Truc Lam Buddhism in Vietnam: Its History, Development, and Legacy

In the thirteenth century, King-Monk Tran Nhan Tong founded the Truc Lam Thien (Chan/Zen) sect. During the Golden Age in Vietnamese Buddhist history, the sect flourished under three patriarchs with renowned Thien masters. Unfortunately, the Truc Lam sect faded over the following centuries, and Thien Buddhism in Vietnam, for the most part, disappeared.In the late twentieth century, a growing new religious movement led by Thich Thanh Tu, a Pure Land monk, called for a restoration of Truc Lam Thien Buddhism. Who is Thich Thanh Tu? How and why did he choose to revive this particular sect and its emancipation practices? Truc Lam currently boasts hundreds of monasteries and thousands of monks and nuns in Vietnam and beyond, but how have the forces of modernity influenced its original traditions?Through existing literature and extensive onsite fieldwork, this book analyzes the history and revival of a forgotten Buddhist sect and examines the movement’s reform.