Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm ( Hán tự: 阮秉謙; 1491–1585) was a

Vietnamese Vietnamese may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Vietnam, a country in Southeast Asia ** A citizen of Vietnam. See Demographics of Vietnam. * Vietnamese people, or Kinh people, a Southeast Asian ethnic group native to Vietnam ** Overse ...

administrator,

confucianist Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, a way of governing, or ...

, poet,

prophet In religion, a prophet or prophetess is an individual who is regarded as being in contact with a divine being and is said to speak on behalf of that being, serving as an intermediary with humanity by delivering messages or teachings from the s ...

and later a saint of the

Cao Dai Caodaism ( vi, Đạo Cao Đài, Chữ Hán: ) is a monotheistic syncretic new religious movement officially established in the city of Tây Ninh in southern Vietnam in 1926. The full name of the religion is (The Great Faith or theThird Uni ...

religion and of the

new religious movement A new religious movement (NRM), also known as alternative spirituality or a new religion, is a religious or spiritual group that has modern origins and is peripheral to its society's dominant religious culture. NRMs can be novel in origin or th ...

known as School of Teaching Goodness.

Biography

Born on the coast in Cổ Am village (which is now part of

Hai Phong Haiphong ( vi, Hải Phòng, ), or Hải Phòng, is a major industrial city and the third-largest in Vietnam. Hai Phong is also the center of technology, economy, culture, medicine, education, science and trade in the Red River delta. Haiphong wa ...

). As an adult, he studied knowledge from the second-rank doctor Lương Đắc Bằng and passed the official government examination at the fairly late age of 44 in the exams of 1535. However, he passed the exam, ranking number one in the country. This was a period of great instability in Vietnam which may explain why he took the exam at such a late age. He served in the

Mạc dynasty The Mạc dynasty ( vi, Nhà Mạc / ''Mạc triều''; Hán Nôm: 茹莫 / 莫朝) (1527-1627), as known as House of Mạc ruled the whole of Đại Việt between 1527 and 1540 and the northern part of the country from 1540 until 1593, and ...

court for just seven years until 1542 when he resigned after his official complaints of government corruptions were ignored. He then returned to his native village and opened a school. Among his students were Phùng Khắc Khoan (diplomat), Lương Hữu Khánh,

Nguyễn Dữ Nguyễn Dữ ( chữ Hán: 阮餘), also called Nguyễn Dữ (阮與), was a 16th-century poet of Vietnam known for the Truyền kỳ mạn lục (傳奇漫錄, ''Collection of Strange Tales'').Patricia M. Pelley ''Postcolonial Vietnam: new hist ...

(author of ''

Truyền kỳ mạn lục The ''Truyền kỳ mạn lục'' (傳奇漫錄, "Casual Records of Transmitted Strange Tales") is a 16th-century Vietnamese historical text, in part a collection of legends, by Nguyễn Dữ (阮餘) composed in Chữ Hán. The collection w ...

''). Khiêm became a person much sought after by many leaders during that time of upheaval, civil war, the Mạc collapse, and the rise of the

Trịnh Lords The Trịnh lords ( vi, Chúa Trịnh; Chữ Nôm: 主鄭; 1545–1787), formal title Trịnh Viceroy (; ), also known as Trịnh clan (鄭氏, ''Trịnh thị'') or the House of Trịnh, were a noble feudal clan who de facto ruled Northern Viet ...

and Nguyễn Lords. Both

Trịnh Kiểm Trịnh Kiểm (1503–1570) ruled northern part of Vietnam from 1545 to 1570. Trịnh Kiểm was the founder of the Trịnh lords or House of Trịnh who ruled Dai Viet while a succession of figurehead Later Lê emperors took the role as puppet g ...

and

Nguyễn Hoàng Nguyễn Hoàng (28 August 1525 – 20 July 1613) was the first of the Nguyễn lords who ruled the southern provinces of Vietnam between 1558 and 1613, from a series of cities: Ai Tu (1558–70), Tra Bat (1570–1600), and Dinh Cat (modern-day H ...

