Necessity of the thesis topic Process of estblishment and development of the Nuns’ Congregation of Mendicant Buddhist Sect in Ho Chi Minh City has taken place for a long period of Buddh
Trang 1VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
TA THI LE
OF MENDICANT BUDDHIST SECT
IN HO CHI MINH CITY
Major: Religious Studies Code: 9 22 90 09
SUMMARY OF DOCTORAL THESIS ON RELIGIOUS STUDIES
Ha Noi, 2020
Trang 2The work has completed at :
GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
VIETNAM ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES
Academic supervisors: 1 Assoc Prof Ph.D Tran Hong Lien
2: Assoc Prof Ph.D Nguyen Thi Minh Ngoc
Reviewer 1: PGS.TS Ngô H ữu Thảo
Reviewer 2: GS.TS Đỗ Quang Hưng
Reviewer 3: PGS.TS Nguy ễn Hồng Dương
The thesis will be defended before the Dissertation Review Board at the Academy level,
at… hours……minutes………, ate……… moth……year……
The thesis can be found at:
Library of Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences
National Libarary
Trang 3LIST OF THE AUTHOR’S SCIENTIFIC WORKS RELATING TO
THE THESIS TOPIC
ISSN
1 Process of establishment
and development of the
Nuns’ congregation of
Mendicant Buddhist Sect
in Ho Chi Minh City
Ta Thi Le Religious
Studies Review Number: 09,
2017, Page.72
1859 -
0403
2 Activities of nuns of the
Mendicant Buddhist Sect
in Ho Chi Minh City
Ta Thi Le Religious
Studies Review Number: 03,
2018, page.92
1859 -
0403
Trang 4INTRODUCTION
1 Necessity of the thesis topic
Process of estblishment and development of the Nuns’ Congregation of Mendicant Buddhist Sect in Ho Chi Minh City has taken place for a long period of Buddhist renewal in the South of Vietnam in general and in Ho Chi Minh City in particular Religious life, religious facilities, Dharma propagation, education of monks and nuns, and social activities
of this congregation have played a very important role for development of Mendicant Buddhist nuns in the country in general and Mendicant Buddhist nuns in Ho Chi Minh City
in particular
In addition, activities of Mendicant nuns have influenced more and more on community of followers, contributed to orientation of awareness and behaviour of followers towards values of truth, love and beauty as well as a lifestyle that highlights values such as compassion and wisdom of Buddhism Social activities of the Nuns’ Congregation of Mendicant Buddhist Sect in Ho Chi Minh City have been contributing to share difficulties with the society Above all, these activities of Mendicant Buddhist Nuns in Ho Chi Minh City, which have been manifested in both aspects of “religious life” and “earthly life”, have spreaded great human values of Vietnamese Buddhism and the Mendicant Buddhist Sect as well
In the renovation period of country and Vietnamese Buddhism, the Nuns’ Congregation of Mendicant Buddhist Sect in Ho Chi Minh City needs to continue promoting results attained in the past, coming firmly to the future in both of “religious life” and “earthly life” for doing well the way of religlious practice of Vietnamese Buddhist Sangha: Dharma – Nation – Socialism However, activities of the Nuns’s Congregation of Mendicant Buddhist Sect in Ho Chi Minh City has not been considered to research There has been a few of small relating works which only mentioned one or some contents of the Congregation’s activities
So that it may be said that this subject has lacked of a comprehensive and systematic work discussing on activites of the Congregation From aforementioned significance and research situation, PhD Student chose the subject: “Activities of the Nuns’ Congregation of Mendicant
thesis has described and analyzed some key religious activities and social activities, then has given comments and made some recommendations for promoting advantages of the Congregation
2 Aims and tasks of the thesis
2.1 Aims of the thesis
After researching general information of the Mendicant Buddhist Sect and proccess
of Mendicant Buddhist Nuns in Ho Chi Minh City, the thesis has analyzed some main activities of the Nuns’s Congregation of Mendicant Buddhist Sect in Ho Chi Minh City, then
it has pointed out characteristics of the Congregation
In the end, the thesis has raised the author’s viewpoints and important recommendations to promote advantages of the Nuns’ Congregation of Mendicant Buddhist Sect in Ho Chi Minh City
