Theravāda Buddhism In Vietnamese Culture

Talking about Vietnamese Buddhism, Mahāyāna Buddhism will be on people’s top of mind, which has a deeply influence in Vietnamese culture for many centuries. That is about today, how was it in ancient times? We cannot go back to the ancient time to see what really happened during that time but we can see it through all the historical records and artifacts, which is still existed and preserved until now.

According to historical record, in the 2nd century CE the former Kingdom of Champa, which is in the central region of Vietnam now, was founded by Indian colonists and it is said to have had Theravāda Buddhism from as early as the 3rd century BC. The Buddhist sculptural tradition of the Buddha image at Quảng Khê is another factor that should

In the thoughts of the Khmer people in South or South West Vietnam, Theravāda Buddhism is the traditional religion and the spirit of its people. Even there were several changes of Khmer people history, Theravāda tradition and Theravāda Buddhism practices of them was not change. For instance, during the Nguyen King (Chúa Nguyễn) period, the pressure of policy, which is used to assimilate the Khmer people, compelled them to live and follow to Vietnamese culture. Forcing Khmer Theravāda Buddhist monks to become Mahāyāna monks, and they were not allowed to learn the Khmer language. However there were nothing can change them cause Theravāda tradition is in there heart and as their blood and bones. Khmer Theravāda Buddhist monks patiently facing those serious difficulties, and tried to impart the Dhamma to younger generations. They opened Dhamma classes secretly to make sure that the knowledge about Dhamma are continuously spread but those Theravāda Buddhist monks living in the impart South of Vietnam were all safe. By the passion of those people and the change in politic, Theravāda Buddhism in Vietnam has turned to another pages of its history. April 30, 1975, Vietnam is totally liberated and being under a Communist government. Follow by that is a great movement in the development of Vietnamese Buddhism in general. On February 12, 1980, under the chairmanship of the Most

Although Khmer people, are influenced by the culture of other ethnic groups, they still retain and promote their cultural identity. What typically makes "cultural identity" of Khmers is in part Theravāda Buddhism. The core values of Theravāda Buddhism has blended into the soul of this culture, as shown in the affect of it in traditional festivals of the Khmer. As other ethnic group, traditional festival take a very important role in the social life of in Khmer people living in Mekong delta. Researching traditional festivals of the Khmer people, it is not difficult to to point out the clear imprints of Theravada Buddhism. First of all, most of festivals of the Khmer people were attached to Buddhist temples. Even a traditional festivals or Buddhist ones, it is often taking place in the temples and presided over by abbot monks. The traditional festivals were blended with Buddhist rituals. The festival is characterized by the influence of religious beliefs and Buddhist