VNU held the launching ceremony of Tran Nhan Tong Institute

>>>(Photo) Opening ceremony of Tran Nhan Tong Institute

>>>The ideology of Buddhist King Tran Nhan Tong is a combination of national spirit and humanitarian spirit.

Attending the ceremony were Most Venerable Thich Duc Nghiep - Deputy Supreme Patriarch of the Central Council of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha, Most Venerable Thich Thien Nhon - Chairman of the Central Council of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha and Vice Chairmen of the Central Council of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha, representatives of the Executive Boards of the Buddhist Sangha of several provinces and cities, along with many abbots, monks and nuns, and Buddhists at pagodas and monasteries.

On the side of the Ministry, departments, branches and localities, there were comrade Nguyen Duy Thang - Deputy Minister of Home Affairs, comrade Nguyen Van Linh - Chairman of the People's Committee of Bac Giang province, Senior Lieutenant General Nguyen Van Huong - Former member of the Party Central Committee, Former Deputy Minister of Public Security, representatives of the Vietnam Historical Science Association, representatives of a number of localities, partners, representatives of the Tran family and a number of enterprises, and representatives of leaders of universities and research institutes inside and outside VNU.

On the side of VNU, there were comrade Nguyen Kim Son - President of VNU, comrades in the Standing Committee of the Party Committee, Board of Directors, Quality Assurance Council, Science and Training Council, representatives of the leaders of the Office and functional departments of VNU, representatives of the leaders of member units and affiliated units of VNU.

Director of VNU, Director of Tran Nhan Tong Institute Nguyen Kim Son spoke at the ceremony.

The Tran Nhan Tong Institute of VNU was established under Decision No. 1717/QD-TTg, dated September 1, 2016 of the Prime Minister. This is the fourth research institute out of five research institutes of VNU established by the Prime Minister. The Tran Nhan Tong Institute is the first educational institution in Vietnam to pioneer in training high-quality human resources in Buddhist studies (firstly at the doctoral level).

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Kim Son - Director of VNU, Hanoi, concurrently holds the position of Director of Tran Nhan Tong Institute; Vice Director is Associate Professor, Dr. Lai Quoc Khanh - former Vice Head of the Faculty of Political Science, University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNU; Chairman of the Science and Training Council is Prof. Dr. Vu Minh Giang - Chairman of the Science and Training Council of VNU, Hanoi.

Speaking at the launching ceremony, VNU President Nguyen Kim Son said that since 2011, realizing the importance of forming a member-level unit to conduct in-depth research and training on traditional national culture, especially Buddhist studies and Vietnamese Buddhism, in order to positively impact the development of people and national culture in the new era, VNU has established a project to establish the Tran Nhan Tong Institute.

“This is the first time in the national scientific and technological research system that there is a unit specializing in Buddhist studies and Tran Nhan Tong's ideology. It is also the first time that a doctoral training program in Buddhist studies has been implemented in the modern Vietnamese national education system,” affirmed Director Nguyen Kim Son. “The establishment of the Tran Nhan Tong Institute is an important milestone marking the social respect for Tran Nhan Tong's ideology as well as the profound understanding of scholars from both the monastic and secular worlds towards the heritage of Tran Nhan Tong and the Truc Lam Zen sect that has reached the necessary maturity. This is also a demonstration of the vision and mettle of VNU in expressing the educational philosophy towards comprehensive human development for the immediate and long term.”

VNU President Nguyen Kim Son said that with the strength of a highly academic research institute under VNU - the leading university in Vietnam, the Tran Nhan Tong Institute will be a place to contribute to the development of the best quintessence of Buddhism with Vietnamese identity, of Tran Nhan Tong's ideology and Tran Dynasty culture, as well as Vietnamese traditional culture in general, contributing to the cause of building new Vietnamese people in the era of globalization. The Tran Nhan Tong Institute, established and put into operation, will strive through in-depth research projects to open up the true path of Buddhism, clarify and fully realize the spiritual heritage of Tran Nhan Tong, his era, Tran Dynasty culture, Truc Lam and Vietnamese traditional culture. “Through training activities, mainly at the doctoral level, the Institute will strive to train talented monks to be the core of developing humanistic Buddhism. The Institute will actively participate in social activities to connect love, cultural and academic exchanges at home and abroad to strengthen national solidarity and enhance friendship between people of all countries,” the Director emphasized.

Most Venerable Thich Thien Nhon - Chairman of the Central Executive Council of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha delivered a congratulatory speech to Tran Nhan Tong Institute.

At the ceremony, Most Venerable Thich Thien Nhon congratulated and highly appreciated the Government's decision to establish the Tran Nhan Tong Institute under VNU. The establishment of the Institute is timely and in line with the evolutionary trend of human thought through approaching the thought of Tran Nhan Tong, while honoring the humanistic values ​​of the eminent spirit, the enlightened monk, and reminding and being a lesson for future generations to inherit and promote that thought.

Most Venerable Thich Thien Nhon believes that through the Tran Nhan Tong Institute, monks and nuns of the Central Vietnam Buddhist Sangha and Buddhist Sangha of provinces/cities will have the opportunity to improve their qualifications and access high-quality training programs at the doctoral level of Buddhist studies at a domestic university.

The establishment of the Tran Nhan Tong Institute has an important meaning for academic activities in general and for Buddhist training and research in particular, with national and international significance. The Institute has many characteristics, taking traditional culture as its research object and emphasizing the history and culture of the Tran Dynasty, especially the character of Tran Nhan Tong and Truc Lam Buddhism. Interdisciplinary research objects require necessary investment in both human resources and conditions to organize large-scale research and training.

In order for the Institute to come into operation, VNU has taken many steps, including the process of building a project, conducting surveys, discussing long-term orientations in research and training of the Institute, especially creating a pilot training program for PhDs in Buddhist Studies and other short-term training orientations.

VNU is also preparing for in-depth research on Buddhism and Truc Lam Zen, and building a database as well as long-term research plans. In particular, human resource preparations to implement the Institute's activities include a team of scientists from VNU and domestic and foreign units, including monks who have been trained abroad.

It is expected that the first PhD training course in Buddhism in Vietnam conducted by Tran Nhan Tong Institute will enroll students in September 2017.

Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Nguyen Duy Thang presented flowers to congratulate the leaders of Tran Nhan Tong Institute.