VietNamNet Bridge - National Assembly Chairman Nguyen Phu Trong has said the country’s famous King Tran Nhan Tong embodied a combination of Buddhism and a desire to protect, build and develop the country.

NA Chairman Nguyen Phu Trong releases a pigeon as a symbol of peace in a ceremony to commemorate the anniversary of King Tran Nhan Tong’s death.

He made the statement yesterday at a ceremony to commemorate the 700th anniversary of the King’s death on November 16, 1308, held in Yen Tu Ceremony Square, Uong Bi Town, in the north-eastern province of Quang Ninh.

The ceremony was held by the Viet Nam Buddhist Sangha, the Government’s Committee for Religious Affairs, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, and Quang Ninh Province’s Buddhist Sangha.

King Tran Nhan Tong (1258-1308), whose real name was Tran Kham, was a hero who led the country to defeat the powerful Mongolian invasion army of the Yuan Dynasty two times in 1285 and 1287.

He was also a famous poet and scholar in culture, and the founder of the Truc Lam Yen Tu Zen School of Viet Nam.

His reign was famous for nurturing unity among the people and armed forces, rallying public support at Dien Hong meeting and the armed forces at Binh Than meeting, to fight the Yuan army that had conquered large parts of Asia and Europe.

In 1293, he abdicated the throne, leaving it to his son Tran Thuyen (King Tran Anh Tong), but remained a background political influence.

In 1299, he travelled to Yen Tu Mountain to become a monk and founded the Truc Lam Yen Tu Zen School of Viet Nam, which aimed to muster the will and power of the Vietnamese people in unity.

NA Chairman Nguyen Phu Trong said for King Tran Nhan Tong, Buddhism and life were firmly connected for happiness of the people and development of the country.

“He was a talented strategist who devoted his whole heart for the country and the people,” Trong said. “In war time, he was unyielding and ingenious. In peace time, he devoted himself to caring for the people and develop the country. He made great efforts in caring for agriculture, developing the economy, improving people’s lives, attracting talents, encouraging examinations in education and developing culture.”

Trong said he hoped the Buddhist dignitaries, monks and nuns and every class of people would preserve and bring into play the good traditions of the nation to well implement the Party and State’s religious policy, and policy for great unity, that help develop the country and adorn Vietnamese Buddhism’s tradition of “defending the country and helping the people.”

At the ceremony, Most Venerable Thich Thanh Tu, vice president of the Executive Council of Viet Nam Buddhist Sangha, said the Sangha had asked the Party and the State to have more scientific evaluations on the life and cause of King Tran Nhan Tong, to recognise him as a national cultural celebrity, then ask UNESCO to recognise him as a world cultural celebrity.

President of the Viet Nam Fatherland Front Central Committee Huynh Dam said King Tran Nhan Tong was one of the world’s greatest politician and most accomplished cultural scholars.

“The King is the pride of our nation and Vietnamese Buddhism,” Dam said.

Participants at the ceremony also included former president Tran Duc Luong, former NA chairman Nguyen Van An, Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Thien Nhan, leaders of Quang Ninh Province, and leaders of ministries, sectors, and some cities and provinces.

Participants then organised an incense offering ceremony to commemorate the King, released balloons and pigeons to wish for peace, and planted trees in the Yen Tu relic site.

Earlier, on Wednesday, a seminar on the life and cause of the King was also held in Yen Tu.

(Source: VNS)