THE EXTRAORDINARY MASTER IN NGUYEN DINH CHIEU’S NGƯ TIỀU VẤN ĐÁP Y THUẬT (DIALOGUE BETWEEN THE ANGLER AND THE LOGGER ON MEDICINE) – A PERSONALITY MODEL OF THE RECLUSE

Abstract

Recluse is a special kind of intellectuals in ancient and mediaeval East-Asian societies. The history of recluse of China and Vietnam provided Vietnamese confucianists with models of personality and patterns of behavior whenever they face adversities preventing them from practicing their ideal. The Nom-verse novel Ngư Tiều vấn đáp y thuật written by Nguyen Dinh Chieu contributes to the stream of recluse literature a fictional model based on some Chinese and Vietnamese prototypes that is Kỳ Nhân Sư. This kind of recluse has talent and noble personality, however, the times they lived in were incompatible with their ideal and morality so they had to choose to live in seclusion, and in some cases they even suicided or destroyed a part of their bodies to show their complete non-cooperation. But the kind of recluses like Ky Nhan Su, because of their sense of responsibility and compassion, chose not to give up on their ideal and used some of their knowledge to help the poor and weak people. This, in the form of a figurative character, is the pattern of behavior that Nguyen Dinh Chieu would like to spread and encourage among contemporary confucian scholars.

Keywords: recluse, Kỳ Nhân Sư, moral integrity, model of personality, pattern of behavior