Vietnam commemorated the Buddha’s life on 1 June, with many temples and pagodas across the country bustling with activity and people. The Buddhist Sangha of Vietnam, the only Buddhist institution recognized by the government, celebrated Vesak at its headquarters of Quan Su Pagoda in Hanoi.
Quan Su Pagoda, Hanoi, Vietnam. From vietnamnet
The chairman of the Central Committee of the Vietnamese Fatherland Front, Nguyen Thien Nhan, attended the celebration with representatives of the Dharma Executive Council of the Buddhist Sangha of Vietnam and guests from different provinces and cities. Members of the foreign diplomatic bodies were also in attendance.
Nhan delivered a patriotically worded tribute to the Buddhist community, linking Buddhism’s contributions to the well-being of the nation. Viet Nam News reported that he acknowledged the work of the sangha in bringing the nation together and assisting in the country’s development and renewal.
“Looking back at the hundreds of years of history of the Viet Nam Buddhist Sangha, I’m proud to say that national unity and harmony has become a lodestar for all Buddhist activities,” he told Viet Nam News. “Buddhist nuns and followers have extended great support to various activities, including pre-education, social protection, vocational training, HIV/AIDS prevention and control and others.”
Nhan urged monks, nuns, and Buddhist laypeople both within and outside of Vietnam to keep up the good work and remain united while continuing to contribute to “national development and unity,” according to Viet Nam News. He also noted that the Buddhist community helped Vietnamese Buddhists to learn the importance of nation-building and national defense, and urged Buddhists to consolidate ties to other faiths.
On the same day, a formal ceremony was held in Ho Chi Minh City to mark Buddhism’s contribution to the nation’s liberation and the cause of religious freedom. City leaders, members of the Buddhist Sangha Patronage Council, and members of the Dharma Executive Council of the Buddhist Sangha of Vietnam were in attendance at the commemoration, which was held at the Vietnam Quoc Tu Pagoda, District Ten.
The deputy chief of the Patronage Council, Thich Duc Nghiep, called on all Buddhists to remember their country’s ancestors and martyrs, who had courageously sacrificed their lives for the sake of the country and its people. He said that with the sangha establishing itself in Dien Bien and Lay Chau, two remote and mountainous provinces in the north of Vietnam, Buddhist communities were now present in all 58 provinces and 5 municipalities of the country.
Buddhism has enjoyed a long presence in Vietnam, but there are conflicting theories as to whether it arrived during the 3rd or 2nd century BCE from India, or in the 1st or 2nd century CE from China. What is certain is that by the late 2nd century CE, Vietnam was a major Buddhist hub in Asia with a focus on Mahayana Buddhism. The nationalist rhetoric of Nguyen Thien Nhan and Thich Duc Nghiep masks the ambivalent relationship the Vietnamese state has traditionally had with Buddhism throughout history, from dynastic rule to present-day communist Vietnam. Pure Land Buddhism is today the most widespread practice in the country, although it was not officially recognized as a religion by the government until 2007.
Approximately 9 to 16 per cent of the Vietnamese population self-identifies as Buddhist.