2.2 Tasks of the thesis
Clarifying process of establishment and development of Mendicant Buddhist Nuns
in Ho Chi Minh City
Analyzing various types of religious actitives of the Nuns’ Congregation of Mendicant Buddhist Sect in Ho Chi Minh City It may be seen that analysis and descriptions of the thesis not
Trang 5only has shown specific activities, but also has pointed out characteristics of activities of the Nuns’ Congregation of Mendicant Buddhist Sect in Ho Chi Minh City
Making some recommendations for promoting advantages of the Nuns’ Congregation of Mendicant Buddhist Sect in Ho Chi Minh City for spiritual life of people in
Ho Chi Minh City in the contemporary period
3 Subject and scope of research
Scope of issues: Mendicant Buddhist Nuns in Ho Chi Minh City in general and activities of the Nuns’ Congregation of Mendicant Buddhist Sect in Ho Chi Minh City in the contemporary period have been two subjects that have not much researched by researchers from various perspectives and disciplines However, in this thesis, we have surveyed some typical activities of the Nuns’ Congregation of Mendicant Buddhist Sect in Ho Chi Minh City in the contemporary period such as:
Religious activities that are Dharma propagation, receiving Alms, chanting, teaching Sutras, preaching Dharma and gathering to practice Pravarana
Social activities that are educational activity, charitable activity and other activities of the Nuns’ Congregation of Mendicant Buddhist Sect in Ho Chi Minh City towards Committees and organs of Vietnam Buddhist Sangha
In the end, the thesis has given some suggestions and recommendations to promote some positive activities of the Nuns’ Congregation of Mendicant Buddhist Sect in Ho Chi Minh City
4 Theoritical basis and methods
4.1 Theoritical basis
The thesis has been based on the methodology of dialectical materialism, historical materialism, viewpoints and policies of Vietnamese Communist Party, and laws of Vietnamese State on beliefs, religions, especially a viewpoint that has seen religion as an important resource to develop the country The thesis also has used a variety of methods of religious studies as well as methods of interdisciplinary studies that are: Method of documentary research, methods of field studies, methods of analysis and synthesis, method of historical studies, method of comparison, method of expert interview, etc
4.2 Methods
The thesis has used interdisciplinary perspectives, mainly the perspective of religious studies, the historical studies and the sociology to research issues that were raised in the aim of thesis From these perspectives, the thesis has applied the theory of religious fact
Due to character of research issue, the thesis applied methods of documentary analysis
to analyze original and sub-origininal documentaries, and collection and analysis of original documentaries were very important tasks of the thesis because these documentaries have helped us to approach roots of research issues The sub-original documentaries were
Trang 6collected in the Mendicant Buddhist Sect and other documentary sources of local state organizations for religious affairs
The method of expert interview: the PhD student gave research issues relating to the thesis to discuss with experienced experts of the Mendicant Buddhist Nuns’ issues, then we received a more systematic, total and comprehensive view about research issues
The methods of field survey: the PhD student conducted observations, used tehniques like comprehensive interview, selected various interview samples including typical nuns in temples, meanwhile, the PhD student collected documentaries In addition, the author of thesis also used methods of participant observation
5 New contributions of the thesis
Firstly, the thesis has provided an overview of Mendicant Buddhist nuns in Ho Chi Minh City;
Secondly, the thesis has given a general, scientific and whole view on actitivies of the Nuns’ Congregation of Mendicant Buddhist Sect in Ho Chi Minh City;
enhancing effects and active influences of Mendicant Buddhist Nuns on life of people in Ho Chi Minh City
The thesis may be used as a reference for researching and teaching of some disciplines that relates to topic of Philosophy of Buddhism at colleges and universities
