Introducing the book: "Vietnamese Buddhist Literature"

This is the first comprehensive monograph studying Vietnamese Buddhist literature from its origins to the modern era from a genre perspective. The book helps readers visualize the multifaceted landscape of Buddhist literature and its contributions to the historical development of national literature.

Vietnam is a long-standing Buddhist country. Buddhism has been intertwined with the Vietnamese people for approximately 2000 years and has become an indispensable part of Vietnamese cultural and intellectual life. The purification by time and circumstances over the past nearly 2000 years has not only prevented the decline of this religion, but has even revived it in extremely difficult situations, demonstrating its seemingly inexhaustible vitality and ability to survive. Evidence of this is that throughout its history, Buddhism has persistently overcome challenges and continuously revived even when seemingly in the most desperate circumstances.

Buddhism has achieved many outstanding accomplishments in the fields of culture and art, but one of the most prominent is literature. The contributions of Buddhist literature to the development of national literary history are immense, both in thought and art. Buddhist literary ideas sometimes become the overarching artistic thought of an entire era, or the most refined artistic thought within a given era. The artistic forms of Buddhist literature are also sometimes representative of an entire era, or the freshest artistic forms of a particular period, with their rich and captivating creativity, contributing to the selection and shaping of literary genres, the construction of literary imagery, and the artistic techniques of language…

Vietnamese Buddhist literature is a powerful and diverse stream throughout history. This stream has the mission of contributing to the discovery of the nation's earliest literary sources, fostering its development, and ensuring its continued existence to this day. Sometimes it was the mainstream of national literature, as during the Ly-Tran dynasties. At other times, it quietly and subtly blended with the works of many talented writers and poets, as in the literary periods of the 15th-19th centuries. Sometimes it held a revered and supreme position in court life, but at other times it was humble in the lives of the common people… The artistic blossoms of Buddhist literature sometimes bloom like a spring garden, but at other times they are as rare as the Udumbara flower. This vitality is evident throughout history, from its origins to the end of the feudal era, and even lingers to this day, with its sincere and warm emotions.