River Delta, Vietnam Nguyen Ngoc Tho International Communication of Chinese Culture ISSN 2197-4233 Int Commun Chin Cult DOI 10.1007/s40636-018-0118-5 23 Your article is protected by copyright and all rights are held exclusively by Academy for International Communication of Chinese Culture and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature This e-offprint is for personal use only and shall not be selfarchived in electronic repositories If you wish to self-archive your article, please use the accepted manuscript version for posting on your own website You may further deposit the accepted manuscript version in any repository, provided it is only made publicly available 12 months after official publication or later and provided acknowledgement is given to the original source of publication and a link is inserted to the published article on Springer's website The link must be accompanied by the following text: "The final publication is available at link.springer.com” 23 Author's personal copy Int Commun Chin Cult https://doi.org/10.1007/s40636-018-0118-5 Buddhist factors in the cult of Tianhou in the Mekong River Delta, Vietnam Nguyen Ngoc Tho1 Received: 27 November 2016 / Revised: 22 January 2018 / Accepted: 22 February 2018 © Academy for International Communication of Chinese Culture and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2018 Abstract The cult of Tianhou (Vietnamese: Thieˆn Haˆ u) originated in Putian, ˙ Fujian Province in Southern China, was officially entitled Furen, Tainfei and Tianhou by Song, Ming and Qing dynasties, finally become the popular sea goddess in Southeast China coastlines At around the late seventeenth century, Southern Chinese immigrated to Southern Vietnam, including the Mekong River Delta, hence the cult was introduced into the region The whole region has got a total of 74 Tianhou temples (of which the Chinese built 57, the Vietnamese built 17 and around 100 temples of gods in which Tianhou is co-worshipped After over three hundred years of cultural integration and social development, Tianhou has changed from the main functions of a sea protector to powerful multi-functional Mother Goddess of both ethnic Chinese (also called “ethnic Hoa”) and a great number of Vietnamese people This paper is to explore the structure and connotation of the cult of Tianhou in the Mekong River Delta from the perspective of cultural studies, and applies Western theories of hierarchy of need, superscription and standardization in popular religion and rituals as well as concept of distinction between acculturation and assimilation to analyze the transformation and adaptation of a symbolic faith under the specific background of the Mekong River Delta in Vietnam The research also aims to investigate the principles of reshaping and constructing contemporary cultural identity of the ethnic Chinese people in Vietnam as well as the activeness and flexibility of local Vietnamese in dealing with the external cultural practices This case study plays an important role in shaping a systematic look of cultural exchanges and multicultural harmonization in Vietnam nowadays & Nguyen Ngoc Tho poettho@gmail.com University of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam 123 Author's personal copy N N Tho Keywords Tianhou · Buddhist factor · Superscription · Identity marker The cult of Tianhou and the multi-cultural background in the Mekong River Delta a In broadest sense, the term “cult/belief” means the systematic values of spiritual belief that humans create to fulfill their hopes and wishes by acquiring supernatural powers for protection from and prevention of disasters or fears in their earthly life Ngo Duc Thinh (2001, p 16) once said that “the cult” can be understood as a human’s wishes for sacred, noble, supernatural powers, or can be summarized as beliefs or expectation of “the holiness” opposite to “the touchable/reachable earthiness” Both the cult and religion share the common point of spiritual belief; however, a religion incorporates classics, tenets, rituals, systematic organization and institutions while a cult does not Durkheim defined religion as a “unified system of beliefs and practices relative to sacred things” in his seminal book The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life Clifford Geertz claimed that religion is the “…system of symbols which acts to establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in men by formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic” (Geertz 1993, pp 87–125) The Mekong River Delta, also called Southwestern Region, is a multilateral and diverse cultural area The researcher Cao (1996) stated that special migrant status, abundant agricultural production and ethnic diversity in the region are major forces making Confucianism in the locality become “Confucianism is unlikely Confucianism, non-Confucianism but likely Confucianism” As a matter of fact, Confucianism in the Mekong River Delta adheres to labor reality, is imbued with the Vietnamese spirit, as well as receives and re-creates quintessence of other cultures In addition, Taoism has not been acknowledged as a religion during history since Taoist thoughts got easily absorbed in local god/goddess beliefs after being introduced into Vietnam in late 2nd century AD (see Tran 2001) Conversely, Vietnamese people in the Mekong River Delta takes Mahayana Buddhism as core ideological framework to