6 Theoritical and practical significances
Theoritical significances:
The thesis has clarified the history of establishment and development of the Mendicant Buddhist Sect and the Nuns’ Congregation of the Mendicant Buddhist Sect in general and of the Mendicant Buddhist Sect in Ho Chi Minh City in particular
The thesis has identified and described activities of the Nuns’ Congregation of Mendicant Buddhist Sect in Ho Chi Minh City in the contemporary period
Practical Significances:
The thesis has provided scientific evidents for managers and policy makers to deal with issues of the Mendicant Buddhist Sect in general and the Nuns’ Congregation of Mendicant Buddhist Sect in Ho Chi Minh City in particular
The thesis will be a systematic reference for teaching and researching activities on Religious Studies
7 Structure of the thesis
Besides introduction, conclusion, references and appendix, content of the thesis is divided into four main chapters as following:
Chapter 1: Literature review
Chapter 2: Process of establishment, characteristics of the Mendicant Buddhist Sect,
Mendicant Buddhist Nuns and the Nuns’ Congregation of Mendicant Buddhist Sect in Ho Chi Minh City
Minh City towards religious and social activities
Sect in Ho Chi Minh City
Chapter 1: LITERATURE REVIEW 1.1 Documentary sources
1.1.1 Original documentary source of the Mendicant Buddhist Sect
Trang 7It is the book “Chơn lý” (the Truth), collecting a series of 69 lectures with 69 topics, which was written by the Founder Minh Dang Quang for 3 years (1951-1953) Its content is arranged according to an order such as Chơn lý 1 (the Truth 1), Chơn lý 2 (the Truth 2), etc Vietnamese Mendicant Monks Sangha collected them in a book with the title Chơn Lý (the Truth) In 1993, the Buddhist Sangha of Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City launched a book : “Tổ
sư Minh Đăng Quang, Chơn lý” (the founder Minh Dang Quang, the Truth) The Religious Publishing House republished Chơn lý (the Truth) with 950 pages in 2009 In the beginning
of 1970, Chơn lý was divided into two titles: 1 Chơn lý included 60 poems; 2 Rules of Mendicant monks and nuns included 9 lectures These contents was published into two separate sections In addition, Chơn lý was also seperated into three volumes: Chơn lý volume I; Chơn lý volume II; Chơn lý volume III, which was imprinted and published by Religious publishing house in 2009, in which each volume focused on some topics such as: Yes and No (volume I) ; Religion (volume II) ; Buddhism (volume III) In the introduction (publishing on occasion of holding 55th memorial ceremony of the Founder Minh Dang Quang (01/02/1954-01/02/2009 according the Lunar Calendar)), monk Giac Toan said :
“teachings of the Founder were collected by his disciplines to arrange a book Chơn lý with
69 different topics From the death of the Founder to nowadays, Chơn lý was printed and published many times under various forms that could be a whole series or sometimes could
be separate books with different topics In the second edition on occasion of holding 50th memorial ceremony of the Founder (1954-2004), we asked for permission from leaders of Buddhist Sangha of Vietnam and the Mendicant Buddhist Sect to published two sections”
1.1.2 Documentary sources of the Buddhist Sangha of Vietnam
The documentary sources of the Buddhist Sangha of Vietnam include the Charter and documents of Congresses It is the most considerable that they are three books such as: The Vietnam Buddhist Sangha: the Office of Executive Council Vietnam Buddhist Sangha through Congresses (1981-2012), Religious Publishing House, 2012 The Buddhist Sangha of Vietnam: Document of 7th National Buddhist Congress (the period of 2012-2017), Hai Phong Publishing House, 2012; and the Buddhist Sangha of Vietnam: Document of 8th National Buddhist Congress in the period of 2017-2022
These books collected a series of documents of eight congresses The most considerable documents of them are: the action program of each period, and the resolution of Executive Council The first Congress added a document “Report about the process of mobilizing of unity” All summary reports from the Second Congress to the 8th
