Ngô Thì Nhậm or Ngô Thời Nhiệm ( vi-hantu, 吳時任, 1746–1803) was an important

Vietnam Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam (SRV), is a country at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of about and a population of over 100 million, making it the world's List of countries and depende ...

ese scholar and official who served several regimes during the turbulent last decades of the eighteenth century. He had served as an official for the

Trịnh lords Trịnh is a Vietnamese family name In many societies, a surname, family name, or last name is the mostly hereditary portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family. It is typically combined with a given name to form the full na ...

before losing his position as a result of a coup that followed the death of the Trịnh lord Trịnh Sâm in 1782. He retreated from public life, focusing on his scholarship, before being lured back to official service by the Tây Sơn leader, Nguyễn Huệ in the late 1780s. He served the Tay Son regime with enthusiasm during the reign of the

Quang Trung Emperor Quang Trung (; vi-hantu, 光中, 1753 – 16 September 1792) or Nguyễn Huệ ( vi-hantu, 阮惠), also known as Nguyễn Quang Bình ( vi-hantu, 阮光平), or Hồ Thơm (chữ Hán: 胡𦹳) was the second emperor of the Tây Sơn dy ...

Emperor (r. 1788-1792), writing edicts for the Tây Sơn court, and serving as an emissary to the Chinese court. After the unexpected death of the Quang Trung Emperor and the ascent to the throne of an underage son, Ngô Thì Nhậm slowly decreased his service to the court, and turned his attention to an interest in Vietnamese

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

. He became noted for his writings on Vietnamese Buddhism, and was actively involved in attempting to revive the 13th Century Trúc Lâm ("Bamboo Grove")

zen Zen (; from Chinese: ''Chán''; in Korean: ''Sŏn'', and Vietnamese: ''Thiền'') is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition that developed in China during the Tang dynasty by blending Indian Mahayana Buddhism, particularly Yogacara and Madhyamaka phil ...

sect, the only native Vietnamese school of Buddhism. The revival attempted to harmonize the "Three teachings" of Buddhism,

Confucianism Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China, and is variously described as a tradition, philosophy, Religious Confucianism, religion, theory of government, or way of li ...

and

Taoism Taoism or Daoism (, ) is a diverse philosophical and religious tradition indigenous to China, emphasizing harmony with the Tao ( zh, p=dào, w=tao4). With a range of meaning in Chinese philosophy, translations of Tao include 'way', 'road', ' ...

.George Edson Dutton ''The Tây Sơn Uprising: Society and Rebellion in Eighteenth-century Vietnam'' 2006 Page 278 After the defeat of the Tây Sơn by the resurgent Nguyễn family in 1802, Ngô Thì Nhậm was captured and publicly flogged by a vengeful Nguyễn official, dying shortly thereafter from the injuries sustained in the beating.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ngo, Thi Nham 1746 births 1803 deaths People from Hanoi Mandarins of the Trịnh lords Tây Sơn dynasty officials Vietnamese Confucianists Thiền Buddhists Tây Sơn dynasty writers 18th-century Vietnamese philosophers 19th-century Vietnamese philosophers 18th-century Vietnamese people 18th-century diplomats Vietnamese diplomats