Dynastic period

There are conflicting theories regarding whether Buddhism first reached Vietnam during the 3rd or 2nd century BCE via delegations from India, or during the 1st or 2nd century from China.^[6] In either case, by the end of the 2nd century CE, Vietnam had developed into a major regional Mahayana Buddhist hub, centering on Luy Lâu in modern Bắc Ninh Province, northeast of the present-day capital city of Hanoi. Luy Lâu was the capital of the Han region of Jiaozhi and was a popular destination visited by many Indian Buddhist missionary monks en route to China. The monks followed the maritime trade route from the Indian subcontinent to China used by Indian traders. A number of Mahayana sutras and the āgamas were translated into Classical Chinese there, including the Sutra of Forty-two Chapters and the Anapanasmrti-sutra.

Jiaozhi was the birthplace of Buddhist missionary Kang Senghui, who was of Sogdian origin.^[7][8]

Over the next eighteen centuries, Vietnam and China shared many common features of cultural, philosophical and religious heritage as a result of geographical proximity and Vietnam being annexed twice by China. Vietnamese Buddhism is thus related to Chinese Buddhism in general, and to some extent reflects the formation of Chinese Buddhism after the Song dynasty.^[3] Meanwhile, in 875 new Cham king Indravarman II who was a devout Mahayana Buddhist, established Mahayana as Champa's state religion, and built the large monastery complex of Đồng Dương. His dynasty continued to rule Champa until the late 10th century.^[9]

During the Đinh dynasty (968–980), Mahayana Buddhism was recognized by the state as an official religion (~971), reflecting the high esteem of Buddhist faith held by the Vietnamese monarchs, included some influences from the Vajrayana section.^[10] The Early Lê dynasty (980–1009) also afforded the same recognition to the Buddhist sangha. The growth of Buddhism during this time is attributed to the recruitment of erudite monks to the court as the newly independent state needed an ideological basis on which to build a country. Subsequently, this role was ceded to Confucianism.^[11]

Portrait of Zen master Nguyễn Minh Không (1065 – 1141)

Vietnamese Buddhism reached its zenith during the Lý dynasty (1009–1225), beginning with the founder Lý Thái Tổ, who was raised in a Buddhist temple.^[12] All of the emperors during the Lý dynasty professed and sanctioned Buddhism as the state religion. This endured with the Trần dynasty (1225–1400), but Buddhism had to share the stage with the emerging growth of Confucianism.

Zen master Tuyên Anh, founder of a Buddhist monastery in Hanoi, Lê or Nguyễn dynasty

By the 15th century, Buddhism fell out of favor with the court during the Later Lê dynasty, although still popular with the masses. Officials like Lê Quát attacked it as heretical and wasteful.^[13] It was not until the 19th century that Buddhism regained some stature under the Nguyễn dynasty, which accorded royal support.^[14]

Painting "A La Pagode" by artist Nguyễn Tường Lân, 1935

Painting "La Tonkinoise Et La Vieille Sage" by writer Nhất Linh, 1926

A Buddhist revival movement (Chấn hưng Phật giáo) emerged in the 1920s in an effort to reform and strengthen institutional Buddhism, which had lost grounds to the spread of Christianity and the growth of other faiths under French rule. The movement continued into the 1950s.^[15]

Republican period

From 1954 to 1975, Vietnam was split into North and South Vietnam. In a country where surveys of the religious composition estimated the Buddhist majority to be approximately 70 to 80 percent,^{[16][17][18][19][20][21][22]} South Vietnamese President Ngô Đình Diệm's policies generated claims of religious bias. As a member of the Catholic Vietnamese minority, he pursued pro-Catholic policies that antagonized many Buddhists.