Congress mentioned various aspects of the Mendicant Buddhist Sect such as work of Monks and Nuns, monasteries, vihara, places for praying to Buddha and some Buddhist works of the Mendicant Buddhist Sect
1.2 Research works
1.2.1 Research works about Buddhism and Vietnamese Buddhism
1.2.1.1 Research works about Buddhism
“Buddha and Dharma” of Nãrada Mahã There, translated by Pham Kim Khanh, Ho Chi Minh City Complex Publishing House, 2013, includes two sections: Buddha, Dharma
Chơn lý (the Truth) of the Founder Minh Dang Quang talks about two mentioned contents It is one of the most important documentaries that helps PhD student understanding basically on Buddha and Dharma
A book with two volumes “Baizhangqiunggui” that was edited by the Institute of Buddhist Studies and Zenist Duc Huy, Thich Phuoc Son and Ly Viet Dung translated,
Trang 8Phuong Dong Publishing House, 2010 Another necessary work is a book of the Most Venerable monk Tinh Khong: “Buddhist awareness”, Vong Tay translated, Hong Duc Publishing House, 2017
“The Sangha of Vietnam” edited by Tri Quang was published firstly by Duoc Tue in 1952
A few of works mentioned some contents of Zen master and Vietnamese Buddhist history such as:
Le Manh That: Vietnamese Buddhist history, volume 1: From the beggining to the period of Ly Nam De, Ho Chi Minh City Publishing House, 1999; Vietnamese Buddhist history, volume 2: From the period of Ly Nam De to the period of Ly Thai Tong, Ho Chi Minh City Publishing House, 2001; Vietnamese Buddhist history, volume 3: From the period
of Ly Thai Tong (1054) to the period of Tran Nhan Tong (1278), Ho Chi Minh City Publishing House, 2007
Nguyen Duy Hinh: Vietnamese Buddhist history, Religious Publishing House and Encyclopedic Dictionary Publishing House, 2005 He was one of the top experts on Vietnamese Buddhism His approaches and analysis to divide Vietnamese Buddhist history into different periods based on the propagation and development of Buddhism in Vietnam
Nguyen Dai Dong: Vietnamese Buddhism from the beginning to 1981 (second edition with revision), Religious Publishing House, 2018 Firstly this book presents an overview of Buddhism in India (Chapter 1), Buddhism in China (chapter 2) and considers these contents as “an introduction” to analyze history of Vietnamese Buddhism with 10 chapters (from Chapter 3 to Chapter 12) These chapters of the book mention the process of Vietnamese Buddhism from the beginning to the time of establishment of Vietnamese Buddhist Sangha in 1981
The Buddhist Sangha of Vietnam, Executive council: Conference proceeding on occassion of 30 years of establishing Buddhist Sangha of Vietnam (1981-2011), Religious Publishing House, 2012 This proceeding collected 99 writing papers that were arranged into
5 topics, including the fourth topic that was: Characteristics of Vietnamese Buddhist Sects There was a considerable writing paper in this topic that was: “Mendicant Buddhist Nuns in the common house of Buddhist Sangha in the past and the present” of the most Venerable nun Thich Nu Ngoat Lien, a member of the Executive Council
The second book is a work edited by the Buddhist Sangha of Vietnam, Institute of Vietnamese Buddhism, National university Ho Chi Minh City, and University of Social Sciences and Humanities that is “Buddhist Sangha of Vietnam 35 years of establishment and development, Hong Duc Publishing House, 2011
Many authors: Vietnamese Buddhist Nuns: Tradition and Modernity, National University Publishing House, Ho Chi Minh City, 2016 This book collected presentations of
a scientific conference with the title: “Vietnamese Buddhist Nuns: Tradition and Modernity” held at Ho Chi Minh City on 08-09th April, 2016
Another considerable book is: “The Buddhist Sangha of Vietnam: Memory of Mahap rajàpati Gautamì”, Hong Duc Publishing House, 2018 This book collected writing papers about Mahap rajàpati Gautamì and activities of Nuns in some provinces
1.2.2 Research works on the Mendicant Buddhist Sect and the Mendicant Buddhist Nuns
The book “Understanding the Mendicant Buddhist Sect” of Thich Giac Duyen, 2014, second edition with revision with the full title namely “The Mendicant Buddhist Sect – 70 years of establishment and development” is a fairly complete work on the Mendicant