build up regional tradition over the last 300 years (see Tran 2013) They use Buddhist philosophy to deal with other ethnic groups such as Khmer, Chinese and others, and to link all together for organizing and shaping the regional culture Mother worships in Vietnam have long origin, being associated with paddy-rice cultivation and long-lasting matriarchal tradition which were early expanded and popularized in the Mekong River Delta over the last 100 years Mother Goddesses are understood as important goddesses who are respected as holy Mother through the process of “molding”, “enhancing”1 feministic symbols “Mother Goddesses are surely goddesses, but not all of goddesses can be seen as Mother Goddesses” (Ngo Duc Thinh 2004, p 59) “Mother Goddess” is firstly a mother or a deity, but when she is upgraded to be a “Mother Goddess” then her symbolic significance is widely The word used by Thinh (2015), Going into a trance, a voyage of deities and condition, Vietnamese Faith Culture Research and Conservation Institute, the World Publishing House, p 58 123 Author's personal copy Buddhist factors in the cult of Tianhou in the Mekong… broadened and deepened “Mother” is associated with fertility, protection, blessing and life-giving “Mother” can be ancestral mothers or can be deified from national heroines, blessing goddesses, or merely symbolic figures in folk culture, etc According to Do Thi Hao and Mai Ngoc Chuc (1984), there are 75 typical goddesses in Vietnam of which 27 goddesses have local Vietnamese origin2 while the rest come from non-Vietnamese sources such as Chinese, Indian and Southeast Asian cultures The most popular include those such as Mau Son in mountainous lands in North Vietnam; Ba Chua Kho in Bac Ninh province; Hai Ba Trung, the triangle goddess (Tam Phu) and the foursome goddess (Phap Van, Phap Vu, Phap Loi and Phap Dien) in the Red River Delta; Lieu Hanh and many other goddesses in Nam Dinh—Ninh Binh; Ba Chua Ngoc (Jade Goddess) in Hue; Thien Yana Poh Nagar in Nha Trang; Linh Son goddess, Ngu hanh nuong nuong, Ba Chua Xu, Tianhou and Fire Goddess in South Vietnam, etc Some external Mother Goddesses were accepted in Vietnam through immigration or cultural exchanges Chinese-orginated goddesses such as Tianhou, Zhusheng niangniang (主生娘娘, Birth-Giving Goddess), Dieu Tri Kim Mau (瑶池金母), Tay Vuong Thanh Mau (西王母) and India-originated Mariamman3 all are worshipped by Vietnamese communities Among them, Tianhou has been the most popular, whose worship is shared by the Vietnamese, Hoa, and Khmer Tianhou is a community-based Mother Goddess who first originated in Putian, Fujian (see footnote 3), and later expanded over the coastal lands of South China and Taiwan to lower sections of the Changjiang River Delta and throughout the world with around 6000 temples Tianhou temples are often called by various names such as Tianhou temple, Tianhou shrine, Mazu temple, Mazu shrine, Mother Goddess temple, etc by different communities The local inhabitants sometimes pray for popular and simple wishes such as safety, happiness, peace, and sometimes for economic purposes such as a successful business, wealth and prosperity The researches on Tianhou (Mazu) have been widely conducted by scholars of many parts of the world In PRC, thousands of scholars are doing research on different disciplines since the last quarter of twentieth century and recently promoted by Chinese state thanks to UNESCO’s recognition on Mazu’s historicalcultural heritage on Meizhou island of Fujian province Some of the well-known names include Xia Qi (夏琦 1962, 1974 etc.), Zhu Tianshun (朱天順, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1997 etc.), Luo Chunrong (羅春榮, 2006), Lin Zuliang (林祖良 1989), Li Tianxi (李天錫, 1988, 1992, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2010, 2011 etc.), etc., whose ethnological analysis and findings are significantly fruitful More Western scientific approaches have been applied in doing researches on Mazu (Tianhou) and Mazu devotees in Taiwan, both anthropologically and sociologically, which can be found in works of Li Xianzhang (李獻璋, 1960, 1961, 1963, 1974, 1979, 1990, 1995 etc.), Huang Meiying (黃美英 1974, 1980, 1983, 1988, 1994 etc.), Lin Mingyu (林明峪, 1974, 1988, 1990 etc.), Tsai Xianghui (蔡相輝, 1974, 1985, 1989, 2006, etc.), Lin Meirong (林美容, 1990, 1997, 2001, 2005, 2006 etc.), Shi Wanshou (石萬壽, 1989, 1990 etc.), Chang Hsiun (張珣, 1992, 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2000, 2001, 2002, See Thinh (2015, p 52) The Temple of Mariamman Goddess is located in 45 Truong Dinh, District 1, HCMC 123 Author's personal copy N N Tho 2003, 2005, 2010 etc.), Lee, Jonathan H.X (2009) In Hong Kong, quite a few researchers work on Tianhou, such as Bosco Joseph and Puay-peng Ho (1999), David Faure (科大為 2008), Liu Zhiwei (劉志偉 2008), Liu Tiksang (廖迪生 2000), Choi Chi Cheung (1990), Cheung Siu-woo etc., while other Chinese scholars in Southeast Asia also prove to be dynamic in investigating their community’s goddess, such as Su Qinghua, Liu Chonghan (蘇清華 & 劉崇漢, 2007, 2008, 2009), Tan (2013), Aristotle C Dy (2014) etc In Western world, many anthropologists and experts in religious studies have done quite much researches on Mazu/Tianhou and have discovered many interesting attributes of the goddess and her cult in both China and Taiwan They are Sangren P Steven (1983, 1985, 1987, 1988, 1993), Watson (1985), Boltz, Judith Magee (1986), Roderich