TTLA: Filial Piety in the Beliefs of Vietnamese People in the Northern Delta

Author name: Nguyen Thi Phuong Ha

Thesis title:Filial piety in the beliefs of Vietnamese people in the Northern Delta

Dissertation field: Philosophy

Major: Dialectical materialism and historical materialism

Code: 62 22 03 02

Name of the postgraduate training unit: University of Social Sciences and Humanities - Vietnam National University, Hanoi.

1. Purpose and research objects of the thesis

-Research purpose:

On the basis of clarifying the content of Filial Piety in the Ancestor Worship and Thanh Hoang Worship of the Vietnamese people in the Northern Delta. The thesis points out the movement trend and proposes some solutions to promote the values ​​and limit the negative aspects of Filial Piety in the Ancestor Worship and Thanh Hoang Worship of the Vietnamese people in the Northern Delta today.

- Research subjects:

Filial piety in traditional beliefs of Vietnamese people in the Northern Delta.

2. Research methods used

The thesis uses the methodology of Dialectical Materialism and Historical Materialism, the methods: synthesis and analysis; history and logic; citation and demonstration; observation, fieldwork...

3. Main results and conclusions

3.1. Main results

-The thesis has generalized and systematized the basic contents related to the beliefs of Vietnamese people in the Northern Delta.

- The thesis has pointed out the awareness and practice of filial piety in the belief of ancestor worship and tutelary god worship of Vietnamese people through clarifying the basis of birth, influencing factors such as: geography - nature, economy - society, culture - ideology and the existence and development of family, clan, village, country on the formation of filial piety in the belief of Vietnamese people in the Northern Delta.

- The thesis has pointed out the current trends and issues of Filial Piety in the worship of Ancestors and the worship of the Guardian God of the Vietnamese people in the Northern Delta today. On that basis, it initially proposed solutions to promote the values ​​and limit the negative aspects of Filial Piety in the worship of Ancestors and the worship of the Guardian God of the Vietnamese people in the Northern Delta today.

3.2. Conclusion

Belief is a historical-social phenomenon, a special form of social consciousness, a part of Vietnamese folk culture, reflecting the illusion of social existence and subject to the determination of social existence, having relative independence, with extremely rich and diverse forms of expression. The belief of the Vietnamese people in the Northern Delta is an endogenous belief, born on the basis of geographical-natural, socio-economic, historical-cultural factors of Vietnamese society, the foundation of which is the wet rice agricultural regime with the patriarchal small-scale farming family as the center in a closed village environment of the Vietnamese people in the Northern Delta. On the basis of their cultural and thinking characteristics, the Vietnamese people, in the process of development, have absorbed many exogenous cultural and ideological values ​​to cultivate their own spiritual products, affirming the traditional cultural identity of the nation. The belief in ancestor worship, tutelary god worship, and mother worship is one of the vivid examples of the assimilation of foreign ideologies such as Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism. It is this acceptance and adjustment that has helped the belief in ancestor worship and tutelary god worship become a type of belief with high integration and self-transformation capacity, containing many traditional cultural and ethical values ​​of the nation, including filial piety. From there, it easily finds a place in the spiritual life of Vietnamese people in general and Vietnamese people in the Northern Delta in particular.

Filial piety is a morality that has existed for thousands of years, it has existed and developed throughout the history of Vietnam. For thousands of years, the love of parents for their children has never been exhausted, it has always been filled with time to nurture the young to grow up and become useful people. For nations with thousands of years of civilization and long-standing moral traditions like our Vietnamese people, filial piety is even more highly regarded and is one of the basic morals of the nation. In modern life, what makes up the foundation of a countryside, a nation, a country is not measured by monetary values ​​but by the traditional cultural values ​​of the nation. Beliefs are indispensable spiritual activities of people in modern life. Each belief has reasonable philosophical seeds, containing many profound human values. The tradition of "remembering the source of water", filial piety, national pride and self-respect in ancestor worship and Thanh Hoang worship are the true values ​​that humanity as well as our nation always want to strive for.

The ancestor worship and tutelary god worship of the Vietnamese people in the Northern Delta contain many values ​​of filial piety. Through the concepts, consciousness, and rituals in the ancestor worship and tutelary god worship activities, filial piety is expressed, thereby contributing to raising awareness of the origin, gratitude for the merits of previous generations, strengthening the spirit of solidarity, and building community awareness. Therefore, filial piety is closely linked to the love of homeland and country of the Vietnamese people, creating the axis of House - Village - Country in the solidarity and attachment of the village community and the nation. This is a beautiful expression of filial piety in the Vietnamese villages in the North today. Despite the fluctuations and ups and downs of history, these beautiful expressions are still shining more and more, overcoming difficulties and challenges to survive and develop to meet the spiritual needs of modern society and create the cultural identity of the nation.

In the current development situation, with the strong changes of Vietnamese society in particular (especially in terms of economy, culture, society), the world situation in general, the value of filial piety in the worship of ancestors, worship of tutelary gods of Vietnamese people in the Northern Delta is not only not lost but increasingly affirms its position in society. The positive factors of filial piety contribute to further affirming the values ​​of culture, traditional ethics of the nation, contributing to orienting, perfecting the personality of each individual, connecting the community. Through religious activities to educate filial piety, gratitude for everyone. The value of filial piety in beliefs and religions helps people get closer together, more united, more attached. Besides, the limiting factors also have certain influences. It distorts and degrades religious activities, causing superstitions, ostentation, waste, and moral values, including filial piety, to fade away and lose their inherent good values, greatly affecting the material and spiritual life of the people.