Trang 9Buddhist Sect The author collected a lot of documents of the Sect and its congregations, collected many historical evidents through interviews and field studies to generalize systematically every aspect of the Mendicant Buddhist Sect
In February, 2014, Institute for Religious Studies, Institute of Buddhist Studies and the Mendicant Buddhist Sect cooperated the first scientific conference on this Buddhist sect with the title “The Mendicant Buddhist Sect : The process of establishment, development and integration”
There are some noticable presentations in this conference such as : “The Mendicant Buddhism of Vietnam with mendicant tradition” of Phuonng Lien ; “Recovering mendicant Sila in Vietnam” of Nguyen Can ; “The Mendicant Buddhist Sect has contributed to developing of the country and the Buddhist Sangha of Vietnam” of Bui Huu Duoc;
“Manuscripts of the most Venerable Huynh Lien” of the Buddhist Sangha of Vietnam is a writing paper that collected a variety of photos and manuscripts of the most Venerable Huynh Lien; and “Historical chronicle of the Mendicant Buddhist Sect of Vietnam” of Thich Minh Cang, published in 2017
In addition, it is witnessed that there are some remarkable research works such as:
“Understanding the Mendicant Buddhism in the South of Vietnam in 20th century” of Thich Hanh Thanh published in 2007; “Formation and development of the Mendicant Buddhist Sect” of Thich Giac Tri published in 2001; “Minh Dang Quang’s teachings” of Han On published in 1960; “Obeying Discipline of the Vietnamese Buddhism in three sects (Theravada, Mahayana, Medicant) of Thich Nu Lien Chuong published in 2001 On the Mendicant Buddhist Sect, since
1989 Tran Hong Lien wrote an article “The true mendicant and the fake mendicant” published in Journal of Social Sciences, number 1/1989 The author also has had some other writing papers that relate to this topic: “Transformation of activities of Buddhist monks and nuns of the South of Vietnam in the context of integrated period” (2008), “Phật giáo trong người Khmer Sóc Trăng – Hiện trạng và giải pháp” (2002), etc The master thesis “Formation and development of the Mendicant Buddhist Sect” of Thich Giac Tri in 2001; the master thesis “the path of mendicant of the Mendicant Buddhist Sect in the South in the contemporary social context” of Bui Tran Ca Dao in 2014; the master thesis “The Mendicant Buddhist Sect’s organziation under the perspective of discourse and power” of Tran Khanh Hung in 2015; and the master thesis “Mendicant, Vegan diet of the Mendicant Buddhist Sect of Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City” written under the persepective of culture by Nguyn Cong Hoai Luong in 2016
1.2.3 Genernal assessment of literature overview
Aforementioned research works are often fragmentary, in which each work usually mentions a separated aspect of religious activity or social activity In addition, there are a few of works mentioning some activities but they have not yet been prominent It may be said that there has not been any work researching systematically activities of the Nuns’ Congregation of Mendicant Buddhist Sect in Ho Chi Minh City in the contemporary period so that it is necessary to research in our thesis
1.2.4 Issues to continue researching
The thesis has focused on main research issues as following:
Firstly, clarifying the process of formation, development, then highlighting characteristics of the Mendicant Buddhist Sect and Mendicant Buddhist Nuns in Ho Chi Minh City
Trang 10Secondly, highlighting activities of the Nuns’ Congregation of Mendicant Buddhist Sect in Ho Chi Minh City and considering this congregation as a case study with two manifestations: religious activity and social activity
On the religious activity, the thesis has paid attention in some key aspects such as: Dharma propagation, religious practice and religious education
On the social activity, the thesis has focused on some key aspects such as: participating into social-political congregations (the National Assembly, the People’s Council, the Fatherland Front at all level, the Women’s Union, etc), participating into patriotic movements and developing social chartity
Thirdly, pointing out characteristics of the Nuns’ Congregation of Mendicant Buddhist Sect
