History of Vietnamese Buddhism

To enable the readers to have more knowledge on Vietnamese Buddhism, in the first quarter of 2009, the Encyclopedia Publishing House, the Religion Publishing House and the Institute for Religious Studies launched the book entitled “History of Vietnamese Buddhism” by Assoc. Prof. Nguyen Duy Hinh. The book is composed by the purchase order of the Program KX 04-06 in order to provide database to those interested in studying Vietnamese Buddhism.

Vietnamese Buddhism is the folklore Buddhism inclined to maternity love, mercy of the national tradition, imbued in the culture, art and sentiments of the Vietnamese and localized. It is unnecessary to regard Vietnamese Buddhism as the Indian Buddhism or Chinese Buddhism though it is affected by such sects. Assoc. Prof. Nguyen Duy Hinh tried to introduce some common sutra sets in Vietnam such as Lotus sutra, Diamond sutra, Flower Adornment sutra, Heart of Perfect Wisdom sutra so that the general readers can understand the behaviors of monks.

The book content is divided into 4 chapters. Chapter 1: Acquisition period (2^nd century - 5^th century) introducing Ky Si Vuong (136-226); Man Nuong Story; Quoc Su Thong Bien story; Argument of Mau Tu; and Arthabada sutra by Khuong Tang Hoi. Chapter 2: Development period (4^th century - 10^th century). Chapter 3: Zenith period (11^th century - 15^th century), introducing Son mon Dau and Son mon Kien So. Chapter 4: Revived and reformed Buddhism, introducing the Buddhism in the 15^th century - 16^th century; Buddhism in the 17^th century - 19^th century; Reformed Buddhism (20^th century).

The book is expected to bring about more understandings about Vietnamese Buddhism to the readers.                                                                                                                 Nguyen Vu