Background on relevant concepts

This study uses the term “cultural additivity” that has only been mentioned once in the academic literature but not fully explored (Klug, 1973). The term describes a mechanism whereby people of a given culture are willing to incorporate into their culture the values and norms from other systems of beliefs that might or might not logically contradict with principles of their existing system of beliefs. Much of the discourse on cultural transmission has veered toward the assimilative aspect that draws a distinctive line between the minority and the dominant groups (Ziff and Rao, 1997). In this case, given the thousand years of Chinese domination over Vietnam (from 111 B.C. to A.D. 939), one could argue that the additivity phenomenon might really be a form of the Vietnamese assimilating the cultural forms and practices of the Chinese. Within this study, instead of deliberating on the Chinese influence, the focus is strictly on the simultaneous manifestations of Confucian, Buddhist, and Taoist values in Vietnamese folklore. The subject adds to the already rich literature on cultural fusion and cultural transformation, especially the studies on “hybridization/hybridity,” “creolization” and “syncretism” (Grayson, 1984, 1992; Kapchan, 1993; Drell, 1999; Cohen and Toninato, 2010; Stewart, 2011). The following part will go over these concepts briefly to distinguish them from the “additivity” phenomenon.

In his essay on cultural hybridity, Ackermann (2011) gives a detailed account on the origin of the term hybridity and related concepts. From an anthropological perspective, since the second half of the nineteenth century, hybridity was used to denote the crossing of people of different races, with its usage tinged with a negative connotation of ‘‘impurity’’ (Young, 1995; Ackermann, 2011; Stockhammer, 2011). Only until the twentieth century did scholars begin to take up the concept of cultural hybridity in various disciplines, seeking to analyze the different racial and cultural contributions in colonial Brazilian society (Freyre, 1946) or the massive influx of European immigrants into the United States (Park, 1974). Post-colonial studies contributed to the re-positioning of the term hybridity as scholars argued that culture is hybrid per se given that no culture has been left untouched by the global movements of people, artefacts and information (Ackermann, 2011, p. 11).

In a synonymous way, the term creolization is often used to substitute for mixing or hybridity. Yet, historically, unlike the post-colonial interpretation of hybridity, creolization has its root in the word “creole” that dated back centuries as a way to describe people of pure Old World descent (Ackermann, 2011). It is commonly found in linguistics studies, such as the acquisition of a second language or the convergence of two languages in bilingualism. Creolization, then, involves acclimatization, indigenization and transformation (Stewart, 2011). For instance, Eriksen (2007) traces the use of this word in anthropology theory and in Mauritius, and then proposes his own definition to set this cultural phenomenon apart from hybridity or related cultural forms. His definition emphasizes the aspects of displacement, encounter and mutual influence that result in an ongoing interchange of symbols and practices (Eriksen, 2007, pp. 172–173).

By comparison, syncretism is often used in religious contexts, either to describe religious systems in which people practice two religions side by side, in an alternate or complementary manner (Ringgren, 1969; Stewart, 2011), or to mark the syncretic features of the transmission of religion from one culture to another (Grayson, 1992). There is also a host of studies exploring the concept of cultural syncretism, such as the cultural absorption of medieval Southern Italy and Sicily in the twelfth century (Drell, 1999), the cultural dissemination and incorporation of psychology and psychoanalysis in Brazil during the military period of 1964–1974 (Lenz Dunker, 2008), or the ways Goan people in India bridge the cultural differences between Hindus and Christians and thereby foster civility (Gomes, 2007), among others. Within the scholarship, it appears that the term syncretism has largely been used to describe the amalgamation of formerly discrete world views (Eriksen, 2007), or specifically, the crossing of two religions that have existed side by side for centuries, with three possibilities: repression of either one, complete fusion, or a syncretic result in which the foreign elements are deemed as essential or less essential (Ringgren, 1969). One of the more well-known studies on the diffusion of religion across cultural boundaries is by the scholar James Huntley Grayson. In his study on the acceptance of esoteric Buddhism during the Three Kingdoms era in ancient Korea, Grayson (1984) defines religious syncretism as “a cultural process that may be understood as one part of the broader process of cultural diffusion.” He categorizes the concept into high and low syncretism to reflect the level of changes in the core set of values of the missionary religion when in contact with the indigenous religion.

