Trúc Lâm Yên Tử (竹林安子), or simply Trúc Lâm ("Bamboo Grove"), is a Vietnamese ''Thiền'' (i.e.

zen Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...

) sect. It is the only native school of

Buddhism in Vietnam Buddhism in Vietnam (''Đạo Phật'' 道佛 or ''Phật Giáo'' 佛教 in Vietnamese), as practiced by the ethnic Vietnamese, is mainly of the Mahayana tradition and is the main religion. Buddhism may have first come to Vietnam as early as th ...

. The school was founded by Emperor

Trần Nhân Tông Trần Nhân Tông (7 December 1258–16 December 1308), personal name Trần Khâm, temple name Nhân Tông, was the third emperor of the Trần dynasty, reigning over Đại Việt from 1278 to 1293. After ceding the throne to his son Tr� ...

(1258–1308) showing influence from

Confucian Confucianism, also known as Ruism or Ru classicism, is a system of thought and behavior originating in ancient China. Variously described as tradition, a philosophy, a religion, a humanistic or rationalistic religion, a way of governing, or ...

and

Taoist Taoism (, ) or Daoism () refers to either a school of philosophical thought (道家; ''daojia'') or to a religion (道教; ''daojiao''), both of which share ideas and concepts of Chinese origin and emphasize living in harmony with the '' Tao ...

philosophy. Trúc Lâm's prestige later waned as Confucianism became dominant in the royal court. A revival was attempted by later adherents including

Ngô Thì Nhậm Ngô Thì Nhậm ( vi-hantu, 吳時任, 1746–1803) was an important Vietnamese scholar and official who served several regimes during the turbulent last decades of the eighteenth century. He had served as an official for the Trịnh lords before ...

(1746–1803) during the

Tay Son dynasty Tay may refer to: People and languages * Tay (name), including lists of people with the given name, surname and nickname * Tay people, an ethnic group of Vietnam ** Tày language *Atayal language, an Austronesian language spoken in Taiwan (ISO 639 ...

. Nhậm attempted to harmonize the "Three teachings" of Buddhism, Confucianism and Taoism. In modern times, Zen Master Venerable

Thích Thanh Từ Thích Thanh Từ (born 24 July 1924) is a Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk. He has been influential with increasing traditional Vietnamese Buddhism practices within the country. Biography Thích Thanh Từ began his life in a well-educated family ...

has revived the Trúc Lâm Zen lineage by combining the teachings of the three early Patriarchs of the tradition:

Pháp Loa Pháp Loa (法螺; 1284–1330) was a Vietnamese Thiền Buddhist monk of the Trúc Lâm Yên Tử sect, and second patriarch of that sect. He was a disciple of Buddhist king Trần Nhân Tông Trần Nhân Tông (7 December 1258–16 De ...

, and

Huyền Quang Huyền Quang (玄光), 1254–1334, his real name is Lý Đạo Tái (李道載), he was born in Vạn Tải village, Nam Sách District, Lạng Giang. Now it is Vạn Tải village, Thái Bảo commune, Gia Bình district, Bắc Ninh province ...

. His efforts are brought forth from the principles of three Patriarchs whom he believes have minimal amounts of transition from traditional Chinese Buddhism. Thích Thanh Từ claims to be re-establishing the Trúc Lâm traditions but in his own way has modified it from its original ways. He wasn't much of a global influence in his earlier years of work, but in recent history has been on top of Buddhist movements on the global level.Philip Taylor, ''Modernity and Re-enchantment: Religion in Post-revolutionary Vietnam'' (Maryland, USA, 2008), p.363 His initial work in Vietnam has now moved onwards to western civilization by getting his word across through the translation of books that he has written. He is having the most influence on today's view on Buddhism and what it means to be a Buddhist monk through the implementation of the revived religion referred to as Trúc Lâm.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Truc Lam * Schools of Buddhism founded in Vietnam