The earliest from of Buddhist Education to be found in Vietnam

Running Head : Buddhist Education

Earliest Form of Buddhist Education to Be Found In Vietnam (Name of Writer (Name of Institution

Earliest Form of Buddhist Education to Be Found In Vietnam

INTRODUCTION

Buddhism entered Vietnam during the beginning of first century CE . By the second century Buddhist visited a central region in Vietnam known as the Luy-Lau centre . This centre is now in the Bac-Ninh province . Luy-Lau was the capital of Vietnam and this is the reason it was an important place for the Buddhists to visit . On their way to china monks

stopped at this central region and taught people about Buddhism . Many teachings were translated in this central region such as Mahayana sutras and the Agamas . These were translated into Chinese as Vietnamese culture and religion is influenced a lot by the Chinese culture . Vietnam is influenced by Chinese culture because Vietnam was occupied by Chinese during the 111 BCE and 939 CE

GEOGRAPHICAL LOCATION OF VIETNAM

Vietnam has Cambodia and Laos to the west and Chinese colossus , Pacific Ocean , Gulf of Thailand and Burma to the east and south . The eastern most part of Vietnam reaches India . The coastline is almost 2 ,500 kilometers . This coastline spreads from Mong-Cay , which is in the north to Cambodia . In early days Vietnam was the region between India and China which is actually a peninsula . This was formerly known as Funan and Campa . Being so near the two most densely populated countries Vietnam had a lot of influence from their culture , politic and religion

BUDDHIST INFLUENCE

Vietnamese are very religious . They practice quite a number of religions like , Buddhism , Christianity , Taoism etc . Buddhism first came in North Vietnam . It was then known as Giao-Chi . These were Indian or Chinese Buddhists who came here from either land or sea routes and started influencing people . Giao-Chi became the centre of everything by the end of second century as the Indian merchants started doing trade there , and with them they brought monks also . Buddhism was very influential at that time , as we can see that these traders brought monks with them because they were called the calmer of the sea . These monks were priests who later started preaching their religion in Vietnam . It became easier for them , because Giao-Ching was the central place where every traders and foreign travelers , Chinese and Indians met . Moreover the merchants rested here also if they were travelling between India and China . Thus monks and priests had one central place to preach their religion . They started missionary activities and as a result monasteries were built This was the first time that monasteries were built in Vietnam during the reign of Si-Nhiep . The very first few monasteries were built in a province of North Vietnam which is now known as Ha-Bac . This was formerly known as Luy-Lau , as mentioned in the Introduction that it was the centre of missionary activities

THE FIRST BUDDHISTS IN VIETNAM

The earliest form of Buddhist education was found to be given by a Taoist who...