For this study, Grayson’s conceptualization of high syncretism, or reverse syncretism, is most relevant as it encompasses the accommodation of an indigenous religion—here the Vietnamese folk belief—to the beliefs and practices of foreign religions—such as the three teachings or religions of Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism. At the same time, Brook (1993) makes a valid point on not letting the concept of syncretism “monopolize the full range of possible mixings that occur between distinct religions in a religiously plural society.” When looking at the joint worship of the three Teachings in late imperial China, Brook argues that syncretism, which implies reconciliation of even contradictions, rarely happens because it is hard for elements of distinct world views to resolve or reconcile their dissonance naturally.

Keeping in mind the overlapping ideas, this study employs a different term, “cultural additivity,” in examining Vietnamese folklore and culture at large, mainly because the existing concepts are loaded with either historical or religious meanings, as explored above and summarized in Table 1.

Table 1 A summary of three concepts relevant to “cultural additivity” Full size table

For instance, one study on post-colonialism in Vietnam points out the different forms of hybridity within its society, such as a hybrid modernity born out of the colonial and socialist modernities (Raffin, 2008). It is indeed necessary to look beyond the colonial residues, i.e., the French influences, to places such as China, the Soviet Union, the U.S. or from within itself in order to build an appropriate framework for grasping both the local folk and contemporary culture. With these considerations in mind, the term “additivity,” which simply means the adding of different ideas, beliefs, artefacts into one’s existing system whether or not there is reconciliation of contradictions, would offer a neutral starting point for understanding certain cultural phenomena in Vietnam and elsewhere. As such, the concept is distinctive from the other three concepts because it does not imply any sense of cognitive dissonance, but rather describes the adding of even conflicting beliefs in an arbitrary manner.

Hybridity, syncretism in folklore studies

To understand the Vietnamese cultural behaviours through an analysis of local folktales, it is important to review how the aforementioned concepts have been featured in folkloristics.

Kapchan (1993) notes the introduction of the marketplace as a metaphor weighted with history and economic paradigm in folklore studies, suggesting that attention to the hybrid transformations in the expressive economy, i.e., the marketplace, could help us identify our social direction. In another study, Bronner (2005) delves into the creolization and hybridization in European and American folklore studies in its formative period in the nineteenth century. Here, Bronner looks at the movement toward modern folklore, such as the belief in a unilinear progress model that prioritizes racial purity and superiority and the heterogeneous model that attaches social and historical conditions to cultural behavior. Through the scholarship of American academic folklorist Lafcadio Hearn, the author finds that the theory of hybridization not only helps normalize racial hybridity or the issue of race in modern folklore, it also expresses the multiculturalism in America at the time. In a more recent book, the anthropology and religion scholar Magliocco (2010) offers insights into the way North American Neo-Pagans use folklore, or traditional expressive culture, to establish identity and create a new religious culture. She points out that the exposure to globalization on the North American continent, particularly the United States, has resulted in new kinds of hybridity and cultural mixing.

Other folkloristics studies have notably pointed out the role of storytelling in accommodating new ideas or beliefs, some of which may be conflicting with the existing cultural or religious system. For instance, narratives of ghosts and spirits in nineteenth century Estonian folklore are said to contradict the doctrines of the Church about death and the dead (Valk, 2012). Similarly, the folk beliefs of the Yoruba people, an ethnic group from West Africa, also exhibit major contradictions concerning the posthumous life. An example of this is the impression of the late ancestors living in the sky in its popular folktales, even if the dead are known to be buried underground and have transitioned to the “ghostland” (Olomola, 1988). In Asia, the Korean variants of the folktale Cinderella (AaTh 510) (Cox, 1893) are also shown to have accommodated the co-existence of Confucian ideology (filial devotion), Buddhist teachings (devotion to Buddha, reincarnations), and indigenous Korean beliefs (appeals to heaven) (Tangherlini, 1994). In this Korean version, there is a conflict of essential motifs with the religious beliefs, primarily Buddhist, such as the reincarnation of the mother, a good person, as a cow even though reincarnation as an animal reflects one’s poor karma. Valk (2012) argues that the interdependent co-existence of various discourses in folklore can be understood as a dialogue with “an inherently contradictory and incoherent web of beliefs and genres in constant fluctuation.” The different viewpoints and opinions, thus, co-exist in intertextual relationships and even clash against one another without repressing the alternative voices (Valk, 2012).

The Three Teachings/Religions in Vietnam

To understand how this study was carried out, it is imperative to be acquainted with the Three Religions or Teachings in general and in Vietnam in particular.

