We spent a long morning, not as hot as many of the ones that came before but still sweaty hot, at the Temple of Literature, in Vietnamese, Van Mieu-Quoc Tu Giam.  This was my favorite place 22 years ago when I came with my friend, Jennifer, to adopt her daughter.  And it remains a favorite—now, with an excellent audio tour.  It is a place of calm and peace in the middle of the chaos of Ha Noi.

Van Mieu-Quoc Tu Giam was founded in 1070 as a temple to worship Confucius. A short 6 years later the next Emperor established the Imperial Academy on the Temple grounds as a royal school for nobles, and bureaucrats. Other students were accepted based on competitive exams as a way of filling the civil service.  It seems it didn’t take long for the prestigious academy to diversify their student body.  I wonder if those nobles and bureaucrats didn’t get bored of their own company.  Maybe they just needed some smart guys.  The last exam took place around 1919.  Of course, candidates were only considered if they were male and sons of landowners, sons of singers, performers and criminals were not allowed into the exam.  The school was strict and too many violations of the behavior code could result in expulsion or loss of a head.

For all its restrictions, Van Mieu-Quoc Tu Giam is a magical place of learning, a place that has valued education and right living for more than a thousand years and for that I love it.

The temple grounds consists of  five court yards with gates between them and surrounded by brick walls—the bricks taken from two older buildings. The first big gate leaves the city life of Ha Noi behind.  There are three openings in this gate—one called Virtue Gate, the other the Talent Gate. Perhaps wishful thinking on the part of the administrators.

In the third courtyard there is a square shaped pool with square known as the Well of Heavenly Clarity. I have loved the idea of the square pool for 20 years.  The square represents the earth and the circle at the top of the pavilion represents the sky, all together created a harmony between the sky and earth. This well functions as a mirror absorbing the best essence of the universe. 

On two sides of the courtyard stand open-wall houses containing many stone turtles that carry large stelae on their backs.  The stelae praise Confucianism and the Emperor, write about the philosophy of the current dynasty and list those who passed the exams.  Seems like the best graduation present ever! Some of the stelae are very old and worn, but there are some that can still be read and where the face of the turtle is distinct.  I am quite taken with those turtle faces. In my imagination at least, each turtle head was different and held great meaning.

The reason that turtles carry the stelae is because in Vietnamese culture, the turtle is the only real animal out of 4 holy animals, which include Dragon, Unicorn, Turtle, and Phoenix. The turtle  represents the mental life of Vietnamese people, and also longevity and wisdom, like what it carried on its back, knowledge and successful people.

In the fourth courtyard, the are giant bonsai trees and a two floor temple to the deities.  On each side of the altar, there is a sculpture of a crane and turtle. They are considered to be good friends and represent the duality of life with a desire for harmony and eternity. It is the representation of the duality of life that fascinates me. The turtle who sees life close to the ground, possibility close to the reality of the path, the journey.  The crane is carried, not even walking through life.  She is allowed to see life from far above the road, she is permitted to dream without bothering about the stones in the road. Do they make such a good team?

I spent this morning on emails and messages for Julia’s programming when we return. Some of the correspondence was replying to responses I received after my queries last week.  I had not planned to do any work around Julia’s programming during this traveling but it does seem that I cannot be kept from it.  There is no forward movement as of yet but I am ever optimistic.

There are architectural details I want to include here. Perhaps they are not all incredible but I find each of them so touching and precious.