In 1020, as crown prince, Phật Mã was marching his army south through Thanh Hóa, he encountered the spirit of Mount Trống Đồng, which promised to help his campaign.

He apparently attempted to reform the system of justice and prisons at Thăng Long by placing it under the protection of the cult of a tenth-century hero.

[3] In 1039, Thái Tông had a serious discussion with his official about whether a good government depended upon strong personal leadership or a sophisticated institution.

In the same year he captured the leader Nong Quanfu of a rebellious clan in the northern mountains and publicly executed them at Thăng Long, publishing an edict full of self-righteous pride and indignation.

[3] In 1041 Thái Tông had statues cast of the Buddha Maitreya and two irrigation gods; the latter may again imply the emergence of Confucian associations between the monarchy and agricultural organization.

Inspired by the Tang Code in China, these new laws were written by officials charged by Phat Ma to'deliberate about what was suitable to the contemporary age.

After sailed 950 km across the sea, the Vietnamese fleet attacked Champa and the Cham king, Jaya Simhavarman II, was killed.

The Cham captives settled in Nghệ An, lived in Cham-style villages and either became personal servants to the royal elite or laboured for religious establishments.

[6] In 1049, having dreamed of Avalokiteśvara seated on a lotus, he ordered the construction in Thăng Long of the One Pillar Pagoda, which survived in twentieth-century Hanoi.

I wish that each your here, men of eminent virtue from various districts, would express his point of view to me so that I could see how to apply mind.Huệ Sinh, a monk of distinguished local family whom the king had brought from a mountain north into the capital, made this reply in verse: Thái Tông followed the monk's view, and Huệ Sinh became the court teacher.