Confucianism in Vietnam

Abstract

Abstract Confucianism has been in Vietnam for two millennia, but Vietnam was not Confucian until the early modern era. Going through a series of stages, each encompassing the earlier ones, Vietnamese Confucians (Nho) learned from Chinese Confucians (Ru), while remaining independent, pragmatic, and political in their approach. Going directly to the Five Classics generally appealed to the Nho more than plumbing Dao Xue commentaries. Unlike elsewhere in East Asia, the Nho had little interest in philosophical discussion until the eighteenth century. The Western onslaught in the twentieth century brought renewed interest in Confucian philosophy, and the modern age in Vietnam has seen the adaptation of Nho thought to its circumstances. Nho belief and practice today directs ancestral ritual, is applied to contemporary matters, forms a broad cultural element within Vietnamese society, is involved in state affairs, and brings modernity into its current manifestations.