Organizer: Cornell Buddhist Studies

Lecture Series: The Cornell Buddhist Studies Seminar Series

Description:

In 2006, a monk and member of the Order of Interbeing wrote an open letter to the disciples of Thích Nhất Hạnh, in which he described his (and hence their) Zen lineage. One of the claims the letter made was that Thích Nhất Hạnh "received the lamp-transmission in Từ Hiếu root temple" ten days before he left for the US in 1966. This portrayal of Thích Nhất Hạnh as Zen master has been uncritically assumed and repeated in the media as well as in the scholarship of Buddhism in the West, mostly by uncritically affixing to him the title of "Zen Master." As Nguyen and Barber noted, however, this assertion of him being part of a Zen lineage is not based in the forms of Buddhist practice and temple organization that actually exist in Vietnam. This presentation will discuss the seeming incongruence between the claims by Thích Nhất Hạnh and his followers and the Buddhist practices and institutions in Vietnam. The purpose is not to disprove their claims, but contextualize the globally important figure of Thích Nhất Hạnh within the developments of Buddhism in Vietnam and with the globalization of Buddhism.

Speaker:

Alexander Soucy, Professor and Chair, Department of Religious Studies, Saint Mary’s University.

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