Ptak and Cai Jiehua (2017) etc Other researchers, such as Robert Weller, Donald Sutton, Michael Szonyi, Stephen Feutchwang, Kenneth Pomeranz, Kenneth Dean, David Faure, Melissa Brown, Paul Katz, etc., have built very important theoretical foundation for further research on Tianhou/Mazu as well as other Chinese popular cults under modern anthropological angles In Vietnam, studies on Tianhou have been popularized among a limited number of researchers from late twentieth century, mainly being taken place under ethnographical perspective rather than anthropological viewpoint, except those researches in early twenty-first century Prominent writers include Ngo Duc Thinh (2004), Phan Thi Hoa Ly (2014), Nguyen Ngoc Tho (2017a, b) etc This study inherits the findings of these researches and goes further into a specific region —the Mekong River Delta, Vietnam, and discuss specific issue of Buddhist factor in the cult Tianhou Historically, the cult of Tianhou was brought to the Mekong River Delta by Chinese immigrants from the period seventeenth to nineteenth centuries (see Tsai 1968) through two main ways: one was from offshore to coastal areas of Tra Vinh— Soc Trang—Bac Lieu (maritime route) and the other from Saigon-Ho Chi Minh City down to the Mekong River Delta (the river-way route) According to our statistical collection, the whole region consists of 74 Tianhou temples, of which 57 temples are built and operated by the Hoa (ethnic Chinese) and 17 by the Vietnamese The total number of 74 temples includes temple in Can Tho, in Tien Giang, in Dong Thap, in Ben Tre, in Vinh Long, in Long An, 11 in Tra Vinh, in An Giang, in Kien Giang, 16 in Soc Trang, in Bac Lieu, and in Ca Mau The small strip of coastal land from Ben Tre to Ca Mau peninsula, the most crowded region of Chaozhou and Vietnamese peoples, has concentrated up to 49 temples Besides, the river-way route (also called “domestic trading channel” of Cho Dem canal, My Tho river, Mang Thit river and crisscrossing Mekong river and tributaries) has widespread 17 Tianhou temples The rest (8 temples) are located in the coastal land and islands in the Gulf of Thailand b Cultural integration is a mutual combination and absorption process of one or some characteristics or aspects belonging to two or more cultures under the impact of the natural environment or social history In that process, some cultural characteristics are absorbed, and combined with the other characteristics to create a new accordance, which usually appears with a highly-oriented trend In East Asian cultures, cultural integration is closer to cultural accordance; cultural integration is 123 Author's personal copy Buddhist factors in the cult of Tianhou in the Mekong… usually understood in microcosm while cultural accordance is used to mean as macro integration At the threshold of the nineteenth to twentieth century, European authors such as L Frobenius, F Ratsel, F Grabner and W Schmidt built up the diffusionism theory to stress the cultural widespreading; it was then modified by the theory of cultural area by some other European–American anthropologists as F Boas, L.C Wisler, A L Kroeber, etc in which the stress on cultural wide spreading has gradually shifted to the significance of multilateral interaction between “center” and “periphery” cultures within a cultural area The Soviet researchers in last decades of Cold War deeply noticed the dynamic and creative characteristics of “peripheral” cultures when facing the cultural wide spreading from the “centered”, in which the phenomenon of multi-cultural interference and integration was rather popular (see Ngo Duc Thinh 2007) All worldwide peoples have experienced the process In the cultural context of the Mekong River Delta, Vietnamese culture (referred to as the “center”) has been actively integrated with different cultures such as Chinese, Khmer and Champa (the “periphery”) From the viewpoint of the ethnic Hoa—the main community who worship Tianhou the cult is associated with the legacies from South China to South Vietnam; therefore, it has been strongly mobilized and adjusted to fit the new land’s conditions Simultaneously, it was profoundly impacted by Vietnamese and Khmer cultures All of these trends come to shape multi-cultural integration in Tianhou belief The cult of Tianhou in South China was originally a folk faith; after nearly a 1000 years being “standardized” by imperial states (see Watson 1985 and others), it was seen as the invisible link between the bureaucracy and the commoners However, after being brought into Vietnam, under the impact of interactive communication with Vietnamese and Khmer peoples as well as the Vietnamese government, over the years the Tianhou cult has reverted under the form of de-centralized popular belief although some specific mandarin characteristics have been “fossilized” Being a folk goddess faith, the cult of Tianhou in the Mekong River Delta has operated on the platform of multilateral harmonization of different thoughts and folk wisdom In a different aspect, after 300-year history of clashing, negotiation and multi-cultural integration, a number of values and characteristics of the cult have fossilized and turned into a part of historic heritage; thus the public can still recognize cultural identity of ethnic Hoa communities through awareness and cult activities It is a fact that the process of cultural fossilization always