Thích Nhất Hạnh is a Vietnamese Thiền Buddhist monk, peace activist, and founder of the Plum Village Tradition.
Thích Quảng Đức was a Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhist monk who burned himself to death at a busy Saigon road intersection on 11 June 1963. Quảng Đức was protesting the persecution of Buddhists by the South Vietnamese Roman Catholic Christian government led by Ngô Đình Diệm. Photographs of his self-immolation were circulated widely around the world and brought attention to the policies of the Diệm government. John F. Kennedy said in reference to a photograph of Quảng Đức on fire, "No news picture in history has generated so much emotion around the world as that one." Malcolm Browne won a Pulitzer Prize for his photograph of the monk's death.
Buddhism in Vietnam, as practised by the ethnic Vietnamese, is mainly of the Mahayana tradition. Buddhism may have first come to Vietnam as early as the 3rd or 2nd century BCE from the Indian subcontinent or from China in the 1st or 2nd century CE. Vietnamese Buddhism has had a syncretic relationship with certain elements of Taoism, Chinese spirituality, and Vietnamese folk religion.
One World is the largest human rights film festival in the world, held annually in Prague and other 36 cities of the Czech Republic, with a selection later shown in Brussels and other countries. The festival deals with quality documentary films on social, political, environmental, media and human rights issues. One World presents over 120 documentary films from all around the globe and organizes numerous Q&As with filmmakers and experts.
Father Thadeus Nguyễn Văn Lý is a Vietnamese Roman Catholic priest and dissident involved in many pro-democracy movements, for which he was imprisoned for a total of almost 15 years. For his ongoing imprisonment and continuous non-violent protest, Amnesty International adopted Father Lý in December 1983 as a prisoner of conscience. Most recently, his support for the Bloc 8406 manifesto has led to his sentence on 30 March 2007, for an additional eight years in prison, where he was released and then returned in 2011.
Thích Quảng Độ was a Vietnamese Buddhist monk and scholar who was the patriarch of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) from 2008 until his death. Since the execution of his master at the hands of the communist Viet Minh in his teenage years, Thích Quảng Độ had been involved in political activism, firstly against the anti-Buddhist policies of the Catholic President of South Vietnam Ngo Dinh Diem. After the fall of Saigon, the UBCV was banned by the communist government, and as one of the senior monks in the organisation, Thích Quảng Độ was at the forefront of the UBCV's defiance of the government, refusing to join the government-endorsed Vietnamese Buddhist Church. He was detained repeatedly by the communist authorities in the last 45 years of his life for his resistance and criticism of their policies, particularly his calls for multi-party democracy. During the Vietnam War period, he also served as a university academic in Buddhism, translated sutras and wrote books, notably a nine-volume Buddhist encyclopedia, and two-volume dictionary between Vietnamese and Sino-Vietnamese.
Thích Trí Quang was a Vietnamese Mahayana Buddhist monk best known for his role in leading South Vietnam's Buddhist population during the Buddhist crisis in 1963, and in later Buddhist protests against subsequent South Vietnamese military regimes until the Buddhist Uprising of 1966 was crushed.
The Buddhist crisis was a period of political and religious tension in South Vietnam between May and November 1963, characterized by a series of repressive acts by the South Vietnamese government and a campaign of civil resistance, led mainly by Buddhist monks.
The Unified Buddhist Sangha of Vietnam is a Buddhist organization in Vietnam. The Unified Buddhist Sangha of Vietnam was founded in 1964 in order to unify 11 of the 14 different sects of Vietnamese Buddhism which were present in the country at the time. The unification also came in response to a government that was increasingly being seen as hostile to Buddhists during the Vietnam War.
The Huế Phật Đản shootings were the deaths of nine unarmed Buddhist civilians on 8 May 1963 in the city of Huế, South Vietnam at the hands of the army and security forces of the government of Ngô Đình Diệm, a Roman Catholic. The army and police fired guns and launched grenades into a crowd of Buddhists who had been protesting against a government ban on flying the Buddhist flag on the day of Phật Đản, which commemorates the birth of Gautama Buddha. Diệm denied governmental responsibility for the incident and blamed the Việt Cộng, which added to discontent among the Buddhist majority.
The Xá Lợi Pagoda raids were a series of synchronized attacks on various Buddhist pagodas in the major cities of South Vietnam shortly after midnight on 21 August 1963. The raids were executed by the Army of the Republic of Vietnam Special Forces under Colonel Lê Quang Tung, and combat police, both of which took their orders directly from Ngô Đình Nhu, younger brother of the Roman Catholic President Ngô Đình Diệm. Xá Lợi Pagoda, the largest pagoda in the South Vietnamese capital, Saigon, was the most prominent of the raided temples. Over 1,400 Buddhists were arrested, and estimates of the death toll and missing ranged up to the hundreds. In response to the Huế Vesak shootings and a ban on the Buddhist flag in early May, South Vietnam's Buddhist majority rose in widespread civil disobedience and protest against the religious bias and discrimination of the Catholic-dominated Diệm government. Buddhist temples in major cities, most prominently the Xá Lợi pagoda, became focal points for protesters and assembly points for Buddhist monks from rural areas.
The Joint Communiqué was an agreement signed on 16 June 1963 between the South Vietnamese government of Ngô Đình Diệm and the Buddhist leadership during the "Buddhist crisis".
Vạn Hạnh Zen Temple is a Zen Buddhist temple in Ho Chi Minh City, the largest city in Vietnam. The temple is located at 716 Nguyễn Kiệm Street on the road between Go Vap and Phu Nhuan districts. It is the location of the main Buddhist training centre for sangha in Vietnam, and is also the office of the Vietnamese Buddhist Research Institute.
Thích Thanh Từ is a Vietnamese Zen Buddhist monk. He has been most influential of increasing traditional Vietnamese Buddhism practices in Vietnam.
The Homo Homini Award is given annually by the Czech human rights organization People in Need to "an individual in recognition of a dedication to the promotion of human rights, democracy and non-violent solutions to political conflicts". The award is presented at the One World Film Festival, the world's largest human rights film festival.
Trúc Lâm Yên Tử (竹林安子), or simply Trúc Lâm, is a Vietnamese Thiền sect. It is the only native school of Buddhism in Vietnam. The school was founded by Emperor Trần Nhân Tông (1258–1308) showing influence from Confucian and Taoist philosophy. Trúc Lâm's prestige later waned as Confucianism became dominant in the royal court.
Thiền Buddhism is the Vietnamese version of Chan Buddhism. Thiền is the Sino-Vietnamese pronunciation of Chan an abbreviation of 禪那 (chánnà), which is a Chinese transliteration of the Sanskrit word of dhyāna ("meditation").
Thich Phuoc Ngoc or Dhammananda Thero Thich Phuoc Ngoc - a Buddhist monk is a Venerable of Sri Lanka Buddhist Sangha. He has been known for positive contributions to humanitarian and social security activities, is the founder of the first Buddhist orphanage in Vietnam.