Monument to Thích Quảng Đức, who burned himself to death in 1963 in protest against the persecution of Buddhists by South Vietnam's Ngô Đình Diệm administration

In May 1963, in the central city of Huế, where Diệm's elder brother Ngô Đình Thục was the archbishop, Buddhists were prohibited from displaying Buddhist flags during Vesak celebrations.^[23] Yet few days earlier, Catholics were allowed to fly religious flags at a celebration in honour of the newly-seated archbishop. This led to widespread protest against the government; troops were sent in, and nine civilians were killed in the confrontations. This led to mass rallies against Diệm's government, termed as the Buddhist crisis. The conflicts culminated in Thích Quảng Đức's self-immolation by lighting himself on fire in protest of the persecution of Buddhists. President Diệm's younger brother Ngô Đình Nhu favored strong-armed tactics, and Army of the Republic of Vietnam Special Forces engaged in the Xá Lợi Pagoda raids, killing estimated hundreds. Dismayed by the public outrage, the U.S. government withdrew support for the regime. President Diệm was deposed and killed in the 1963 coup.^[24][25]

Political strength of the Buddhists grew in the 1960s as different schools and orders convene to form the Unified Buddhist Sangha of Vietnam. Leaders of the Sangha like Thích Trí Quang had considerable sway in national politics, at times challenging the government.

With the fall of Saigon in 1975, the whole nation came under Communist rule; many religious practices including Buddhism were discouraged. In the North, the government had created the United Buddhist Sangha of Vietnam, co-opting the clergy to function under government auspices, but in the South, the Unified Buddhist Sangha of Vietnam still held sway and openly challenged the communist government. The Sangha leadership was thus arrested and imprisoned; Sangha properties were seized and the Sangha itself was outlawed. In its place was the newly created Buddhist Sangha of Vietnam, designed as the final union of all Buddhist organizations, now under full state control.

Modern period

A young Buddhist monk in Vietnam

The treatment of Buddhists started to ease since Đổi mới in 1986.

Since Đổi Mới in 1986, many reforms have allowed Buddhists to practice their religion relatively unhindered. However, no organized sangha is allowed to function independent of the state. It was not until 2007 that Pure Land Buddhism, the most widespread type of Buddhism practiced in Vietnam, was officially recognized as a religion by the government.^[26] Thích Quảng Độ, the Patriarch of the Unified Buddhist Sangha, once imprisoned, remained under surveillance and restricted in his travels until his death.

Today, Buddhists are found throughout Vietnam, from North to South. Buddhism is the single largest organized religion in Vietnam, with somewhere between 12.2% and 16.4% of the population identifying themselves as Buddhist.^[27][28] Some argued that the number is higher than reported, as many declared themselves as atheists but still participate in Buddhist activities.

Though the Communist Party of Vietnam officially promotes atheism, it has usually leaned in favor of Buddhism, as Buddhism is associated with the long and deep history of Vietnam. Also, there have rarely been disputes between Buddhists and the Government;^[29] the Communist Government also sees Buddhism as a symbol of Vietnamese patriotism. Buddhist festivals are officially promoted by the Government and restrictions are few,^[30] in contrast to its Christian, Muslim and other religious counterparts.

Recently, the Communist regime in Vietnam allowed major Buddhist figures to enter the country. Thích Nhất Hạnh, an influential Buddhist figure revered both in Vietnam and worldwide, is among these.^[31] Distancing itself from the fellow communist neighbor China, the Government of Vietnam allows the publishing of books and stories of 14th Dalai Lama, who has a personal friendship with Thích Nhất Hạnh and were commonly critical of the Chinese regime after the 2008 Tibetan unrest,^[32] which was seen as an attempt to antagonize the Chinese Government and China as a whole, as Beijing still considers the Dalai Lama to be a terrorist.

The Vietnam Buddhist Sangha has placed much emphasis on promoting Buddhism to remote areas and ethnic minorities beyond the native Kinh people group, in contrary to other Buddhist governing body in the region. These efforts has given rise to more ethnic minorities embracing Buddhism in remote areas, especially in the Central Highlands region of Vietnam.

For example, Buddhists adherent in the Kon Tum province, a traditionally non-Buddhist region has grown to host 30,000 Buddhists since arriving in the 1930s, with 4,000 of them being of ethnic minority. There are 27 Pagodas and 6 Viharas in the region with 90 active Buddhist monastics today. ^[33]

Separately, Dak Lak province of Vietnam has also seen a rise in Buddhist adherent with about 3,000 adherents coming from ethnic minority such as the E De people group. ^[34]

Overseas

Linh Quang Buddhist Center, Nebraska, USA

Buddhist Monastery of Tam Bao Son, Harrington, Quebec, Canada

After the fall of South Vietnam to the Communist North in 1975 at the end of the Vietnam War, the first major Buddhist community appeared in North America. Since this time, the North American Vietnamese Buddhist community has grown to some 160 temples and centers. Proselytizing is not a priority.

