Encyclopedia of Buddhism Volume One A -L Robert E. Buswell

V IETNAM
Monks dry rice at the Bat Temple at Soc Trang in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam, 1994. © Steve Raymer/Corbis. Reproduced by
permission.
matters. The Lý kings also sent envoys to China to
bring back Buddhist texts so that copies could be made
and placed in the major monasteries. Some Chan classics,
particularly those of the chuandeng lu (transmission
of the lamp) and yulu (recorded sayings) genres,
found their way to Vietnam and attracted the attention
of learned monks. In brief, under the Lý, Chan
became an integral part of the Vietnamese Buddhist
worldview.
Trâ`n dynasty (1225–1400). Under the Trâǹ, Chan
learning became more established with the arrival of
Chinese Chan monks and literature. Starting from
around the end of the Lý period, a number of Chinese
Chan monks belonging to the Linji and Caodong
schools came to Vietnam to spread Buddhism. Among
their disciples were members of the Trâǹ aristocracy,
including the kings themselves. The Trúc Lâm Thiền
(Chan) School, the first Vietnamese Chan Buddhist
school, was founded by Trâǹ Nhân Tông (1258–1309),
the third king of the Trâǹ dynasty. Unfortunately, only
fragments of writings by the first three patriarchs of
this school are extant. Through these writings we can
see that Trúc Lâm Thiê`n modeled itself on Chinese patriarchal
Chan. The most extensive Buddhist writing
from the Trâǹ is the Khóa Hu , Luc (Instructions on
Emptiness) composed by Trâǹ Thái Tông (1218–1277),
the founder of the Trâǹ dynasty. The Khóa Hu Luc was
the first collection of prose works on Buddhism in
Vietnam. It includes essays written in different literary
styles on a variety of subjects on Buddhist teachings
and practices.
The most important accomplishment for Buddhism
under the Trâǹ was the composition of the Thiền Uyê n
Tâp Anh (Outstanding Figures of the Chan Community)
by an unknown author around the mid-fourteenth
century. The author of the Thiền Uyê n portrays Vietnamese
Buddhism as the offshoot of Chinese Chan, an
approach that left indelible traces on subsequent generations
of historians of Vietnamese Buddhism.
The (later) Lý dynasty and the Northern-Southern
dynasties (1428–1802). The advent of the Lý dynasty
(1428–1527) marked a resurgence of Confucianism
and the waning of Buddhist fortunes. Under
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