496 pp. April 1998
cloth, ISBN 978-0-8248-1948-4, $57.00
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Keywords: |
religion
Buddhism
history
Southeast Asia
textbook |
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Zen in Medieval Vietnam: A Study and Translation of the Thien Uyen Tap Anh
by Cuong Tu Nguyen
Classics in East Asian Buddhism
Kuroda Institute
Among the China-based Buddhist traditions of East Asia, Vietnamese Buddhism is the least known. To most Westerners, it is an extrapolation of popular perceptions of modern East Asian Buddhism, particularly Japanese Zen. As a result, Vietnamese Buddhism has been considered a faithful continuation of Chinese Zen—a view enthusiastically embraced by Vietnamese Buddhists themselves. Zen in Medieval Vietnam—the first scholarly examination of Vietnamese Buddhism in more than sixty years—reevaluates the history of Vietnamese Buddhism and the so-called Zen tradition of Vietnam. It is an essential contribution not only to the field of East Asian Buddhism, but also to the study of Vietnamese culture and history.
Cuong Tu Nguyen is assistant professor of religious studies at George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia.
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