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[Janiny]

What is the state of Zen Buddhism in Vietnam? Where would one go to find an active temple, or at least an active discussion. How about if one wanted to study zen practice in English?

[1st Sgt Welsh]

Hi Janiny,

I've been here for a while and I've never heard anything about Zen Buddhism in Vietnam, but that's not to say it doesn't go on. I'm not sure how familiar you are with Vietnam Janiny so the below is a very brief rundown.

Whilst the Vietnamese, for the most part, don't strike me as a particularly religious lot [superstition is another matter] there is a fair bit of religious diversity. There are quite a few temples and clergy for Mahayana Buddhism and there is a healthy Christian community (mostly Catholics and mainly in the south). To a much lesser extent there is also an indigenous religious sect called Cao Dao, some Thervada Buddhists and also a few Muslims (usually from the Cham ethnic minority).

The most noticeable religious practice here though is, without a doubt, ancestor worship. What I guess I'm saying is that while it may be possible to find Zen Buddhist temples here, they would be very few and far between, assuming they exist at all and requiring instruction in English will make it even more difficult. Anyway sorry if the above doesn't help much and good luck!

[TRH]

http://www.truclamvietzen.net/index.html

Try this in-English site. It includes lists and locations of monasteries and meditation centers in both Hanoi and HCMC. Follow the contacts link after you enter the site.

Locations may not be immediately recognizable as Zen because they may have the name Thiền T�ng. Both Zen and Thiền apparently derive from the same Chinese root but Zen is a Japanese word and apparently a loan word in English.

[mcsensei]

Japan, Korea, China and Vietnam all have Mahayana traditions. Zen comes from China originally. In China it's Chan, in Korea it's Son, in Japan it's Zen, and in Vietnam it's... well, I don't know the name. Thich Nhat Hanh is one of the most famous Vietnamese Buddhists, which you probably know. Vietnam doesn't have the same well known traditions as its East Asian counterparts and that's probably due to the government. Still, if you look around you may find some wise individuals, although my guess is that the wisest would have left the country.