Mother goddess worship a unique characteristics in Vietnamese spiritual life

AuthorHoang Thuc Lan - Le Cong Su
PositionHanoi National University of Education
Pages98-107
Vol. 2 No. 2
June, 2018
European Journal of Economics, Law and Social Sciences
IIPCCL Publishing, Graz-Austria
ISSN 2519-1284
Acces online at www.iipccl.org
98
Mother goddess worship a unique characteristics in Vietnamese spiritual life
Assoc. Prof. Dr Hoang Thuc Lan
Hanoi National University of Education
Assoc. Prof. Dr Le Cong Su
Hanoi National University of Education
Abstract
Analyzing the establishment and development of Mother worship in Vietnamese spiritual and
cultural life. Emphasizes is placed on the crucial and objectively established link to wet rice
cultivation in the genesis and development of Mother worship belief. Vietnamese people have
always lived in harmony with the nature, appreciated morality, respected women especially
the mothers who gave birth to and fed their children. Therefore, from the Northern to the
Southern borders of Vietnam, the image of Mother has always been supernatural as well as
moral support for those experiencing di culties and misfortunes. Based on these points, the
paper clari es cultural, philosophical, moral and art values integral to Mother worship as well
as somehow explains current extrasensory perception in Vietnam.
Keywords: Belief, Mother, Vietnames Mother worship, spiritual life.
Introduction
In more than 4000 years of existence and development, many types of beliefs and
religions have been introduced into and generated in Vietnam, re ecting a diverse
history and culture. They include Buddhism, Confucianism, Taoism, Christianty
and Maxism. In this mix, Mother Goddess worship, as a unique characteristic of
Vietnamese spiritual life, deserves focus. My research studies mother goddess
worship. "Van Cat Goddess" by female writer Doan Thi Diem. "Tale of Princess Lieu
Hanh" by Nguyen Cong Tru and "Collection of books in Chinese - Nom characters on
legend of Mother Goddess Lieu Hanh" by Kieu Oanh Mau are some among prose’s
and poems which mentioned the above topic rst. This early writing he authors has
sculptured the image of Mother Goddess Lieu and other mother goddesses as saints
o en helping poor people and ghting against focues of violence. By the middle of
twentith century, a few French scholars such as M/Durand (Technique et pantheon de
Mediem Vietnamiens); P.J. Simon, I.Simon- Barouch (Hau dong, un cult de Vietnamien
de poseion trangsplantes) delved into the phenonmenon of “going into trance” that
marked mother goddess worship of Vietnamese people.
Since Renovation (Doi moi, 1986), Vietnam has had a clear view on belief and
religious issues, so a er the National Conference on Mother Goddess held by
Institute of Cultural Studies in Vietnam at the Temple of Literature (Hanoi), academic
research into the nature of mother goddess worship have escalated with a series of
publications. Among them are Nguyen Dang Duy (1996), Spiritual culture; Phan Ngoc
(1998), Cultural identity of Vietnam; Ngo Duc Thinh (2009), Mother goddess religion in

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