Teacher Nguyen Binh Khiem with the philosophy "goodness is the lineage of education"

Nguyen Binh Khiem, whose childhood name was Nguyen Van Dat, was born on April 6, 1491 lunar calendar in Trung An village, Vinh Lai district, Ha Hong prefecture, Hai Duong town (now Vinh Bao district, Hai Phong) under the reign of King Le Thanh Tong - the most prosperous period of the early Le dynasty.

Born into a family with famous and learned parents, his mother was the youngest child of a doctoral scholar and minister of the Ministry of the Interior of King Le Thanh Tong. Nguyen Binh Khiem was carefully educated early, trained both physically and mentally, so he was "strong, unusually intelligent, and could speak fluently before he was one year old".

At the age of 4, Nguyen Binh Khiem was taught by his mother the Classics and Nom poetry... When he came of age, hearing that the first-ranking scholar Luong Dac Bang in Lach Trieu village (in present-day Hoang Hoa district, Thanh Hoa) was famous among the scholars of the time, Nguyen Binh Khiem went there to seek his teacher to learn.

Being intelligent and studious, Nguyen Binh Khiem quickly became his teacher's excellent student and was entrusted with the teacher's custody of his son.

The top scholar at the age of over 40 and famous prophecies

When the Later Le Dynasty (Le So and Le Trung Hung) fell into crisis, Nguyen Binh Khiem did not take the imperial examinations early. Since his adulthood, he had skipped six imperial examinations under the Le So Dynasty. Even when the Mac Dynasty replaced the Le So Dynasty in 1527 and society gradually stabilized, he still skipped the first two imperial examinations under the Mac Dynasty.

It was not until 1535, during the reign of King Mac Dang Doanh, the most prosperous period of the Mac Dynasty, that he decided to take the exam and immediately passed the imperial examination. That year, Nguyen Binh Khiem was over 40 years old.

After passing the exams, Nguyen Binh Khiem was appointed to many positions, was given the title Trinh Tuyen Hau and then Trinh Quoc Cong, so people called him Trang Trinh.

For nearly 20 years (from 53 to 73 years old), Nguyen Binh Khiem did not live in the capital but still took on many government affairs. BookChronicle of the Dynastieswrote: "King Mac Ton was like a master, when there was an important matter in the country, he still sent envoys to ask him. Sometimes he even summoned him back to the capital to ask for great advice", "he was widely learned, deeply understood the meaning of the Book of Changes, knew in advance the rain and sunshine, misfortunes and blessings of everything".

History books all acknowledge Nguyen Binh Khiem as a talented forecaster and strategist, considering him the number one prophet of Vietnam. He once gave a prophecy telling the Mac dynasty to flee to Cao Bang to establish a career after losing Thang Long, and that it would last for three generations. Indeed, this was true. He also advised Trinh Kiem to "keep the temple to worship Buddha and eat rice cakes", and find someone from the Le royal family to become king. The Trinh dynasty followed suit and from then on, they continued to rule, but in name, they still supported the Le dynasty.

Regarding the Nguyen Dynasty, since Nguyen Kim's death, Nguyen Uong, Nguyen Kim's eldest son, was assassinated by Trinh Kiem. Faced with a dangerous situation, Nguyen Hoang (Nguyen Kim's second son) sent someone to ask Nguyen Binh Khiem and received the hidden message "Hoanh Son Nhat Dai Kha Di Dung Than" (meaning a stretch of Hoanh Son can shelter one). Thanks to that, in 1568, Nguyen Hoang asked the Trinh family to come and guard Thuan Hoa and gradually built the Nguyen family's foundation in the South.

In the poemGiant Ao Dai Son, from the collection of poemsBach Van Am Poetry Collection, he wrote "The East Sea is thousands of miles long, I hold it in my arms/ The Vietnamese land will forever be peaceful/ In times of danger, I will strive/ The ancient land of our ancestors". This sentence is like the advice of Trang Trinh to the next generation, that if we hold the East Sea, the country will be peaceful and prosperous forever.

