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ficials who obtained their post through success in scholarly examinations. On the grounds
of the temple are steles or slabs of stone, celebrating the achievements of the greatest schol-
ars, those whose examinations propelled them into the upper ranks of the mandarins.
HOW DID INDIA AND FRANCE GIVE VIETNAM ITS RELIGIOUS ROOTS?
India's missionaries, dispatched by the Emperor Ashoka (sometime shortly after 260 BCE)
carried Buddhism to India. Initially it was an austere Buddhism (Minhayana), in which a
righteous life promised no more than an end to the never-ending cycle of reincarnation and
the sufferings of earthly existence. Over time, Hinayana Buddhism developed from earlier
foundations. With Hinayana, a righteous life would lead to a happier incarnation and, bey-
ond that, to entry into Paradise: the Pure Land Buddhism of eternal pleasures.
Monks and their begging bowls are part of the human landscape in Vietnam, but much
more so in the north. In the nineteenth century the French gave protection to Catholic mis-
sionaries, and Catholicism began to spread and flourish. In 1954, as Vietnam began divid-
ing into north and south, rumors of impending persecution in the Communist North sent
one million Catholics south, seeking the protection of the southern Republic and its Cath-
olic President.
In stark contrast to Christianity, Buddhism is a welcoming, accommodating religion.
One can be both a Buddhist and Hindu, for example, or a Buddhist and a Taoist, or a
Buddhist and anything other than a monotheist. (Christians, Jews, and Muslims cleave to
the wording and spirit of the First Commandment.) As a consequence, eclectic religions
proliferate in Vietnam, especially in the more religiously relaxed south. Here, the wise trav-
eler will be dazzled by a Cao Dai temple whose communicants celebrate both Asian and
western religions and whose saints include Napoleon, Sun Yat-Sen, Joan of Arc, and Win-
ston Churchill.
[246]
HOW DID CHINA CREATE THE SECULAR CULTURE OF VIETNAM?
Centuries of Chinese rule north of Da Nang laid the foundations of Vietnamese society:
family and clan. Most villages have their clan halls that hold clan records and statues to
family gods. Ancestors are respectfully invoked in prayer and prayed to but are not wor-
shipped in the western sense. They are asked to mediate between the nuclear family mem-
bers and gods, demons, spirits, and the forces of nature. The family in Vietnam is bound by
the Confucian code of respect and hierarchy. Everyone has a place; everyone knows his or
her place. The mother owes respect and obedience to the father. The younger brother owes
as much to the older brother. The older brother owes obedience and respect to the father.
And the younger friend owes honor and respect to the older friend. The living and the dead
of the clan and the village are joined in a network of respect across generations. This is
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