Tuệ Tĩnh (

Chữ Hán Chữ Hán (𡨸漢, literally "Chinese characters", ), Chữ Nho (𡨸儒, literally "Confucian characters", ) or Hán tự (漢字, ), is the Vietnamese term for Chinese characters, used to write Văn ngôn (which is a form of Classical Chinese ...

: 慧靜, 1330– 1389), born Nguyễn Bá Tĩnh (阮伯靜), also known as Lê Đức Toản, was a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, physician, and writer. One of the earliest figures in the history of

traditional Vietnamese medicine Traditional Vietnamese medicine (Y học Cổ truyền Việt Nam), also known as Southern Herbology (Thuốc Nam) is a traditional medicine practiced by Vietnamese people. It is influenced by traditional Chinese medicine. The other traditional ...

, Tuệ Tĩnh spent his later years in China, having been sent there by his government as a "living tributary present" to the

Ming The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

emperor.

Early life and career

Nguyễn Bá Tĩnh was born in 1330 in Nghĩa Phú, a village in

Hải Dương Hải Dương () is a city in Vietnam. It is the capital of Hải Dương, an industrialized province in the Hanoi Capital Region and the Red River Delta in Northern Vietnam. The city is at the midpoint between the capital Hanoi and major port H ...

. After being orphaned at the age of six, he was raised in a Buddhist temple, where he was rechristened Tuệ Tĩnh, meaning "Tranquil Wisdom". According to one nineteenth-century source, he was also known as Lê Đức Toản. He studied both

Buddhism Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and gra ...

and

Taoism Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of Philosophy, philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of China, Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmo ...

and also passed his imperial examinations at the age of 22. However, he declined a job offer from the Chinese bureaucracy and elected to pursue medicine instead. He specialised in

herbal medicine Herbal medicine (also herbalism) is the study of pharmacognosy and the use of medicinal plants, which are a basis of traditional medicine. With worldwide research into pharmacology, some herbal medicines have been translated into modern remed ...

and supported the establishment of medical gardens in pagodas across Vietnam.

Later years and legacy

From 1385 onwards, Tuệ Tĩnh lived in

Ming dynasty The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties in Chinese history, imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last ort ...

China, having been designated by the

Trần Trần (陳) or Tran is a common Vietnamese surname. More than 10% of all Vietnamese people share this surname. It is derived from the common Chinese surname Chen. History The Tran ruled the Trần dynasty, a golden era in Vietnam, and succe ...

court in Đại Việt as a "living tributary present" to the Chinese emperor. At the time, Tuệ Tĩnh was regarded as the most accomplished Buddhist monk and medical writer. He arrived at the capital city of

Nanjing Nanjing (; , Mandarin pronunciation: ), alternately romanized as Nanking, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China. It is a sub-provincial city, a megacity, and the second largest city in the East China region. T ...

at the age of fifty-five and wrote a Chinese-language book on Vietnamese medicine, titled ''Nam dược thần hiệu'' () or ''Miraculous Drugs from the South''. He also reportedly wrote ''Hồng Nghĩa giác tư y thư'' (), partly using Nôm verse. Tuệ Tĩnh died around 1389 in Nanjing and was buried there, although part of the inscription on his tombstone beseeches visitors to take his remains back to Vietnam. A temple in Vietnam was built in honour of him during the mid-nineteenth century. According to Leslie de Vries, Tuệ Tĩnh and

Hải Thượng Lãn Ông Lê Hữu Trác (Chữ Hán: 黎有晫, 1724 in Hưng Yên – 1791 in Hà Tĩnh) or alias Hải Thượng Lãn Ông (海上懶翁), was an 18th-century Vietnamese physician who was the best known and most celebrated doctor in Vietnamese hist ...

are often referred to as the "founding fathers" of

, after whom several hospitals, schools, and streets are named. Similarly, Claudia Michele Thompson notes that "Tuệ Tĩnh is considered to be the founding father of Vietnamese medicine."

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tuc Tinh 14th-century Vietnamese people 1330 births 1389 deaths