First, one should note that the Vietnamese language lacks the exact equivalent to the Latin word religio, which could be interpreted as either reread or more commonly, as a combination of re- and ligare (to bind) to create the meaning of reconnection or relation (Durkheim, 1897). The word “religion” (tôn giáo) in Vietnamese, which is a direct translation from Chinese (宗教), could mean “way” (đạo 道) in common speech or “teaching” (giáo 教) in scholarly writings (Tran, 2017). Vietnam has its own popular religion which is characterized by the worshiping of ancestors, historical heroes, local deities and goddesses, local festivals honoring village gods, various forms of exorcism of harmful forces, spirit-possession, the practices of divinations; the offering to deities, goddesses, even the Buddha for luck (Cleary, 1991; Toan-Anh, 2005; Kendall, 2011; Tran, 2017). What is interesting is, despite these practices and rituals, many Vietnamese people declare to “have no religion” on their government ID cards (Hoskins and Ninh, 2017).

Second, the relative religious pluralism in Vietnam, sprouted from the Chinese concept of “Three Religions with the same root” (“tam giáo đồng nguyên” 三敎同源), likely took shape during the Lý-Trần dynasties (1009–1400) (Nguyen, 2013). The concept is widely understood as the co-existence, convergence and even unification of the three religions in Vietnam (Le, 2016). However, some scholars have suggested that among the three, Taoism, with its emphasis on avoiding conflicts and retreat to isolation, is less influential in Vietnamese society (Nguyen, 2013; Xu, 2002) and often manifested in the shamanic practices such as “masters of the amulets” (thầy bùa), “magician healers” (thầy pháp), or “soothsayers” (thầy bói) (Tran, 2017). By comparison, Buddhism caters to the spiritual aspect of the population while Confucianism serves as a moral basis for political and institutional organizations (Nguyen, 2014c). The core teachings of the three religions are presented below.

Buddhism

On the history of Buddhism in Vietnam, a number of scholars have traced its introduction back to the first or second century A.D., with historical evidence suggesting its first-hand entry from India rather than through China (Nguyen, 1985; Nguyen, 1993; Nguyen, 1998; Nguyen, 2008; Nguyen, 2014d). The third century marked the construction of the first Buddhist temples and the origin of the earliest stories of Buddhism in ancient Vietnam, which have a Sinitic Buddhist vocabulary but are plausibly linked to South Indian Hinduism (Taylor, 2018). Over the next centuries, Buddhism continued to spread in Vietnam thanks to the contributions of Indian, Central Asian, Chinese, and even Vietnamese monks who had studied Buddhism in India or China (Nguyen, 2008, p. 19).

In terms of its teachings, Vietnamese Buddhism is characteristic of Buddhism in China, Korea and Japan, populated with several schools of thoughts including Zen, Pure Land, and Tantra (Cleary, 1991). In this sense, the core beliefs and teachings of Buddhism as they are known and practiced in Vietnam also revolve around these concepts: The Four Noble Truths, the Eight-fold Path, karma, and reincarnations. This part provides a brief introduction to these concepts in order to lay the context for the study.

The Buddha, when giving a diagnosis of life predicament, has come up with Four Noble Truths: (i) life is dukkha (usually translated as “suffering” or “dissatisfaction”), (ii) all sufferings are caused by tanha (usually translated as “desire” or “craving”), (iii) when one ceases to have all these desires and cravings, his/her sufferings will cease; and (iv) finally, Buddhism offers the escape path out of this predicament through the Eight-fold Path: right view, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, and right concertation (Smith and Novak, 2004, pp. 31–49; Gethin, 1998, pp. 59–79).

Among the core ideas of Buddhism that have permeated the Vietnamese culture, the concept of karma (nghiệp) is the most ubiquitous. Karma refers to the spiritual principle of cause and effect where intentions and actions of a person (cause) will affect his future outcomes (effects). This concept is related to that of reincarnation, because one’s karma will determine one’s fate in the next life. A closely relevant idea in Vietnam is duyên (yuan-缘), which is equivalent to the Sanskrit word pratityasamutpada and is translated into English as “dependent origination” or “conditionality” (Hoang, 2017).

Confucianism

The introduction and absorption of Confucianism into Vietnam also took place over centuries. According to Nguyen (1998), Confucianism was introduced to Vietnam during the Chinese domination from 111 B.C. until A.D. 938 due to a policy of assimilation, which successfully transformed the Viet society from a matriarchal system into a patriarchal one. It was the Buddhist monks, the most learned men at the time, who not only spread their religious beliefs, but also taught Confucianist philosophy to the Vietnamese people seeking a civil servant post (Nguyen, 1998, p. 93). When Confucianism gained more followers in the eleventh century, Confucian scholars were said to have opposed Buddhism. The spread of Neo-Confucianism in Vietnam began during the Lê dynasty (1428–1788), continued through the eighteenth century, and reached its peak influence under the Nguyễn dynasty (1802–1945).