In the articleTrang Trinh's strategic vision of the sea and islands from 500 years ago, author Nguyen Dinh Minh commented: "In the past, when referring to territory, we often talked a lot about rivers, mountains, land, we talked about the sea but not much, the sea was not the main focus. But 500 years ago, Nguyen Binh Khiem predicted the importance of the sea and islands leading to the survival and prosperity of the whole nation. That shows that his strategic scope of protection was very broad and comprehensive".

With the poemGiant Ao Dai Son, Nguyen Binh Khiem can be considered the first person in Vietnamese history to realize the importance of preserving sovereignty over the East Sea.

Educational philosophy of a teacher who trained many talents

Since passing the royal examinations, Nguyen Binh Khiem has been teaching. According to the bookChu Van An, Nguyen Binh Khiem, Nguyen Thiep - three masters of Vietnamese education, the students he trained during this period included many famous people later on. Among them were Luong Huu Khanh, son of teacher Luong Dac Bang, who passed the bachelor's exam and became a good general, both literary and martial; Trang Bung Phung Khac Khoan passed the doctoral exam and had comprehensive talents in military, literature and diplomacy; Nguyen Du - a famous writer in the history of Vietnamese literature...

When he returned to his hometown, he built Bach Van hermitage, took the name Bach Van Cu Si, established Trung Tan restaurant, built Nghinh Phong and Truong Xuan bridges for people to travel conveniently, and opened a school next to Tuyet River (or Han River) in his hometown. Therefore, later, his students honored him as "Tuyet Giang Phu Tu".

Nguyen Binh Khiem educated the people and students a lot about human morality, life ethics, learning, and how to learn. He considered education to play the role of guiding the will and actions of learners, especially linking the will to study with the ideal of dedicating oneself to the country. He especially emphasized the responsibility of constantly contributing to society, believing that the highest effect of education is to save humanity, guiding people back to goodness because "goodness is the lineage of education", just like the old pedagogical motto.

On the basis of educating the good, teacher Nguyen Binh Khiem still taught the classics and stories according to the examination program at that time. According to ancient documents, the examinations at that time were very large, students studied hard, teachers had to spend a lot of time tutoring. The fact that teacher Nguyen Binh Khiem's ​​students almost all ranked high in the exams proves that his teaching was disciplined and strict.

"Teacher Nguyen Binh Khiem was different from others in that he wanted to train his students to become truly learned people with comprehensive knowledge to help others," author Tran Le Sang wrote in a book about three masters of Vietnamese education.

Many later studies have shown that Nguyen Binh Khiem always advocated promoting people to improve their understanding of the world around them and to have proper behavior in life. He considered learning to be for the purpose of practicing morality, required his students to follow the example of the sages, and emphasized the role of exploration and learning.

Nguyen Binh Khiem also valued morality more than literature. This is clearly shown in his literary works. He composed a lot of poetry and literature, in both Nom and Han scripts. Regarding Han poetry, Nguyen Binh Khiem hasBach Van Am Poetry Collectionwith about a thousand articles. Associate Professor, Dr. Tran Thi Vinh wrote in the bookMac Dynasty and Mac Dynasty Era - More than twenty years of research and understandingthat this is a number that has never existed before the Mac Dynasty. Even Nguyen Trai only had 105 poems.

Regarding Nom poetry, Nguyen Binh Khiem hasBach Van National Language Poetry Collectionbut it is not clear how many poems there are in total. In addition, he left behind many stele inscriptions and prophecies. He is considered the person who wrote the most poems and prose in the first five centuries of the country's literature.

Nguyen Binh Khiem died in 1585. Among his many contributions to the national culture, his great contribution to education was highly appreciated by many scientists. All educational achievements in the Mac Dynasty cannot fail to mention the contribution of Trang Trinh Nguyen Binh Khiem. Today, many schools are named after him to commemorate the great teacher.