Research into the Paranormal
From: Kirsten Endres
Date: Sun, May 2, 2010 at 6:58 AM
Dear list,
I am currently digging a bit deeper into the issue of psychic grave-finding in Vietnam and I'm wondering if anyone on the list could contribute to my understanding of the history and current status of parapsychological science in Vietnam. I am aware that the "trung tam nghien cuu tiem nang con nguoi" conducts such research (as part of the Institute of Physics, apparently, though there is no reference on their official homepage). Wikipedia, among other sources on the web, states that the trung tam consists of three departments, one of which is the department of parapsychology. What I would like to know is whether "parapsychology" (can tam ly) has been established and/or is regarded as a scientific discipline in Vietnam, i.e. whether it has an official status as a "science", and if yes, since when. Also, does anyone know when exactly the term "psychic" (nha ngoai cam) came up in Vietnam?
Any hints and thoughts are greatly appreciated!
Best,
Kirsten
__________________________
Kirsten W. Endres
Senior Research Fellow
Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology
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From: rowens
Date: Sun, May 2, 2010 at 11:56 AM
Hi Kristen,
I am not familiar with parapsyuchology in Vietnam, but I know of an anthropologist who worked on this topic for his master's degreee in anthropology. His topic was compiling news peices on the great debate concering telepathy and grave hunting in Vietnam. Its possible he might know a few leads. Let me know if you wish me to contact him. I read over his work and thought it had nothing really to do with anthropology, but that is my opinion.
-Rich
-----------------------------
Richard Owens
PhD. Candidate
Department of Anthropology
Baldwin Hall
University of Georgia
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From: Hoang Vu Nguyen
Date: Sun, May 2, 2010 at 12:55 PM
Dear Kirsten,
There's an interesting article looking at the issue of psychic grave-finding through the lens of Vietnamese News Papers in Đổi Mới era.
It was published on Vietnamese Anthropology Review in 2008 and was reprinted in the second issue of the English version in 2009.
"Tìm cốt người âm - Hiện tượng tìm mộ bằng ngoại cảm qua lăng kính báo chí thời Đổi mới"/Nguyễn Anh Tuấn.- Tạp chí Dân tộc học, 2008, số 4.- Tr.34-42
Another article of him was published in the book "Sự biến đổi của tôn giáo tín ngưỡng ở Việt nam hiện nay" [The Transformation of Religions and Religious Beliefs in Vietnam Today], 355 pages, Hanoi: The Gioi Publisher, 2008 (supported by the Harvard-Yenching Institute).
Pham Quynh Phuong's review shows that "based on ethnographic and mass media research, Nguyen Anh Tuan provides interesting insight into the lives of people who claim to have the capacity to find lost graves using Extra-Sensory Perception (ESP)" (http://hyi.scribo.harvard.edu/2009/06/17/hyi-vietnamese-publication-series/ ).
On the website of Nhan trac hoc, it said that "Trung tam nghien cuu tiem nang con nguoi" was established in 1997, since 2003 VUSTA (Vietnam Union of Science and Technology Associations) has approved several projects of the Center focusing on "Human's Special Abilities and their Applications". http://www.nhantrachoc.net.vn/forum/showthread.php?t=50
I think this Center belongs to VUSTA, not the Institute of Psychics.
Hoang
--
Hoang Vu Nguyen
PhD Student
University of Toronto
Department of Anthropology
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From: Tai VanTa
Date: Sun, May 2, 2010 at 3:17 PM
Dear Kisten Endres,
Dr Bui Duy Tam,Dean of Hue (Central Vietnam) Medical School prior to 1975 and presently residing in San Jose, CA, has written an long article in the THOI LUAN magazine (issue of Mau Ty 2008 Spring) on his several personal visits with his mother to a famous psychic named Miss Phuong near Ham Rong Bridge, Thanh Hoa Province, where his father and grandfather talked through Miss Phuong and accurately talked about the events of the living family members (including reprimanding one living male relative in the clan--to his embarrassment there and then-- for adultery with a colleague named Mai in his office).
