VietNamNet Bridge - The main message of the conference on the Tran Nhan Tong International Prize on Reconciliation and Love--was to make the thought, cultural values, and career of the Royal Buddha Tran Nhan Tong to be known to the world.

The conference attracted more than 50 well-known intellectuals and scholars. They are Viet Phuong, Prof. Hoang Tuy, Mr. Vu Minh Giang - Deputy Director of Hanoi National University, Historian and National Assembly Member Duong Trung Quoc, and others. Ms. Vaira Vike - Freiberga, the former Latvian President and a world famous politician also took part in the conference. She was well-known for achieving membership in the European Union and the NATO for Latvia.

The Tran Nhan Tong Academy will be set up in Boston, USA-- to apply and spread his noble thoughts and create a knowledgeable and human image about Vietnam in the 21st century. It is planned that the Tran Nhan Tong Prize on Reconciliation and Love will be annually granted on Reconciliation and Love Day on September 9th in Boston, starting from 2014. The prize will be awarded to outstanding activists for boosting reconciliation and love among nations, religions, and peoples. The international conference on Tran Nhan Tong will be hosted on the same day and at the same venue of the prize award ceremony.

The annual Boston Concert on Reconciliation and Love in August under the initiative of the journalist Nguyen Anh Tuan, the former Editor in Chief of Vietnamnet, will be renamed into Tran Nhan Tong Concert on Reconciliation and Love.

Ms. Vaira Vike –Freiberga, the former Latvian President, shared her sincere appreciation about this initiative. She said that she would actively take part in the mobilization process for the prize.
“I’m in love with the initiative because I have a special feeling for Vietnam. Your country experienced a lot of wars, and our country also had to suffer no fewer. I understand the proud of Vietnamese people when you used to have a king defeating the world most powerful invader at his era for three times in only one century. I’d like to have more opportunities to learn about Tran Nhan Tong. Even though his name has not yet been known, it is of my belief that your actions and initiatives will help to bring his name to the world. He left these values not only for Vietnam but for the whole human kinds.”

The world-known politician also expressed her impression about the Royal Buddha Tran Nhan Tong. He gave up his throne when his power was at the strongest to choose an ordinary life of a monk and to become a thinker. The realities show that no powerful leader dares to leave their power behind, thus becoming obstacles for their own nations’ development.

Prof. Hoang Tuy viewed the issue in different way. He expected that the Tran Nhan Tong prize would be a chance to call for reconciliation and love for human kinds in tolerant manner. “Our country is in need of heart-felt reconciliation. This spirit was mentioned and discussed right after the country reunified. We have not yet been realizing it quite well even though we continued to talk about it. Now, it is high time for us to take action. If we don’t have the climate of heart-felt reconciliation, how would our country be in the future?” wondered by Prof. Hoang Tuy.

Hoang Lan