in Ho Chi Minh City ; then rasing some recommendations for the sect and the local government to help the Mendicant Nuns’ Congregation in Ho Chi Minh City promoting their advantages as well as overcomming drawbacks in both of religious and social aspects
1.3 Theoritical frame and some concepts
1.3.1 Theoritical frame of research
After giving and analyzing research questions and hypothesis, the thesis has applied research theories, especially the theory of religious fact to investigate activities of the Nuns’ Congregation of Mendicant Buddhist Sect in Ho Chi Minh City in both of two pillars such as: religious activities and social-oriented activities
1.3.3 Some concepts used in the thesis
Mendicant Buddhist Sect, A series of Truth, Mendicant Nun, Nuns’ Congregation of Mendicant Buddhist Sect, Mendicant, Probation, Sadi, Bhikkhu/Bhikkhuni, Sangha, Monk/Nun, Almsgiving, Living beings, The Three Noble Buddhas, Eating in the noon, Mendicant monk/nun, Travelling everywhere, Cultivation, Cutting off the ties of retribution, Dharma propagation, Buddhist work, Eating food, Vegan diet, Vihara (Temple), Middle path, Four offerings, Pavarana (gathering to practice religious rite), Four Trusts of Dharma
CHAPTER 2:
PROCESS OF ESTABLISHMENT, DEVELOPMENT, CHARTACTERISTICS OF THE MENDICANT BUDDHIST SECT, MENDICANT NUNS AND NUNS’ CONGREGATION OF MENDICANT BUDDHIST SECT IN HO CHI MINH CITY 2.1 Overview of the establishment and development process of the Mendican Buddhist Sect
2.1.1 Background of formation
Objective reasons:
The South of Vietnam was explored by the Nguyen Lord (in 17th century) Before the August Revolution 1945, this region had been still desserted, bushy, and had many beats, disasters, floods, etc, that had made people’s life very tough However land in this area has been very fertile because of alluvium from two rivers namely Tien and Hau The Southern Delta has not had many mountains, but network of rivers has been dense to create a comfortable marine traffic That is a reason why since 17th century lots of citizens from other regions migrated to the South for living and they carried customs, beliefs, religions that partly contributed to establishing many new religious phenomena
Subjective reasons:
With desires of independence, autonomy of thought, no relying on Sino Scriptures, Pali texts or French documents, the Mendicant Buddhist Sect created a system of Vietnamese
Trang 11Scriptures to maintain Vietnamese language and to use the national language to propagate doctrines, laws of the Buddhism into the community of people in the South of Vietnam, who have intended to oppose alien cultures that could covershadow Vietnamese cultural identity Most basic doctrines of the Sect existing in the series of Chơn Lý (Truth) of the Founder Minh Dang Quang are short and easy to understand
2.1.2 Process of formation and development
2.1.2.1 Brief information of the Founder Minh Dang Quang
The founder Minh Dang Quang is a person whose true name is Nguyen Thanh Dat In childhood period, he borrowed birth certificate of Ly Huong to go to school, so he was also called as this name He was born on 26th September 1923 in a Confucious family in Phu Hau village, Binh Phu town, Tam Binh district, Vinh Long province
In 1947, he accepted disciplines and established a congregation of mendicant monks He divided his Sangha into two congregations which were: a mendicant congregation under leading of the Founder, and a congregation living in vihara of the Sangha in three month cycle In 1948, the mendicant congregation came to Sai Gon, then spreaded over the Western and Eastern South until the founder passed away (on First, February 1954) Until his death, the founder only had done religious practice for 10 years, but he established 27 vihara (temples), had 52 monks, 53 nuns and tens of thousands of followers
2.1.2.2 Periods of development of the Mendicant Buddhist Sect
The period of 1944 – 1954
In this period, the Founder Minh Dang Quang awoke impermanence, sorrow, non-ego, and he was enlightened by the philosphy of “Thuyền bát nhã” (The Boat of Wisdom) After reaching enlightenment in 1944, the founder Minh Dang Quang begun to propagate One of his first works was recruitment of disciplines to form congregation In 1947, monk Tu Hue was a first discipline, and the second person was Giac Chon Linh Bieu temple (now in village 1, Tan Hoa Thanh commue, Tan Phuoc distric, Tien Giang province) was the first facility
