The Influences Of Vietnamese Indigenous Religion On Buddhism In Vietnam

Vietnamese folk religion,also known as traditional Vietnamese religion,are indigenous religion of peoplewho living in the Vietnamese territory through many eras.Vietnamese folk religion is not an organized religious system,but a set of local worship traditions devoted to the“th?n”,a term which can be translated as "spirits","gods" or with the more exhaustive locution "generative powers".These gods can be nature deities,or national,community or kinship tutelary deities or ancestral gods,and the ancestral gods of a specific family.Ancestral gods are often deified heroic persons.Vietnamese mythology preserves narratives telling of the actions of many of the cosmic gods and cultural heroes.Buddhism originated in ancient India as a Sramana tradition sometime between the6 th and 4th centuries BCE,attributed to the teachings of the Buddha,supposedly born Siddhārtha Gautama,and also known as the Tathāgata("thus-gone")and Sakyamuni("sage of the Sakyas").With the development of society and cultural exchanges,Buddhism was introduced to Vietnam through the sea and land in the early years of the Christian era.It was spread by Indian merchants,buddies and Chinese bureaucrats,monks,immigrants and intellectuals.When Buddhism was introduced to Vietnam,Vietnam already had its own local beliefs.However,the flexibility of Buddhism has many of the same concepts as Vietnamese folk religion.Therefore,Buddhism is easy to integrate and infiltrate into folk beliefs,forming a Buddhist culture with Vietnamese characteristics and rich Vietnamese culture.Under the integration and influence of folk beliefs,Vietnamese Buddhism has its own characteristics.The fusion of Vietnamese Buddhism and folk beliefs is that Gods is seen as a Buddha in the temple,Buddhist worship according to the concept of folk beliefs tobe changed,the objects of worship in the temple are enlarged and supplemented,and the architecture and layout of the temple are influenced by folk beliefs.However,conflicts have also arisen in the process of integration of Vietnamese folk beliefs and Buddhism.However,these conflicts are not large and do not have a significant negative impact on Vietnamese folk beliefs and Buddhism.This study collects,reads,and analyzes the relevant domestic and foreign literatures on Vietnamese folk beliefs and Buddhism,and conducts field visits to temples and temples in the north of Vietnam,focusing on the influence of Vietnamese folk beliefs on Vietnamese Buddhism,the fusion of Vietnamese folk beliefs and Buddhism.In-depth study,thus,discusses the positive and negative effects of the integration of Buddhism and folk beliefs,and proposes to promote the positive values of Vietnamese folk beliefs and Buddhism.