An Analytical Study Of Pure Land Thought In Vietnam

In countries with a large number of Buddhists,Vietnamese Buddhism is considered relatively special though accepting both Theravadha and Mahayana traditions,and also accepting the Mendicant school with many indigenous cultures in the South.In this rich environment of schools and thoughts,Vietnam receives Pure Land as a pure ideology,in combination with Zen and Vajrayana,which form these three main schools to the Vietnamese Buddhism.Due to its existence as an ideology,unforced by the inheritance school,Pure Land here has a high flexibility in adapting.As a result,after a period of imported,this ideology was combined with the Zen schools,creating a trend of "Zen and Pure Land parallel developed" in the Middle Age,and establishing the basic reason for the trend of "Pure Land of the Human World " in modern time.During the Revival of Buddhism,this ideology became a powerful mean of spreading Buddhism,fostering monks and connecting Buddhist organizations,receiving and communicating with Chinese Buddhism through the propagations’ path of Pure Land from Ming-Qing Zen Masters.In addition to contributing to the revival of Buddhism,Pure Land ideology is also used in combining the cultivate by reciting the name of the Buddha and working charity that help for society,creating a tendency to "Simultaneous Cultivation of Merits and Wisdom".This is considered as a flexible and consistent expression with the Engaged spirit of Vietnamese Buddhism in the historical flowing.After the reunification of the country(in 1975),the people had a need to foscussing on spirit and spyche,Pure Land again became the main practice for the Buddhists monks and nuns diligently development in daily life,and organized Buddhist associations reciting the name of the Buddha,taught the dhammas and practiced of goodness to the lay Buddhists.It can be said that depending on each period of the social situations,this ideology has spread towards different directions.Although the form and method of expression are different,but the ideal is to help the practitioners calm down the mind and body,develop the seeds of goodness,build a life towards kindliness in the present and attain Nirvana in the future,which is expressed in the Pure Land language as "Establishing the Pure Realm of the Human World to cultivate the pure cause and conditions for the West Pure Land in the future".The Pure Land ideal as above has profound similarities with the journey of pursuit of human happiness in society,so widely spread,in addition to some cultivated and actived associations in the religious spiritual,the Vietnamese people also receive them as a kind of positive religious custom.From here,formed the practice of "purification of sīla and recitation of the Buddha’s name" to pray the Blessing for people in this world,the images and the name of the Buddha has also become close,the Buddhist teachings are gradually more popularized and massificed.Since then,this current of thought has inspired and become the main method in some religions borned in the South in the twentieth century and existed untill today such as: Buu Son Ky Huong(Bǎo Shān QíXiāng),Tu An Hieu Nghia(Sì (?)n Xiào Yì),Phat giao Hoa Hao(Hé Hǎo Buddhism).Therefore,Pure Land ideology is considered not only to be important as the practice and propagate the dharma,but also as a powerful means to connect the Buddhist community,as well as at the interconnect religions and interconnect nationalities.In addition,it also contributes to the journey of bringing the Buddhist Teaching into Vietnameses’ hearts,supporting the cultured preservation of the national tradition through typical works of architecture,art and social culture in the historical and modern background.From the above situation,it would not be too much to think that here to understand the history of Buddhism in Vietnam,it is impossible to ignore the process of development and spread of the Pure Land ideology.In contrast,the study of Pure Land ideology and of its effections in Buddhism and in the religious life of Vietnamese beliefs and social culture will provide a right view of the importance and application value of this ideology in the flow of Buddhism and Nation.By the research method of philosophy,history and culture,the thesis puts Pure Land thought in the flow of time,from the beginning to the import into Vietnam.After becoming an official element of Buddhism in this country,Pure Land was again placed in relation to the structural system of Buddhism and Vietnamese culture to learn about its’ development performance and consider the impact of influences between factors.This action can provide basic documents on the source and inner of Pure Land ideology,and understand the development trends,forms of expression and the extent of its influence in Vietnam.Thereby,contributing to the recognition,evaluation and orientation of the development path of this line of thought in the present and future,to promote maximum its’ dedications in the journey of "Engaged to serving Released","Depend on conditional and invariant" with the wishing liberation of Enlightenment in the Buddhist practitioners.