Tu Dao

From: "johnev" <johnev@netspace.net.au>

To: "Vietnam Studies Group" <vsg@u.washington.edu>

Subject: TU DAO

Dear VSG Group,

Would members please excuse me if I ask a possibly naive question (or series of questions) concerning the term 'Tu?) Dda.o' ('martyr'). Did common use of the term pre-date western missionary activity? I have seen many examples of contemporary Buddhist use of the term (for instance, in relation to Buddhist clergy who died in 1963), but did it also have an older applicability outisde of Catholic circles? Was there another, older term that referred to the general concept of dying at the hands of another, for a ideal or cause (I here exclude terms like 'lie^.t si~' which seem to be more specific and sectional).

Many thanks, and a happy new year to all.

Peter Hansen

From: Sinh Vinh <sinh.vinh@ualberta.ca>

To: "Vietnam Studies Group" <vsg@u.washington.edu>

Subject: Re: TU DAO

Dear Pete,

A Happy New Year! I would like to contribute a few ideas in response to your question.

Tu+? dda.o, if written in Chinese, means "a dangerous path/deadly habits". Dda.o, as you know, means way/road/path/street/way/principle(s). After the introduction of Christinity to Vietnam, dda.o acquires a new meaning, i.e. "Christian (Catholic, in this context)" -- as the Vietnamese say "Be^n dda.o be^n Thi'ch" (one is Christian, the other Buddhist). Even in contemporary Vietnamese, this meaning still retains (in cotnrast,the non-Christians are called "lu+o+ng").

Because of the above reasons, terms such as "tu+? vi` dda.o" (die for the religion), or "tha'nh tu vi dao" (Christian martyrs) are used strictly for Vietnamese Buddhists in early 1960s used the term "tu dao". It's interesting that you found a case in which the Buddhists in VN in 1960s used the term tu dao. I have not seen anything like that. The explanation for this is very long, but if "tu dao" is used in a Buhhist sense, I think it might be a misused (linguistically and semantically). People rather used terms such as "tu+. thie^u" (self-burning).

There are many other terms to indicate "to die for an ideal or a cause":

tua^~n tie^'t: e.g. Hoang Dieu tuan tiet.... (for a national cause)

tua^~n dda.o: for a personal belief/principle/religion

tua^~n gia'o": most commonly used for Christian martyrs in China and

Japan.

Cheers.

VSinh