goes abreast with multi-cultural interference and integration One of the driving forces to speed up fossilization comes from the danger of cultural decomposition caused by this interference and integration The cult of Tianhou in South China was formed on a pluralistic cultural platform at the beginning Minnanese culture played a very important role to create a premise for the cult of Mazu–Tianhou to be formed and developed in counterpoise relation with Chinese official culture which always values men above women The connection ensures the cult existing and creating a power that makes feudal dynasties “condescend” and accept its existence, as well as confer many noble titles on Tianhou During the historic process, the cult of Tianhou has integrated Buddhist factors (especially the cult of Guanyin, Bodhisattva), Daoist factors (mainly Linshui Lady 臨水夫人, Xian Lady 冼夫人—Yi Mei NiangNiang 懿美娘娘 etc.) and 123 Author's personal copy N N Tho popular faiths in Southeastern Fujian Beside Fujian, the homeland of Tianhou, most places to which the cult of Tianhou spread are witnessing lively cultural integration processes Guangdong, Hainan and Taiwan are similarly built on the integration of ancient Baiyueh and Han Chinese culture; therefore, the cult of Tianhou itself contains of a hybridity of sources Out of state’s sanctioned “standardized” Confucian features, Tianhou cult is open enough to be accepted by non-Chinese communities Truthfully, Tianhou cult in the Mekong River Delta has inherently absorbed new attributes and lively accepted by non-Chinese devotees under a multicultural integration background The absorption of Buddhist factors in the cult of Tianhou The cult of Tianhou in the Mekong River Delta has proven the trend of being associated with Mahayana Buddhism In fact, Buddhist factors have absorbed in Tianhou cult long time ago and still keep affecting the cult in contemporary China Several papers on the intervention of Buddhism on Mazu cult in China and Taiwan can be found in researches by Chinese scholars, such as Shu-Yan and Xin-Guang (2008), Jiang (2010), Ye (2010), Ye and Ao (2010), Liu (2015, pp 112–115), Chen (2015) and so on However, most of the scholars agree that Taoist and Confucian factors are more overwhelming than the Buddhist one, since the cult itself share many religious belief and rituals with popular Taoism and contains many virtues embedded by the state and local literati Recent scholarship from both China and Taiwan discovered dramatically Taoist impacts within the cult of Tianhou, typically discussed in Yu (1977), Chen (1990, pp 338–341), Tan (1995, pp 85–89), Xie (2004, pp 58–59), Ye (2009, pp 143–150), Wang (2010, pp 194–196), Liu (2014, pp 114–117) etc Regarding Confucian intervention and absorption, more Western scholars since late twentieth century have developed researches on it, creating a systematic to view Tianhou cult on the platform of classic philosophies Harvard University scholar, James L Watson in his different publication in 1985, 1988 and 1993, has suggested a driving concept—standardizing the gods under Chinese late imperial state’s policy and local bureaucrats’ and literati’s efforts for the sake of cultivating Confucian virtues and controlling the communities According to von Glahn (2004, pp 251–253), the late imperial Chinese states strongly sanctioned standardized cults and rituals (like Tianhou cult and Tianhou festivals) to serve their cultural homogenization which Feuchtwang (1992, pp 57–58) called an “imperial metaphor” The other Harvard University scholar, Duara (1988, pp 778–795), who described the way popular cults getting to be orthodox as the process of “superscription” on gods’ symbolic meanings As stated and discussed by Jordan (1972) and Wolf (1974), gods carry both sacred and profane powers, people worship gods because of their holy efficacy, and because they are closely connected to the bureaucrats and their official compounds in secular life through the titles bestowed by worldly emperors4 In the case of Thien Hau goddess, Katz emphasized that “how cultural integration in China was attained via the standardization of culture, See also Jordan (1972) 123 Author's personal copy Buddhist factors in the cult of Tianhou in the Mekong… here defined as the promotion of approved deities like the goddess Tianhou by state authorities and local elites” (Katz 2007, pp 71–90) However, in the case of Mekong River Delta in Vietnam, the Buddhist absorption has profoundly proven in both in-depth belief and liturgical rituals Tianhou temple is called “Chua Ba/Tianhou Goddess Buddhist temple” 婆寺/天后寺, and Guan Gong5 temple “Chua Ong/Guan Di God Buddhist temple 翁寺/關帝寺” by the Vietnamese (see further Chiung 2013; Nguyen Ngoc Tho 2017a) In the mindset of many ethnic Hoa and Vietnamese people, Tianhou is both Mother Goddess and Guanyin Typically, Tianhou Buddhist Temple in ward of Tan An city and another in Binh Thanh District of Ho Chi Minh city both worship Tianhou and Guanyin simultaneously, and all rituals are performed in both styles of Mahayana Buddhism and popular faith Under Buddhist influence, Tianhou Temple by the Chaozhou in Cho Pho (Cau Ke, Tra Vinh) shifts Tianhou’s regular festival from March 23 to March 15 of lunar calendar in order to match the full moon (field-work data 2015) The Tianhou temple in Cai Rang (Can Tho) adds Guanyin statue right in the front yard to attract local devotees In