purportedly sought his advice in their pursuit of power. To the former, he gave the advice of being the real power behind the (restored) Lê dynasty. To the latter, he advised building a base of power in the undeveloped south. Both men followed these suggestions, resulting in a political and military division of Vietnam that would last for 200 years. As a result of this sage advice, Khiêm gained a reputation as someone who could foretell the future. Some of his prophecies were of a Delphic nature as they were ambiguous and could be read in several ways. Khiêm was also a poet, composing many poems in Chinese and Nôm that have survived to this day. There is a long poem attributed to him called ''Sấm Trạng Trình'' (讖狀程, The Prophecies of Trạng Trình).Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm,
Sấm Trạng Trình
(Trạng Trình is one of Khiêm's nicknames.) This is the Vietnamese equivalent of the

Nostradamus Michel de Nostredame (December 1503 – July 1566), usually Latinised as Nostradamus, was a French astrologer, apothecary, physician, and reputed seer, who is best known for his book '' Les Prophéties'' (published in 1555), a collection ...

quatrains. It is suggestive, believed to predict future events, and very mysterious. This poem includes the line, "Vietnam is being created" ( vi, Việt Nam khởi tổ xây nền), an early use of the word

Vietnam Vietnam or Viet Nam ( vi, Việt Nam, ), officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam,., group="n" is a country in Southeast Asia, at the eastern edge of mainland Southeast Asia, with an area of and population of 96 million, making i ...

. Most cities in Vietnam have named major streets after him.

Modern Cult in the School of Teaching Goodness

The School of Teaching Goodness emerged in the 1990s in the Vĩnh Bảo District, a rural area of the city of

Hải Phòng Haiphong ( vi, Hải Phòng, ), or Hải Phòng, is a major industrial city and the third-largest in Vietnam. Hai Phong is also the center of technology, economy, culture, medicine, education, science and trade in the Red River delta. Haiphong wa ...

. A local carpenter known simply as "Master Thu" claimed to have been visited at night by the spirit of Khiêm, who ordered him to build a shrine in his honor. Thu owned some land, where he built and inaugurated in 1996 a shrine he called Minh Đường Trung Tân (The School of Teaching Goodness). By 2016, it had attracted more than 10,000 visitors, and Thu had organized around the channeled messages of Khiêm a new religious movement with thousands of followers. In 2016, a woman credited with spiritual powers who lived near the shrine claimed to have found Khiêm's coffin buried in her garden. State archeologists took the finding seriously and investigated it. The results were inconclusive, but the fame of the shrine grew as a result of the incident.Quỳnh Trang
"Hội khảo cổ nghiên cứu ngôi mộ nghi của Trạng trình Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm"
''VnEXpress'', January 18, 2017.

References

Sources

* Ta Ngoc Lien ''Renowned Vietnamese Intellectuals: Nguyen Binh Khiem'', The Gioi Publishers, 2004. * Nguyễn Huyền Anh. ''Việt Nam Danh Nhân Từ Điển.'' * Phạm Thế Ngữ. ''Việt Nam Văn Học Sử.'' *

Trần Trọng Kim Trần Trọng Kim (Chữ Nôm: ; 1883 – December 2, 1953), courtesy name Lệ Thần, was a Vietnamese scholar and politician who served as the Prime Minister of the short-lived Empire of Vietnam, a state established with the support of Impe ...

. ''Việt Nam Sử Lược.'' * Nguyễn Bỉnh Khiêm, The ''Bach Vân Am Quôc-Ngu Thi Tâp'', Text in Latin script and chữ nôm script, translation in French, Bulletin de la Société des études indochinoises, Saigon, 1974, 312 P. {{DEFAULTSORT:Nguyen, Binh Khiem 1491 births 1585 deaths People from Haiphong Cao Dai saints Vietnamese Confucianists Vietnamese male poets Mạc dynasty Deified Vietnamese people 16th-century Vietnamese poets