Carrying a snake to "guard" the chickens at home
(Baonghean) - In the past few days, there has been news online about the proposal to remove foreign mascots erected at cultural and historical relics in Vietnam. I don't know anything about temples and shrines, and besides, at first glance, they all look the same.
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| A Chinese-style stone lion is placed in front of the tower garden at the ancient Chan Tien pagoda (Ba Trieu street, Hanoi). Photo: VNE |
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Above all, mascots are an important part of the system of tangible and intangible culture (architectures and cultural and spiritual practices), preserving a part of history. Imagine hundreds or thousands of years from now, when our descendants excavate and conduct archaeological excavations of a Vietnamese temple guarded by a pair of Chinese lions, or worse, a pair of lions from... Europe, it will be a big question mark, a dead end in the search for historical roots. In the worst case scenario, who knows, archaeologists hundreds of thousands of years from now will conclude that this is a Chinese temple, so why is it located on Vietnamese territory, leading to doubts about territorial sovereignty. How dangerous!
Many of us must be surprised by the information that many mascots in our cultural and spiritual works today are "borrowed" mascots. For two reasons, first, there are many similarities in Vietnamese culture and Chinese culture, which is understandable due to the geographical proximity, as well as the history left behind. Second, because many people do not really pay attention, have a heart when practicing spirituality, only chasing after external things. Statues only need to be big and heavy, stele only needs to be beautiful and luxurious, but they do not understand what this statue is, what is engraved on this stele. Thus, it is turning having heart into heartlessness, having soul into soullessness, having meaning into meaninglessness...
Vietnam is Vietnam, if the world wants to recognize it, the Vietnamese people must first have the strongest sense of their identity. Why when going abroad, Vietnamese people are often mistaken for Thai, Chinese,... perhaps because the spread and clarity of Vietnamese culture is not strong enough. It is also understandable when the Vietnamese people's perception of Vietnamese culture is still vague, due to lack of understanding or more dangerously, due to the habit of worshipping foreign things. In conclusion, please do not bring foreign snakes home, the danger is unpredictable!
Hai Trieu