Given such historical depth, Confucianism has become more about a way of life than a religion in the Vietnamese culture (Nguyen, 1985). Although there might have been some Vietnamese adaptation or “Vietnamization” of Confucianism in Vietnam (Nguyen, 2015), the basic teachings on the moral codes, manners, and etiquettes for living harmoniously in a moral society remain close to the original Confucianism in the Vietnamese mind. These core virtues are summarized in Table 2.

Table 2 A summary of the core values and virtues in Confucianism Full size table

Notably, “righteousness” or (nghĩa 義) is mentioned in two sets of virtues. In many contexts, this word often goes with chastity or purity (tiết 節) to denote the responsibilities of the husband, in reciprocation to his wife’s devotion (Như-Quỳnh and Schafer, 1988). It could also have other meanings; when appeared together with benevolence (nhân 仁), “nghĩa” could denote a principle of high moral conduct. This meaning was also well-known and could be found in common Vietnamese sayings, namely “Respect righteousness, despise riches” (Trọng nghĩa khinh tài), which encourages people to do the right thing, not in the hope for some material reward (Như-Quỳnh and Schafer, 1988).

Confucianism was not only about social order; it also laid the foundations for institutions of governance in Vietnam, namely the selection of imperial officials through competitive exams based on Confucian teachings. This aspect still rings true in contemporary Vietnamese culture. For example, the educational system, business practices, and even the law in Vietnam are often described as being heavily influenced by Confucianism (Pham, 2005; Pham and Fry, 2004; Vuong and Tran, 2009; Vuong and Napier, 2015).

Taoism

The earliest appearance of Taoism or Daoism in Vietnam dated back to the second century when some Taoist monks from China sought to spread their ideas to the area that is now northern Vietnam (Xu, 2002). Xu cites historical records as noting that Taoism in Vietnam developed the most strongly during the Chinese Tang dynasty (618–907) and later continued to exert a huge influence on the Vietnamese Lý and Trần dynasties (1010–1400).

There were two ways to interpret Taoism: the philosophical Taoism (Đạo gia) and the religious Taoism (Đạo giáo). Based on the classics Daodejing of Laozi and Huainaizi, the philosophical Taoism offered a worldview based on the natural approach to life. Vietnamese people were introduced to this philosophy through concepts such as dao, the yin and yang, the Five elements, the ethics of “non-contrivance” or “effortless action” (vô vi or wuwei 无为) (Slingerland, 2003) and “spontaneity” (tự nhiên 自然). The way of life in philosophical Taoism was largely aimed towards reaching the wuwei realm. The word wuwei means doing nothing in the sense of letting life flow naturally. Nature was the leitmotif of the Taoist philosophy and truly set Taoism apart from Confucianism (Novak, 1987). Consequently, the image ideal of a person who retreats to the nature and free from the constricted life of Confucian rules is usually associated with Taoism.

Religious Taoism, like Buddhism, does not have a core system of specific teachings. Broadly speaking, its practices focus on the search for longevity and immortality, spiritual healing, magic, and divinations, which blended in with Vietnamese popular religious beliefs (Tran, 2017, p. 13). Unlike in China, Taoism in Vietnam took no institutional form, in the sense that there were no Taoist schools. Practitioners of Taoism, called “masters” (thầy) were often shaman-like specialists in a variety of domains such as healing, ritual sacrifice (at funerals, for example), soothsaying, sorcery, geomancy, etc., and were often not attached to any temple. In fact, Taoist temples did not serve the role of training monks and priests; rather, they were places of worship for immortals (historical figures who had been ‘‘canonized’’ in Vietnamese culture and folk beliefs) and Taoist deities such as the Jade Emperor (Ngọc Hoàng). The Vietnamese Taoist pantheon was widely accepted by the population, to the point that they weren’t recognized as Taoist deities anymore, rather simply considered as traditionally worshipped gods. Due to its shamanistic and ritualistic nature, which is more commonly associated with ethnic minorities, Taoism often appears in a less “official” light than Buddhism and Confucianism and, at times, could even risk being reduced to the status of “superstitions” (Kendall, 2008). However, the closeness of Taoism to nature makes it blend with the most ease to Vietnamese traditional beliefs and ancient traditions such as the Mother Goddess Religion (Đạo Mẫu) or the Religion of the Four Palaces (Tứ Phủ), all of which are rooted in natural forces (Kendall et al., 2008). In this manner, despite not having as prominent a presence as the other two major religions of Vietnam, Taoism is in a favorable position to spread as a popular religion.