ABSTRACT OF DOCTORAL DISSERTATION

Name of author:Nguyen Thi Phuong Ha

Title of dissertation: Filial piety in the belief of Vietnamese people in the NorthernDelta

Scientific branch of the thesis:Philosophy

Major:Dialectical materialism and historical materialism

Code: 62 22 03 02

Name of postgraduate training unit:University of Social Sciences and Humanities - Vietnam National University, Hanoi.

1.Objective and subject of the thesis

- Research objective:

On the basis of clarifying the contents of the Filial piety in worshiping the ancestors, worshiping the tutelary deities of the Vietnamese people in the Northern Delta. The thesis shows the tendency and proposes some solutions to promote the values ​​and limit the negative of the Filial piety in worshiping the ancestors, worshiping the tutelary deities of the Vietnamese people in the Northern Delta nowadays.

- Research subject:

Filial piety in the belief of Vietnamese people in the Northern Delta.

2. Research methodology

The thesis uses the methodology of dialectical materialism and historical materialism, including methods of synthesis and analysis, history and logic, quotation and proving, observation and fieldwork...

3. Main results and conclusions

3.1.Main results

- The thesis has generalized and systematized basic contents related to the belief of the Vietnamese people in the Northern Delta

- The thesis has shown the consciousness and practice of Filial piety in worshiping the ancestors, worshiping the tutelary deities of the Vietnamese people through the clarification of the origin and the affecting factors such as geography - nature, economy - society, culture - ideology and existence and development of the family, lineage, village and country which lead to the formation of Filial piety in the belief of the Vietnamese in the Northern Delta

- The thesis has pointed out the tendency of movement, the current issues of Filial piety in worshiping the ancestors, worshiping the tutelary deities of the Vietnamese in the present-day Northern Delta, based on which it initially proposes solutions to promote the values ​​and limit the negative issues of the Filial piety in worshiping the ancestors, worshiping the tutelary deities of the Vietnamese people in the present-day Northern Delta.

3.2.Conclusion

Belief is a social-historical phenomenon, a special form of social consciousness and a part of Vietnamese folklore, which reflects the illusion of social existence and is subject to the determination of social existence, having relative independence and greatly diverse forms. The belief of the Vietnamese people in the Northern Delta is endogenous, born on the basis of geographical, natural, socio-economic, historical and cultural elements of Vietnamese society. Its foundation is the paddy rice farming system with the sub-agrarian patrilineality family as center in an enclosed village environment of the Vietnamese people in the Northern Delta. Based on its cultural and intellectual characteristics, Vietnamese people, in the process of development, have acquired a number of exogenous cultural values ​​to enrich their own spiritual virtues, confirming the traditional cultural identity of the nation. Worshiping the ancestors, worshiping the tutelary deities and Mother goddess worship is one of the vivid examples of the development of exogenous thoughts such as Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism. This reception and adjustment helped the ancestor worship, worshiping the tutelary deities become forms of belief that have the ability to integrate and self-change largely, containing in it many traditional ethical and cultural values ​​of the nation, including Filial piety. Since then, it is easy to find a place in the spiritual life of the Vietnamese people in general and the Vietnamese people in the North Delta in particular.

Filial piety is a morality that has existed for thousands of generations and has grown throughout the history of Vietnam. For thousands of years now, the love of parents for their children has never run out, yet always been full from time to time to nurture the children to become useful people. For peoples with thousands of years of civilization and long moral traditions like our Vietnamese people, the Filial piety is even more prominent and one of the basic ethics of the nation. In modern life, what constitutes the foundation of a country, a people, a nation is not measured by the monetary value but the traditional cultural values ​​of the nation. Belief is the indispensable spiritual activity of man in modern life. Each of beliefs has its own logical philosophical cores, containing many profound human values. The tradition of "when drinking water, remember the source", filial piety, national pride and self-respect in the worship of ancestors, worshiping the tutelary deities is the dignity that humanity as well as our people always highly respect.

The worship of the ancestors, worshiping the tutelary deities of the Vietnamese people in the Northern Delta, contains many values ​​of Filial piety. Through the concept, consciousness and rituals in worshiping the ancestors, worshiping the tutelary deities, Filial piety is manifested, thereby contributing to raising awareness towards the source, gratitude for the merits of the predecessor generations, strengthening the spirit of solidarity, building the sense of community. Filial piety, therefore, is closely associated with the love of the homeland and the country of the Vietnamese people, creating the axis of the Home - Village - Country in the unity and attachment of village community and nation. This is a beautiful expression of Filial piety in the Vietnamese village in the North today, despite the ups and downs of history, but those beautiful expressions are still more shining through the difficulties and challenges to survive and develop to meet the spiritual needs of modern society and make up the cultural identity of the nation.

In the current developing situation, with the dramatic change of Vietnamese society in particular (especially in economics, culture and society), the world situation in general, the value of Filial piety in belief of worshiping the ancestors, worshiping the tutelary deities of the Vietnamese people in the Northern Delta is not only unlost but increasingly asserting its position in society. The positive elements of Filial piety contribute to further affirm the values ​​of the traditional culture and morality of the nation, contributing to orienting and perfecting the personality of each individual and connecting the community. Through religious activities to educate Filial piety and gratitude to all. The value of Filial piety in beliefs and religions helps people to come closer together, to unite and stick together. In addition, limiting factors also have certain effects. It causes religious activities to be deformed and corrupted, leading to superstitious, ostentatious and wasteful phenomena, and depleting moralistic values ​​including Filial piety and its inherent beauty, leaving great impact on the material and spiritual life of the people.