The most famous practitioner of synchronized Vietnamese Thiền in the West is Thích Nhất Hạnh, who has authored dozens of books and founded the Plum Village Monastery in France together with his colleague, bhikṣuṇī and Zen Master Chân Không. According to Nguyen and Barber, Thích Nhất Hạnh's fame in the Western world as a proponent of engaged Buddhism and a new Thiền style has "no affinity with or any foundation in traditional Vietnamese Buddhist practices",^[35] and according to Alexander Soucy (2007), his style of Zen Buddhism is not reflective of actual Vietnamese Buddhism. These claims are contradicted by Elise Anne DeVido, who examined the life and legacy of Thích Nhất Hạnh and how we can understand his teachings in terms of its Vietnamese origins.^[36] Thích Nhất Hạnh also often recounts about his early Thiền practices in Vietnam in his Dharma talks, saying that he continued and developed this practice in the West, which has a distinctive Vietnamese Thiền flavor.

Thích Nhất Hạnh's Buddhist teachings have started to return to Vietnam, where the Buddhist landscape is now being shaped by the combined Vietnamese and Westernized Buddhism that is focused more on the meditative practices.^[37]

The Chú Đại Bi

At the entrance of many pagodas, especially in tourist places, the Chú Đại Bi (Vietnamese version of the Chinese 大悲咒 Dàbēi zhòu, the Nīlakaṇṭha Dhāraṇī or Great Compassion Dharani or Mantra), is made available to visitors, either printed on a single sheet in black and white, or as a color booklet on glossy paper. They are printed on the initiative of Buddhist practitioners who make an offering to the sangha.

Description of illustrations:
• Left: Sheet of plain paper (21x29.7 cm). Complete text of Chú Đại Bi, ie 84 verses, printed in black and white. At the top of the page, on both sides, are the representations of Buddha A Di Đà (Amitābha) and Bodhisattva Quán Âm (Guanyin).
• Center: Two booklets, first covers, flexible cardboard (21x14.5 cm). - Green colored copy , 32 p. : Quan Âm (or Quán Thế Âm Bồ Tát) is standing on a lotus. She is represented in her form with twenty-four arms and eleven faces: hers, the others symbolizing the ten directions of space (the four cardinal directions, the four intercardinal directions, the nadir and the zenith, that the Boddhisattva can observe simultaneously.)
The meaning (and not the literal translation) of the words " Nghi Thức Trì Tụng " is: " Instructions for reciting well the Chú Đại Bi".
• Right: An open booklet. We can read the numbered verses 1-42 of the "Chú Đại Bi", that is to say half of the full text.
Note : one of the booklets has more pages (32) than the other (12) because it is more illustrated and contains ritual instructions (as indicated on the front cover).

• Text

The Chú Đại Bi (Vietnamese translation of the Chinese title 大悲咒 Dàbēi zhòu), is divided into 84 verses and available in either unnumbered or numbered versions. The text recited in religious services is a transcription into modern Vietnamese (Chữ Quốc ngữ) from the ancient Vietnamese (Chữ Nôm and Chữ Hán) text, which was itself a transcription from Chinese (not a traduction). The following translations into modern Vietnamese and English are based on the work of Vietnamese historian Lê Tự Hỷ ^[40] and Indian historian Lokesh Chandra.^[41] A reconstruction in Sanskrit IAST from the original text, by Lê Tự Hỷ, is also proposed.