Due to mendicant work and receiving Alms, all mendicant monks early lived a mendicant life with the guidline: “Homeless, single, no family, impermanent living place, never keeping money” The congregation followed this rule of the Founder, and used it to organize the Mendicant Monks’ congregation Its organization division was based on number
of mendicant monks A small sangha accounted for 20 monks; a middle sangha accounted for
100 monks; and a large sangha accounted for 500 monks
On the sect and religious life:
In the early period of the Mendicant Buddhist Sect, mendicant monks practiced religious life under a direct guidline of the Founder Minh Dang Quang Through six stages of
a day, monks and nuns must keep discipline and dharma total strictly At that time, the Mendicant Buddhist Sangha set up 20 temples in the South of Vietnam, and had about 100 monks and nuns with thousands of followers taking refugee in the Three Jewels
The period of 1954-1964:
In 1954, the founder Minh Dang Quang passed away The Venerable Giac Tang with the position of manager of Sangha led Mendicant Monks to propagate Each trip was also an opportunity for recruiting disciplines and forming congregations
Each congregation had a chief priest and propagated in some certain provinces It was only a type of mobile propagation in the early time, but then it changed to two types that were mobile propagation and fixed propagation The mobile propagation required monks and nuns to go everywhere, meanwhile the fixed propagation in small provinces required monks
Trang 12and nuns to live in stable places for religious practice and organizing the Buddhist work of congregations
The period of 1964-1975
After a time of mobilization and waiting, on 22th April 1966 the Ministry of Home Affairs of the Republic of Vietnam permissed to set up the Mendicant Sangha with the Charter including 32 terms that followed the Decree No 405/BNV/KS launched in Sai Gon This charter was made in Gia Dinh on 18th December 1960 with some contents such as Title, Headquarters, Purpose and Number
The period of 1975-1981
After 30th April 1975, the country has been united, the Mendicant Buddhist monks and nuns have stopped going on alms and propagation, but they have lived stably in temples to practice religious life following the Founder’s teaching as “To live together for practicing religious life, with the life is living together, the knowledge attained must learn together and the spirit reached must practice together”
In February of 1980, the most Venerable Giac Toan was a monk who was on behalf of the Mendicant Buddhist Monks of Vietnam, and Venerable nun Thich Nu Huynh Lien who was on behalf of the Mendicant Buddhist Nuns of Vietnam to join in the Committee of Mobilization for Unity of Vietnamese Buddhism that was formed on 12th February 1980 in
Ho Chi Minh City In the spirit of harmony, the Mendicant Buddhist Sect selected six delegates to join in the Congress for forming the Buddhist Sangha of Vietnam in November
1981 in Quan Su pagoda in Ha Noi, and this sect has become one of nine Buddhist organizations of the Buddhist Sangha of Vietnam
The period from 1981 to 2018
In 1981, the Mendicant Buddhist Sect joined in the common house of Vietnamese Buddhist Sangha Since this time the Mendicant Buddhist Sect has had new opportunities to develop every aspect
In 2018, 6 congregations of monks, 1 congregation of nuns have had no change, but sub-congregations of nuns changed Two sub-congregations of nuns belonging to the Congregation IV merged into one sub-congregation, meanwhile sub-congregations belonging
to the Congregation III kept stable In addition, there were two new sub-congregations of Nuns, one has relied on the Congregation I and another has relied on the Congregation VI Totally there have had 4 sub-congregations of nuns
By 2017, the Mendicant Monks’ Sangha had organized 6 Congress Through congresses, the model of organization and the personnel structure had been improved
2.2 Overview of the process of formation and development of the Nuns’
organization of Mendicant Buddhist Sect