the front campus of Cantonese Tianhou temple in My Xuyen District (Soc Trang), a small Guanyin shrine is built pursuant to wishes of local residents.6 Similarly, beside the main chamber of Tianhou temple in Tra Vinh city, there is a Guanyin shrine (field-work data 2013) Tianhou temple in Rach Soi (Kien Giang) has a painting of Guanyin saving humans on the inner wall, and the Tianhou temple in Thu Thua (Long An) has a painting of Guanyin commanding nine dragons placed in the wall of the skylight area Tianhou temple in Hoa Loc (Tam Binh, Vinh Long) has been built with Mahayana Buddhist architecture and a Guanyin statue placed in front of the main chamber Hai Ngu Tianhou temple (Xa Be temple) in Vinh Chau (Soc Trang) places a huge Guanyin statue in the garden and decorates by many paintings of Guanyin holding a child and saving fishermen offshore According to field-work data, of totally Tianhou temples in Ca Mau province place a Guanyin statue in the campuses (field-work data 2014, 2015) On the other hand, few Mahayana Buddhist temples attach (or annex) the cult of Tianhou, for example in Chon Minh Pagoda and Tan Long Pagoda in Don Xuan (Tra Cu, Tra Vinh) Similarly, Tianhou temple by the Chaozhou in Song Doc (Camau) build a huge statue of Guan Yin 10 years ago due to the demand of the fishermen’s wives (mostly Vietnamese) when their spouses going offshore In fact, another small Guan Yin statue had been placed at the river mouth which is kms away from the town to serve the fishermen themselves, their wives can only pay the devotion to the Chaozhou temple downtown As informed by many local informants, each god or Buddha has got their specific functions; sacred world is just like our profane world, gods have to work together to check who can save people whenever they wish Therefore, the co-worship of both god/goddess and Buddha is prominently necessary In Vietnamese tradition, Guanyin is entitled “Southern Sea Protector”, that is why she was placed in Tianhou Temple in Song Doc 10 years ago (Nguyen Ngoc Tho, fieldwork in 2015) In Vietnamese: Quan Coˆng According to a Member of Management Board (2014), Guanyin shrine was built in 1978 due to the demand of local devotees (field-work data 2014) 123 Author's personal copy N N Tho The meeting of Tianhou and Guanyin – a wall “Tianhou Buddhist Temple” in ward 5, Tan painting in Tianhou temple, Ho Phong, Bac Lieu An city (Nguyen Tan Quoc 2015) (Nguyen Ngoc Tho 2014) Wall painting describing the meeting between Statue of ong Tieu/Dashiye - the other Tianhou and Guanyin in Tianhou Temple, Ho appearance of Guanyin in Tianhou Temple, Phong, Bac Lieu (Nguyen Ngoc Tho 2014) Phong Phu, Cau Ke, Tra Vinh (Nguyen Ngoc Tho 2016) By ethnic Chinese community, Tianhou is a sea protector who was thought to save their ancestors offshore during previous marine immigration waves Gradually, she has transformed to be goddess of community protection who plays the similar role of Bodhisattva in local Buddhist tradition Pursuant to Liu (2000, p 24), under the thoughts of the Hong Kong people, Tianhou is also a Bodhisattva In the research of an author Chang (2010, p 382), Taiwanese people believe Mazu (Tianhou) is closer and stronger than India-rooted Guanyin Bodhisattva and China-born, inland-based Xiwangmu 西王母 Conversely, Vietnamese peoples in the Mekong River Delta apparently consider Tianhou a benevolent goddess who is just similar to other Vietnam-born goddesses such as Lieu Hanh, Ba Chua Xu, etc As being a benevolent 123 Author's personal copy Buddhist factors in the cult of Tianhou in the Mekong… goddess, Tianhou is being accepted by Vietnamese people through Buddhism channel or under the Buddhist viewpoint A Tianhou temple is considered a real “Buddhist temple” where devotees can really deal with “another Guanyin”; thus, Tianhou has been believed to obtain the supernatural power of Bodhisattva Interestingly, a carved stone stela in Tianhou temple of Ca Mau city records Tianhou legend in which there exists a line showing Tianhou learning Buddhism until the age of 28 (field-work data 2014) In the rear chamber of Tianhou temple at Song Doc town (also Camau province), there is a string of Buddhist wall paintings Twenty-four filial piety which makes the temple a Buddhist-concentrated space (field-work data 2014) Buddhist sign can be also found in the nimbus behind Tianhou statue in most temples in On Lang and Ha Chuong temples (both belong to Fujianese, Ho Chi Minh city) Carved text in Tianhou temple, Ca Mau Wall painting of Tianhou and Buddhist monks in Tianhou city about a plot “Tianhou learning temple, Ho Phong (Bac Lieu ) (Nguyen Ngoc Tho 2017a) Buddhist classics until 28” (Nguyen Ngoc Tho 2017a) Statue painting of 18 arhats (Luohan) in Vinh Chau Tianhou temple (Soc Trang) (Nguyen Ngoc Tho 2017a) This paragraph investigates the case study of Chon Minh Buddhist Temple in Don Xuan village (Tra Cu, Tra Vinh) The temple itself is a religious complex, it lively demonstrates the get-together of Buddhism and Tianhou cult (Guan Gong cult also included) There are three interactive components in the complex, Buddhist temple with Sakyamuni, Amitaba and Guan Yin statues in front while a temple dedicated to Tianhou (right hand side) and another shrine to Guan (left) are annexed behind Inside Guan Gong shrine, both Guan Gong and Tianhou statues are placed while nearby Tianhou temple erects Mazu statue When being asked how Tianhou