Mahāyāna traditions

Bái Đính Temple in Ninh Bình Province

Monks holding a service in Huế

The overall doctrinal position of Vietnamese Buddhism is inclusive and syncretic, adopting doctrines from Chinese Buddhist schools like Tiantai (Thiên Thai) and Huayan (Vietnamese: Hoa Nghiêm).^[3] Likewise, modern Vietnamese Buddhist practice can be very eclectic, including elements from Thiền (Chan Buddhism), Thiên Thai, and Tịnh độ (Pure Land).^[3] Vietnamese Buddhist are often separated not by sects but by the style in how they perform and recite texts, which monks of different regions of Vietnam are known for. According to Charles Prebish, many English language sources contain misconceptions regarding the variety of doctrines and practices in traditional Vietnamese Buddhism:^[55]

We will not consider here the misconceptions presented in most English-language materials regarding the distinctness of these schools, and the strong inclination for "syncretism" found in Chinese and Vietnamese Buddhism. Much has been said about the incompatibility of different schools and their difficulty in successfully communicating with each other and combining their doctrines. None of these theories reflects realities in Vietnam (or China) past or present. The followers have no problem practicing the various teachings at the same time.

The methods of Pure Land Buddhism are perhaps the most widespread within Vietnam. It is common for practitioners to recite sutras, chants and dhāraṇīs looking to gain the protection of Buddhas and bodhisattvas.^[56] It is a devotional practice where those practicing put their faith in Amitābha (Vietnamese: A-di-đà). Followers believe they will gain rebirth in his pure land by chanting Amitabha's name. A pure land is a Buddha-realm where one can more easily attain enlightenment since suffering does not exist there.

Many religious organizations have not been recognized by the government. However, in 2007, with 1.5 million followers, the Vietnamese Pure Land Buddhism Association (Tịnh Độ Cư Sĩ Phật Hội Việt Nam) received official recognition as an independent and legal religious organization.^[26]

Thiền is the Sino-Xenic pronunciation of Chan (Japanese: Zen) and is derived ultimately from Sanskrit "dhyāna". The traditional account is that in 580, an Indian monk named Vinitaruci (Vietnamese: Tì-ni-đa-lưu-chi) traveled to Vietnam after completing his studies with Sengcan, the third patriarch of Chan Buddhism. This would be the first appearance of Thiền. The sect that Vinitaruci and his lone Vietnamese disciple founded would become known as the oldest branch of Thiền. After a period of obscurity, the Vinitaruci School became one of the most influential Buddhist groups in Vietnam by the 10th century, particularly under the patriarch Vạn Hạnh (died 1018). Other early Vietnamese Zen schools included the Vô Ngôn Thông, which was associated with the teaching of Mazu Daoyi, and the Thảo Đường, which incorporated nianfo chanting techniques; both were founded by Chinese monks.

A new Thiền school was founded by Emperor Trần Nhân Tông (1258–1308); called the Trúc Lâm "Bamboo Grove" school, it evinced a deep influence from Confucian and Taoist philosophy. Nevertheless, Trúc Lâm's prestige waned over the following centuries as Confucianism became dominant in the royal court. In the 17th century, a group of Chinese monks led by Nguyên Thiều introduced the Linji school (Lâm Tế). A more native offshoot of Lâm Tế, the Liễu Quán school, was founded in the 18th century and has since been the predominant branch of Vietnamese Zen.

This is the main altar of a Vietnamese Buddhist temple near Seattle. In the front is a statue of Shakyamuni Buddha, the historical founder, while in the back is the "trinity" of Amitabha Buddha. On one side of Amitabha is Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva while on the other is Mahasthamaprapta Bodhisattva.

Some scholars argue that the importance and prevalence of Thiền in Vietnam has been greatly overstated and that it has played more of an elite rhetorical role than a role of practice.^[57] The Thiền uyển tập anh (chữ Hán: 禪苑集英, "Collection of Outstanding Figures of the Zen Garden") has been the dominant text used to legitimize Thiền lineages and history within Vietnam. However, Cuong Tu Nguyen's Zen in Medieval Vietnam: A Study and Translation of the Thien Tap Anh (1997) gives a critical review of how the text has been used to create a history of Zen Buddhism that is "fraught with discontinuity". Modern Buddhist practices are not reflective of a Thiền past; in Vietnam, common practices are more focused on ritual and devotion than the Thiền focus on meditation.^[58] Nonetheless, Vietnam is seeing a steady growth in Zen today.^[37] Two figures who have been responsible for this increased interest in Thiền are Thích Nhất Hạnh, and Thích Thanh Từ, who lives in Da Lat.