The organization of Nuns set up two types: the Congregation of nuns and the congregation of nuns The former is an independent institution with the specific organization and personnel structure The latter has relied on some Monks’ congregations to set up some positions to manage nuns of its organization
Sub-So that with the topic of organization of the Mendicant Buddhist Sect, the thesis has presented contents following: overview of the process of formation of the Mendicant Nuns’ Sangha of Vietnam and the Nuns’ congregation of Mendicant Buddhist Sect; overview of sub-congregation of nuns; and overview of the Congregation of Nuns in Ho Chi Minh City
2.2.1 Overview of the process of establishment of the Mendicant Buddhist Nuns
Trang 13Mendicant nuns recognized that they needed to have their own organization, so that a mobilization committee was set up It composed a charter with 30 terms in Sai Gon on 18th October
1957 The charter was approved by the Ministry of Home Affairs and Sai Gon government according to the Decree No 7/BNV/NA/P5 Basing on this decree, on 11th January 1958 the Most Venerable Huynh Lien called to set up the Mendicant Buddhist Nuns’ Sangha of Vietnam This was
an indepent sangha with its own organization and legal position This sangha laid their heatquarters
in Ngoc Phuong vihara (now it locates in 491/1, Le Quang Dinh street, Commue 1, Go Vap district,
Ho Chi Minh City)
2.2.3.2 Overview of sub-congregation of Nuns in the Congregation IV in Ho Chi Minh City
The Congregation IV was led by the Most Venerable Giac Nhien, a discipline of the Founder Minh Dang Quang This congregation has mainly propagated in the Eastern and Western Southern provinces such Ba Ria Vung Tau, An Giang, Kien Gang, Tay Ninh, Can Tho, Soc Trang, etc Specially in Ho Chi Minh City, the congregation has had many temples
in districts that are District 2, Thu Duc, Binh Chanh, Hoc Mon, Binh Thanh, etc
The Congregation II of Mendicant Nuns ever led by the Most Venerable Tri Lien (passed away) was the 9th Most Venerable in nun disciplines who were educated directly by the Founder Tri Lien, namely Nguy Ngoc Mai, also called Pham Ngoc Lam, was born in
1901 in My Lac Thanh commue, Thu Thua district, Long An province
2.3 Some characteristics of the Mendicant Buddhist Sect, Mendicant Nuns and the Nuns’ Congregation of Mendicant Buddhist Sect in Ho Chi Minh City
2.3.1 Some characteristics of the Mendicant Buddhist Sect
On the doctrine: The Founder Minh Dang Quang set 114 commandments for
disciplines, and he defined meditation as a method of religious practice to attain high attention and purification of soul The founder appreciated seriously the meditation and put it into three of six times per day of monks and nuns of the Mendicant Sect Wisdom is intelligence, understanding, and cutting off fails The Founder Minh Dang Quang said that:
“Mendicants only have three paths of religious practice which are Discipline, Meditation, and Wisdom” In the religious practice of mendicant Monks and Nuns, timebles always obey strictly time and religious practice
On the Buddhist Classics: Sutras of the Mendicant Buddhist Sect mixture quintessence of two main traditions as Mahayana and Theravada Some parts of Mendicant scriptures for chanting are similar to Mahaya scriptures such as Ceremony of Repentence, Ceremony of Praying for Peace, and Ceremony of Praying for Redemption However these Mendicant scritpures were translated into Vietnamese and modified according to verse, six-eight syllable poetry, double senven – six- eight poetry or five words poems The Samantamukha, the Amitabha Sutra or short texts of scritpures such the Heart Sutra, the Prasing Buddha Sutra, the Repentence to ten directions of Buddhas Sutra, the Ten Prayers Sutra, the Sangiti Sutta Sutra, the Treating Suffering Sutra, the Buddha Recitation for Final Rebirth Sutra, the Dedication of Merit Sutra, and the Self-Refuge Sutra are translated from Mahayana scriptures into Vietnamese under poems Advocacy of Vietnamization of the Founder has been very suitable with Vietnamese culture as well as educational level of people at that time
in the South of Vietnam In addition, there are two scriptures such as the Sutra of the Recollection
of the Noble Three Jewels and the Sutra of Recalling the Noble Three Jewels that were edited by the Most Venerable nun Huynh Lien