and Mazu are different, local people 123 Author's personal copy N N Tho vaguely consider they are both merciful goddesses originating from China “Tianhou is a mandarin goddess who was offered a noble title by the Chinese emperor while Mazu is a popular goddess only for the folk”, said the temple owner As a matter of fact, even though he is not clear about two names Tianhou and Mazu, he recognizes the difference in characteristics of both figures, one is a standardized and the other not When being coworshipped with Guan Gong (being sanctioned official title by imperial emperors), “standardized” Tianhou plays the yin role, two of them are to ensure the eternal yin-yang balance of the universe and to protect Buddhist dharma The subdivision of orthodox and unorthodox Tianhou/Mazu in this Chaozhou Buddhist complex is interestingly matching Taiwanese Mazu cult in which over three thousand temples in this island dedicated to Mazu while Beigang Tianhou Temple in Tainan City is to worship the “standardized Tianhou” (see also Lin Meirong 2006) The front yard of Chon Minh complex where Amitaba and Luohan statues are placed; and Mazu statue in the annexed Mazu temple (Nguyen Ngoc Tho 2016) “Green lion and white elephant”: dual sacred Buddhist symbols attached to Tianhou temples One of the liveliest representations of Buddhist absorption in Tianhou cult in the Mekong River Delta is the popular existence of green lion and white elephant decorated in many Chaozhou temples across the region Green lion and white elephant are two popular sacred animal symbols in Buddhist tradition, especially in Indian and Southeast Asian Buddhist arts In Chinese and East Asian Taoism, green lion is called Cu thu tien and white elephant Linh nha tien; both are disciples of God who fought against Manjusri and Samantabhadra7 but finally lost and were turned into sacred animals to serve buddhas in Chinese mythology In Buddhist tradition, green lion and white elephant are former spirits disturbing decent people; both were defeated and controlled by Samantabhadra Bodhisattva and Manjusri Bodhisattva (or Guanyin Bodhisattva) Therefore, two figures became the Manjusri and Samantabhadra are two among twelve disciples of God in Taoist tradition 123 Author's personal copy Buddhist factors in the cult of Tianhou in the Mekong… riding animals for them (Doan Trung Con 2003, p 22) In the Mekong River Delta, when asking about the origin of green lion and white elephant and why they are painted on the main front walls of Tianhou temple, priests, specialist and faith devotees normally believe “they originated from a very old time, descended from ancestors to descendants”, “both are the riding animals for Buddhas, that’s why they are at Tianhou temles” Decorative painting of Manjusri Bodhisattva riding on green lion and Samantabhadra Bodhisattva riding on white elephant in On Lang Tianhou Temple, HCMC (Nguyen Ngoc Tho 2017a) Green lion and white elephant are found in front of the Chaozhou Tianhou temples of Ca Mau province and in some temples of Tran De district, Soc Trang province under two forms as fine-art pictures and statue-like decorative paintings.8 Besides these localities, temples of Tianhou and other deities by the ethnic Chinese throughout region are often decorated with green dragon and white tiger, two Chinese letters Zeng & Fu (增&福, meaning increasing Fortune/Benevolence) or simply classic decorative motifs such as four canonic plants/flowers (apricot, orchid, chrysanthemum, bamboo) or four sacred animals (dragon, kirin, turtle and phoenix), eight fairies crossing the ocean, the fish jumping the golden gate etc The presence of green lion and white elephant in Chaozhou Tianhou temples in the Mekong River Delta has expressed the stronger absorption of Mahayana Buddhism rather than Taoism although they are shared by both Buddhism and Taoism The couple is usually modeled as decorative figures in front of the main chamber; both represent yin-yang order (green lion on the left and white elephant on the right by indoor god’s eye-view) In each side, there are two lions or elephants, symbolizing father and son,9 presenting family tradition and generation inheritance Green lions are normally attached by a green tree such as pine or fir tree (standardized Chinese symbols), while white elephant stands under a coconut tree or another local tree (a localized symbol of the Mekong River Delta itself) The ethnic Including Tianhou temple in Ca Mau city; Tianhou temple in Phu Hung, Cai Nuoc district; Tianhou temple in Cai Keo, Dam Doi district; Tianhou temple in Song Doc town; Tianhou temple in Thoi Binh town, Ca Mau province; Phuc Duc temple in Lich Hoi Thuong, Tran De district; Ca Lac Tianhou temple in Lac Hoa ward, Vinh Chau town, Soc Trang province, etc Some people said that this couple included mother–children meaning maternal love and fertility; however, as we observed this couple has feudal standardized meaning, formed by paternity-based Confucian values 123 Author's personal copy N N Tho Chinese use only auspicious colors, shapes and lines to express auspicious wishes in life, this feature is preserved in the region The front view of Tianhou temple in Cai Keo (Dam Doi, Ca Mau) (Nguyen Ngoc Tho 2015) Green lion and White elephant in Tianhou temple, Cai Keo (Dam Doi, Ca Mau) A Green lion and White elephant in Tianhou temple, Thoi Binh town (Ca Mau) (Photo: Nguyen Ngoc Tho 2014, 2015) A