While ancient scripts are often difficult to understand, four villagers in Ninh Hiep Village have opened a school that teaches locals how to read these historical documents.
As the old teacher remembers, over the past 13 years, hundreds of people from Ha Noi’s neighbouring regions have gathered to learn old scripts at Ninh Hiep Village, Gia Lam District, Ha Noi.
Ninh Hiep Village is well-known for its traditional trade of herbal medicine and many of the instructions on how to prepare the remedies are written in old Chinese and Vietnamese scripts. The scripts are difficult to understand and fewer and fewer herbal doctors can comprehend the documents now.
Worried that the trade would be lost, four village elders opened a class in 1996 to teach the old scripts to the villagers for free. They discussed and compiled lesson plans and opened the class at the Kieu Temple where Ly Nuong, a celebrated herbalist who created the trade of processing medicinal herbs, had worshipped.
The good news travelled fast and many people from other regions journeyed to join the class. The students varied from teachers to engineers, painters to those who had never even held a pen brush, and even those who were at home with Shih Shu (Four Books) and Wu Ching (Five Classics), ancient Chinese works handed down by Confucius and his followers.
Da feels happy when many villagers come to him. “Working as a herbal doctor without understanding old scripts is like walking in the darkness without a lantern,” he says.
Lighting up the way
Since 1996, the old teachers have transferred their knowledge to nearly 600 students over six courses, each two years in length. Now, time and old age leaves only Da on the lecture hall dais.
At the age of 82, Da still spends sleepless nights compiling lesson plans. Once, he worked under such pressure he was admitted to hospital for eye treatment. He has finished 40 documents on old Chinese scripts and four Vietnamese scripts. “Learning old Vietnamese letters is much more difficult than Chinese ones,” he says. “Only students who have mastered Chinese scripts can learn Vietnamese hieroglyphic letters.”
Most of Da’s students are middle aged. They don’t come from Ha Noi alone but also from the northern provinces of Bac Ninh, Bac Giang, Thai Binh, Hai Duong and Vinh Phuc. They don’t mind travelling long distances to learn important remedies and moral lessons from Da.
Nguyen Khac Nghi, 41, a Ninh Hiep villager, had drunk his life away. However, after five years of Da’s instruction, he decided to sort himself out and opened a herbal shop in the tradition of his family. He is always quick to remind the master of his admiration.
Dao Quang Luyen, a member of the Association of Medicine and Pharmacy in Dong Anh District, Ha Noi attends the class to study old documents. “Herbal doctors like us think highly of virtue, I can find many moral lessons and philosophy in these documents,” he said.
Luyen also said that he was lucky to be able to learn on the ancestral land of the herbalists.
Graduates from Da’s class have gone on to open their own free classes in their homelands. Da estimated that his disciples have opened at least four classes in Gia Lam District, Ha Noi and Bac Ninh Province.
Vu Thi Hue of Ha Noi doesn’t work as a doctor but she hasn’t missed a lesson in three years. She readsthe old scripts with the aim of learning proper behaviour and moral principles. “Before, I didn’t understand the writing I saw in pagodas and temples but now I can,” she said.
Instead of going to the cinema or a restaurant at the weekend, Hue’s husband drives her on the one-hour journey to the class and waits in a tea shop while she studies.
That’s the way Da and his students keep studying and teaching. Thinking about the positives not the negatives. The management board of the Kieu Temple lends them a room for the work. Da manages the class, buys documents and composes lessons for free. He continues to work despite his age, driven by his teacher’s responsibility and supported by the enthusiasm of his students.Ý Kiến Của Bạn
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