Theravada Buddhism

South East Asia circa 1010 CE, Đại Việt (Vietnamese) lands in yellow

The central and southern part of present-day Vietnam were originally inhabited by the Chams and the Khmer people, respectively, who followed both a syncretic Śaiva-Mahayana (see History of Buddhism in Cambodia). Theravāda spread from Sri Lanka to Cambodia during the 15th and 16th centuries, became established as the state religion in Cambodia and also spread to Cambodians living in the Mekong Delta, replaced Mahayana.^[59] Đại Việt annexed the land occupied by the Cham during conquests in the 15th century and by the 18th century had also annexed the southern portion of the Khmer Empire, resulting in the current borders of Vietnam. From that time onward, the dominant Đại Việt (Vietnamese) followed the Mahayana tradition while the Khmer people continued to practice Theravada Buddhism.^[60]

Khmer Nam Bộ girl in a traditional costume at Theravada temple in Trà Vinh province

In the 1920s and 1930s, there were a number of movements in Vietnam for the revival and modernization of Buddhist activities. Together with the re-organization of Mahayana establishments, there developed a growing interest in Theravadin meditation as well as the Pāli Canon. These were then available in French. Among the pioneers who brought Theravada Buddhism to the ethnic Đại Việt was a young veterinary doctor named Lê Văn Giảng. He was born in the Southern region, received higher education in Hanoi, and after graduation, was sent to Phnom Penh, Cambodia, to work for the French government.^[61]

During that time, he became especially interested in Theravada Buddhist practice. Subsequently, he decided to ordain and took the Dhamma name of Hộ-Tông (Vansarakkhita). In 1940, upon an invitation from a group of lay Buddhists led by Nguyễn Văn Hiểu, he went back to Vietnam in order to help establish the first Theravadin temple for Vietnamese Buddhists at Gò Dưa, Thủ Đức (now a district of Hồ Chí Minh City). The temple was named Bửu Quang (Ratana Ramsyarama). The temple was destroyed by French troops in 1947, and was later rebuilt in 1951. At Bửu Quang temple, together with a group of Vietnamese bhikkhus who had received training in Cambodia such as Thiện Luật, Bửu Chơn, Kim Quang and Giới Nghiêm, Hộ Tông began teaching Buddhism in their native Vietnamese. He also translated many Buddhist materials from the Pali Canon, and Theravada Buddhism became part of Vietnamese Buddhist activity in the country.

In 1949–1950, Hộ Tông together with Nguyễn Văn Hiểu and supporters built a new temple in Saigon (now Hồ Chí Minh City), named Kỳ Viên Tự (Jetavana Vihara). This temple became the centre of Theravadin Buddhist activities in Vietnam, which continued to attract increasing interest among the Vietnamese Buddhists. In 1957, the Vietnamese Theravada Buddhist Sangha Congregation (Giáo hội Tăng-già Nguyên thủy Việt Nam) was formally established and recognised by the government, and the Theravada Sangha elected Venerable Hộ Tông as its first President, or Sangharaja.

From Saigon, the Theravadin Buddhist movement spread to other provinces, and soon, a number of Theravadin temples for ethnic Viet Buddhists were established in many areas in the Southern and Central parts of Vietnam. There are 529 Theravadin Buddhist temples throughout the country, of which 19 were located in Hồ Chí Minh City and its vicinity. Besides Bửu Quang and Kỳ Viên temples, other well known temples are Bửu Long, Giác Quang, Tam Bảo (Đà Nẵng), Thiền Lâm and Huyền Không (Huế), and the large Thích Ca Phật Đài in Vũng Tàu.^[62]

There is also a branch of Theravada Buddhism that also combines elements from the Mahayana tradition which is called Mendicant Buddhism or in Vietnamese, Đạo Phật Khất Sĩ Việt Nam, it was created by Thích Minh Đăng Quang, who wanted to create the original Buddhist tradition by walking barefoot and begging for alms.