Lion and elephant in Phuc Duc temple, Lich Hoi Thuong town, Soc Trang (Nguyen Ngoc Tho 2014) 123 Author's personal copy Buddhist factors in the cult of Tianhou in the Mekong… While doing fieldwork research in South China,10 we have not discovered yet any Tianhou temple having painted or decorated figures of lion and elephant Instead, the couple of green dragon and white tiger on the front door or on the intersection between pillar and girder are dominantly popular Conversely, a large number of Vietnamese and Chinese Mahayana Buddhist temples11 as well as Khmer Theravada Buddhist temples apply this pattern in their wall-painting.12 As a result, the patterns of green lion and white elephant decorated on Tianhou temples throughout the region are not unique; they have “twin sisters” in both Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism traditions, and both co-exist interactively in the culture of South Vietnam, including the Mekong River Delta Regarding symbolic meanings, green lion and white elephant express the quintessence of folk culture, the crystallization of “good thing being sublimated, transformed from but above the earthly thing, after that it comes back to control earthly behavior of human being”.13 These values may become implicit when being impacted by external driving forces or when living environment being changed (such as ethnic Chinese changed their life when moving from Southern China to Vietnam); however, when the environment gradually becomes stable and living conditions become normalized and suitable, those implicit values become revitalized and re-emerged by absorbing and combining the close factors to reshape new advanced forms In some extend, the revitalization shows a part of “cultural fossilization” of native knowledge in folk architecture, sculpture and arts which partially bears the ethnic identities This makes Tianhou temples of the ethnic Chinese in the region not only a religious space but also a dynamic complex of economic, social, political and cultural centerpoint Architectural style and folk fine arts associated with Tianhou temples in the Mekong River Delta are also affected by orthodox Confucian ideology; the classical figures and symbolic patterns can be widely seen at ethnic Chinese temple They contain both holy significance (solemnity, supremacy, and mysteriousness of the supernatural world) and earthly values (closeness of scenery and objects associated with normal life, sublimation of arts), in which the holiness is prerequisite As a matter of fact, regional Tianhou temples’ architecture and sculpture style expresses both profane desires of being protected, being equipped by traditional social merits and being capable to shape and reshape ethnic identity through the encoded figures Korean writer, Choi (2004, p 38) once stated that local ethnic Chinese showed their readiness to join Vietnamese society in dress, language and lifestyle throughout history, “yet they still maintained their distinct origin and identity as Chinese”.14 The attachment of Buddhist’s “green lion and white elephant” decoration in regional 10 All field-work executed from 9/2005 to 1/2006 and from 2/2008 to 9/2009 in Fujian, Guangdong, Guangxi, Zhejiang, Jiangxi and Hunan 11 For example Linh Phu temple, DinhQuan, Dong Nai (field-work data 2015) 12 Such as Linh Phu Buddhist Pagoda in Dinh Quan District (Dong Nai); Phung Song Tu in District 1, On Lang Temple and Ha Chuong Temple in District (Ho Chi Minh City); Kal Bo Pruk Buddhist Temple in Oc Eo (Thoai Son, An Giang) etc 13 Quoted as Tran Hau Yen The (2015, p 147) 14 See also Wheeler (2015, p 146) 123 Author's personal copy N N Tho Tianhou temples explicitly demonstrates the process of indigenization of the local ethnic Chinese community This active process creates “peripheral” ethnic Chinese community opportunity and resources to advance the pathways of integration and identity building In addition, the emergence of “green lion and white elephant” and in-depth Buddhist philosophical structure in the cult of Tianhou regionally has strongly presented cultural superscription which enables Tianhou to intervene larger aspects of life of all engaged communities (both Vietnamese and ethnic Chinese) The term superscription was firstly suggested by Duara (1988, pp 778–795) when analyzing Guandi’s cultural empowerment during Chinese history thanks to imperial state’s sanction and modification As a result, divergent social classes (the state, bureaucrats, literati, commoners etc.) interpret the symbol Guandi in different ways due to their proper backgrounds Tianhou goddess was once superscripted and enriched in her cultural meaning by Confucian virtues during late Chinese imperial dynasties (especially Ming and Qing, see Watson (1985)), she has been continuously energized by more Buddhist factors in Vietnam Melissa Brown (2007, p 92) showed that specific community’s culture gets to be transformed due to call for standardization and uniformity by successive state regimes and local elites, the transformation itself is a process of “changing practices and ideas under conditions that frequently obtained during the cultural contact” that occurred with Chinese expansion In the case of Tianhou cult in the Mekong River Delta, it is not merely the transformation of cultural practices, the in-depth absorption of Buddhist philosophy demonstrates that the transformation takes place in the