Lunar New Year 2023 Festival at Quang Duc Monastery, Fawkner, Victoria, Australia

Buddhism came to Vietnam in the first century CE [1]. By the end of the second century, Vietnam developed a major Buddhist centre in the region, commonly known as the Luy-Lau centre, now in the Bac-Ninh province, north of the present Hanoi city. Luy-Lau was the capital of Giao-Chi, former name of Vietnam, and was a popular place visited by many Indian Buddhist missionary monks on their way to China...

Huyen Quang was 77 years old when he received from the Venerable Phap Loa the mission of directing the Thien sect (Dhyana, Zen) of Truc Lam, thus assuming the title of Third Patriarch. In view of this age and his love for solitude, one could imagine how reluctant he was when he accepted such a charge. Huyen Quang was eager to return to nature as shown in his following poems.

Quynh Lam pagoda was a Buddhist center of primordial importance during the Golden Age of Vietnamese Buddhism under the royal dynasties of the Ly (1010-1225) and the Tran (1225-1400). The study of its development will help us to better understand not only the nature of Vietnamese Buddhism but also the phenomenon of acculturation ...

All many years long, we have travelled the whole states of the USA and provinces of Canada, from west to east, from north to south; we have already visited hundreds of Vietnamese Buddhist temples including big, medium and small ones; with monks or with nuns and even with Buddhist-layman or laywoman; also including temples belonging to Northern Buddhism, Southern Buddhism and Mendicancy sect… Despite in the USA, in Washington D.C or in a remote village in Minnesota, Oregon, New Hampshire, and Louisiana (USA) or in provinces Ontario, Québec or Vancouver city (Canada)…Vietnamese Buddhist Temple is easily recognized from a distance.

In the long way history of Buddhism, an ancient and profound religion which has been constantly developing and modernising, Buddhist architecture has been changing increasingly both in form and content. From small buts for some monks in early times, they have gradually become large monasteries or Pagodas for a community of monks, together with dome-shaped or multi-faceted stupas enshrining holy Buddhist relics, subordinate structures, stele houses, statues, religious decorations and musical instruments….Today, one can see in a typical pagoda a harmonious and original combination of various characteristic of Buddhist architecture.

Because now the persecution is worse, Nhat Chi Mai, a Buddhist nun from a good home, with many friends,

Huyen Quang was 77 years old when he received from the Venerable Phap Loa the mission of directing the Thien sect (Dhyana, Zen) of Truc Lam, thus assuming the title of Third Patriarch. In view of this age and his love for solitude, one could imagine how reluctant he was when he accepted such a charge. Huyen Quang was eager to return to nature as shown in his following poems

Những ngày trời mưa, sau bữa cơm chiều, có món chè bắp tráng miệng thật là ấm lòng. Bát chè có vị ngọt, thơm của bắp, cùng vị béo của nước cốt dừa.