Dr. Tam considered the first session was a most important day in hiis life because as a doctor, he saw clearly there are the immortal souls. You can ask my friend Do Tien Duc, editor in chief of THOI LUAN (Los Angeles), at email thoiluan@sbcglobal.net , or phone 323 225 4561 (in LA), for the article and/or the email address of Dr. Bui Duy Tam. Dr. Tam mentioned articles on ngoai cam in magazines The Gioi Moi, Tri Thuc Tre ,Thanh Nien, Tien Phong etc..and the various doctoral degree holders who are engaged in research on 'ngoai cam" either in or in association with "Ban Ngoai Cam" of "Trung Tam Nghien Cuu Tiem Nang Con Nguoi": Nguyen Chu Phac,Ngo Dat Tam,Nguyen Thi Phi Phi,Ngo Kieu Oanh. Some high Party officials believe in this 'science",despite the official ideology of dialectic materialism; for example Mr. Tran Phuong, responsible of economic policy in the early 1980's, urged a friend of mine who visited him in 1999 that the latter should to with him to a psychic session. And you know that Pham Van Dong and Vo Nguyen Giap turned to Buddhism.
You can also get some ideas from my cousin Ta Quang Huan, chief administrative officer of Hoa Sua School, Ha Hoi street, Hanoi, tel 84.4.942.44.48(108),email : hoasuaschoolhr@fpt.vn . He told me a few stories about looking for graves of relatives through psychic, including those of my relatives in North Vietnam. Mr. Huan has a son , Ta Ky Nam, who was studying in Germany and his longtime ago (2004) address is: Edo-Osterloh-Haus, Zi 2204, Steenbeker Weg 22, 2410 Kiel, Germany.
Ta Van Tai
PS. Physicist Ronald Mallek of University of Connecticut, when other established physicists spoke openly about time travel, is now talking about his research on building a time machine, on the basis of Einstein's theory of warping of spacetime, with the hope that a particle or object traveling along such a curve would travel into its own past . I am also thinking of the basc scientific principle of conservation of matters (nothing disappears from universe) and the Buddhist principle of perpetual travel of the soul through many lives according to karma.
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From: Oscar Salemink
Date: Tue, May 4, 2010 at 3:17 AM
Dear Kirsten,
In addition to the information provided by Nguyen Vu Hoang and Ta Van Tai it might be useful to mention the paper by former Vice Minister Tran Phuong that has been going around (northern) Vietnam since the late 1990s or 2000. In that paper he recounts how he promised his mother on her deathbed to go look for his sibling, lost in the war, by looking up a spirit medium, and how he – as staunch atheist – was successful, to his own surprise. There are various types of such mediums, employing various techniques of dealing with the souls and spirits in the other world as well as with their this-worldly clients. Ms. Phuong of Ham Rong, as mentioned by Ta Van Tai, is one of the most famous.
I have been doing some research on this myself, some of it with Prof. Phan Dang Nhat, a previous director of the Institute of Folk Culture of VASS. A conference paper on the related practice of soul calling that I co-authored with Prof. Nhat was to my surprise (as I had submitted nothing) published in the Hanoi-based journal Vietnam Social Sciences in 2007. I hope to publish more on this in the upcoming time. Anyway, Prof. Nhat’s involvement in this research is very interesting as his research, under the auspices of a research “NGO” under one of VUSTA's scientific associations, was mandated and financed by the Ministry of Culture at the time (around 2002-2004).
I hope this is useful.
Oscar Salemink
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From: Tai, Hue-Tam Ho
Date: Tue, May 4, 2010 at 4:05 AM
I was told that a highly successful diviner is located on Hang Quat Street. The entrance to his home is festooned with banners and other decorations and cannot be missed. He enjoys the patronage of highly placed officials as well as scholars. Oscar, you would know the person of whom i speak.
Hue-Tam Ho Tai
Kenneth T. Young Professor
of Sino-Vietnamese History
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From: Kirsten Endres
Date: Tue, May 4, 2010 at 4:42 AM
Ong T. on Hang Quat is a famous master medium of the "Four Palace Religion"; I don't know about his reputation as a diviner, but as far as I know he is not known as a "psychic". Quite a few scholars doing research on len dong and Dao Mau/Dao Tu Phu have consulted him. However, the "paranormal research" I am interested in concentrates on spirit mediums/psychics who communicate with the dead, and in particular those who specialize on grave-finding.
Thanks, Oscar, for pointing out the Tran Phuong paper; in fact I had it in my file but wasn't aware of it.
Cheers, Kirsten