Hanoi (VNA) – The Vietnam Buddhist Sangha (VBS) held a ceremony in Hanoi on November 29 to mark the 708th anniversary of the attainment of Nirvana of King-Monk Trần Nhân Tông, the founder of Vietnam Zen Buddhism.
Trần Nhân Tông was born on December 7, 1258. He ascended the throne when he was 21. He is famed for defeating Mongol invaders twice in 1285 and 1288.
He abdicated the throne in favour of his son Trần Anh Tông at the age of 35 and then worked to unify different Vietnamese Buddhism sects into Vietnamese Zen Buddhism.
He was also the founder of the Truc Lam Yen Tu School of Zen and laid the foundation for Vietnamese Buddhism thought.
The VBS has made the day of the attainment of Nirvana of King-Monk Trần Nhân Tông a national anniversary day for Vietnamese Buddhism.
The ceremony also commemorated the fifth death anniversary of Most Venerable Thích Thanh Tứ, Permanent Vice President of the VBS’s Executive Council.
Thích Thanh Tứ was born in 1927 in Song Mai commune, Kim Dong district, the northern province of Hung Yen.
He worked with Vietnamese Buddhism sects to establish the VBS in 1981.
Buddhism was introduced to Vietnam around 2,000 years ago and is now a major religion with millions of followers across the country.-VNA
Source: vietnamplus.vn