faith’s belief structure also In China, Tianhou is told to be a popular shaman or a Taoist disciple in local gazettes and records while she turns to “study Buddhist philosophy until 28 years old” (as found in stele record in Camau Tianhou temple) and frequently gets united with Guanyin and sanghas (as seen in paintings and decorative motifs in Ho Phong Tianhou temple) At a certain level, Tianhou is deeply acculturated to local culture On the other hand, as stated by Brown (2007, p 95), there has been an important distinction between assimilation (the acquisition of identity) and acculturation (the acquisition of culture) Tianhou goddess’s transformation in the case of the Mekong River Delta although proves to be taken place in in-depth structure; however, it is a manifestation of acculturation but not assimilation The ethnic Chinese in the region are always aware of ethnic identity and keep acquiring for building ethnic identity While the Vietnamese look at Tianhou goddess under a Buddhist eye-view, the ethnic Chinese see her both an identity marker and a Buddhism affiliated goddess Therefore, only Buddhism-associated factors of Tianhou goddess are adopted by the Vietnamese, her original notation of a sea goddess, a protector and an ethnic identity icon has been still preserved in ethnic Chinese’s mindset By expanding in-depth belief structure to absorb Buddhist thoughts, Tianhou goddess shows the feature flexibility which allows both ethnic Chinese and popular Vietnamese people to sharpen the process of cultural exchanges and reconstruction There are two points to be discussed, decentralization in cultural meaning and popularization in liturgical practice Due to disconnection with imperial powers for long time, “standardized” attributes of goddess Tianhou are almost removed, 123 Author's personal copy Buddhist factors in the cult of Tianhou in the Mekong… making Tianhou a pure deity of the folk rather than a reflection of the profane bureaucracy (as stated by Feuchtwang 1992, pp 57–58; Faure 1999, pp 267–298; von Glahn 2004, pp 251–253; and others) and thus, a Buddhist affiliate By being decentralized, Tianhou goddess has been in touch of cross-ethnic devotees and thus been superscribed with new cultural meanings In comparison with the similar sanctioned symbol Guan Gong, Tianhou goddess has evolved to be an identity marker within ethnic Chinese tradition and an icon for Sino-Vietnamese crossethnic exchange under Buddhist prism (see further Nguyen Ngoc Tho 2017b) Conclusion As an indispensable rule of cultural evolution, human beings proceed with their demands and their capabilities to satisfy their needs from initial steps (survival, security) to higher ones (respect, self-representation, etc.), as well as to confront the challenge of both identity and integration The ethnic Chinese in the Mekong River Delta have actively absorbed and explicitly emphasized Buddhist factors in their Tianhou tradition to achieve the objectives of full involvement and advancement in local society and of reshaping new face of ethnic identity within strong cross-ethnic interactions and multi-cultural exchanges of the Mekong River Delta Tianhou goddess has degenerated part of its “standardized” Confucian notation, emerging as a popular deity be superscribed with Buddhist factors to fulfill the interests of local culture The close association of goddess Tianhou to Buddhist culture as well as the emergence of Taoism-rooted “green lion and white elephant” Buddhist decoration among regional Tianhou temples have demonstrated that the cult are deepening in Buddhism rather other classical ideologies (Taoism, Confucianism etc.) By absorbing Buddhist thoughts, ethnic Chinese have laid Tianhou cult an interactive channel to create shared experience through common notation and liturgical ritual in the Mekong River Delta for the sake of both integration and identity While shared Buddhist experience promotes cross-ethnic binding, original “Chineseness” wisdoms embedded in Tianhou goddess ensure the shaping and reshaping of ethnic Chinese identity.15 References Aristotle C Dy 2014 The virgin Mary as Mazu or Guanyin: The syncretic nature of Chinese religion in the philippines Philippine Sociological Review 62 (Special issue: Sociology of Religion): 41–63 Boltz, Judith Magee 1986 In Homage to T’ien-fei Journal of the American Oriental Society 106 (1): 211–232 Brown, Melissa 2007 Ethnic identity, cultural variation, and processes of change: Rethinking the insights of standardization and orthopraxy Modern China 33 (1): 91–124 15 The quoted details and photos in this paper are field-work materials collected in South China in the years 2006, 2008; in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand in 2014, 2015, 2016 and all over the 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Tianhou temple in Cai Keo, Dam Doi district; Tianhou temple in Song Doc town; Tianhou temple in Thoi Binh town, Ca Mau province; Phuc Duc temple in Lich Hoi Thuong, Tran De district; Ca Lac Tianhou... text in Tianhou temple, Ca Mau Wall painting of Tianhou and Buddhist monks in Tianhou city about a plot “Tianhou learning temple, Ho Phong (Bac Lieu ) (Nguyen Ngoc Tho 2017a) Buddhist classics... is a process of “changing practices and ideas under conditions that frequently obtained during the cultural contact” that occurred with Chinese expansion In the case of Tianhou cult in the Mekong