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Vietnam The Great Ly Dynasty and the Flowering of Buddhism
Following the death of Dinh Bo Linh in 979, the Song rulers
attempted to reassert Chinese control over Vietnam. Le Hoan, the
commander in chief of Dinh Bo Linh's army, seized the throne and
successfully repulsed the Chinese army in 981. Ly Cong Uan, a
former temple orphan who had risen to commander of the palace
guard, succeeded Le Hoan in 1009, thereby founding the great Ly
dynasty that lasted until 1225. Taking the reign name Ly Thai To,
he moved his capital to Dai La (modern Hanoi). The early Ly kings
established a prosperous state with a stable monarchy at the head
of a centralized administration. The name of the country was
changed to Dai Viet by Emperor Ly Thanh Tong in 1054.
The first century of Ly rule was marked by warfare with China
and the two Indianized kingdoms to the south, Cambodia and
Champa. After these threats were dealt with successfully, the
second century of Ly rule was relatively peaceful enabling the Ly
kings to establish a Buddhist ruling tradition closely related to
the other Southeast Asian Buddhist kingdoms of that period.
Buddhism became a kind of state religion as members of the royal
family and the nobility made pilgrimages, supported the building
of pagodas, sometimes even entered monastic life, and otherwise
took an active part in Buddhist practices.
Bonzes (see Glossary)
became a privileged landed class, exempt from taxes and military
duty. At the same time, Buddhism, in an increasingly Vietnamized
form associated with magic, spirits, and medicine, grew in
popularity with the people
(see Religion
, ch. 2).
During the Ly dynasty, the Vietnamese began their long march
to the south (nam tien) at the expense of the Cham and the
Khmer. Le Hoan had sacked the Cham capital of Indrapura in 982,
whereupon the Cham established a new capital at Vijaya. This was
captured twice by the Vietnamese, however, and in 1079 the Cham
were forced to cede to the Ly rulers their three northern
provinces. Soon afterwards, Vietnamese peasants began moving into
the untilled former Cham lands, turning them into rice fields and
moving relentlessly southward, delta by delta, along the narrow
coastal plain. The Ly kings supported the improvement of
Vietnam's agricultural system by constructing and repairing dikes
and canals and by allowing soldiers to return to their villages
to work for six months of each year. As their territory and
population expanded, the Ly kings looked to China as a model for
organizing a strong, centrally administered state. Minor
officials were chosen by examination for the first time in 1075,
and a civil service training institute and an imperial academy
were set up in 1076. In 1089 a fixed hierarchy of state officials
was established, with nine degrees of civil and military scholarofficials . Examinations for public office were made compulsory,
and literary competitions were held to determine the grades of
officials.
Data as of December 1987
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