Learn about Vietnamese temples and Buddhism
Short pieces for first-time visitors of a Vietnamese temple, and for anyone who wants to know more before entering the Pagoda temple. They are general introductions; each temple and tradition may do things a little differently.
Guides
- Layout of a Vietnamese Buddhist templeWhat a Vietnamese pagoda (chùa) usually contains and where: gate, courtyard, main hall, ancestral hall, monks' quarters, bell tower, stupa, lotus pond. With a plan of the Pagoda temple.
- The altars of a Vietnamese templeThe Three Jewels, Avalokiteshvara (Quan Thế Âm), guardian, Duc Ong, Ksitigarbha, ancestral and hungry-ghost altars: what each is for and the usual order of visiting.
- How to pay respects at a Vietnamese templeA step-by-step visit: what to wear, how to behave, incense, offerings, palms together and bowing, bell and wooden fish, sitting meditation, and what to avoid.
- Buddhist calendarFull and new moon days, Buddha's Birthday, Vu Lan, Avalokiteshvara days and Bodhi Day for the next two years, converted to the Gregorian calendar using the Vietnamese lunar calendar.
- Buddhist glossary for temple visitorsShort explanations of words you meet at a Vietnamese temple: main hall, three-door gate, offering table, palms together and bowing, daily practice, meditation, Three Jewels, Bodhisattva and more.
Stories
- Avalokiteshvara (Quan Thế Âm), the one who listensAvalokiteshvara, known in Vietnam as Quan Thế Âm, is the Bodhisattva of compassion who listens. A few familiar images and stories, retold briefly.
- The Buddha's awakeningPrince Siddhartha sits beneath the bodhi tree and awakens: a short story about Bodhi Day.
- Two Jataka talesJataka tales recount the Buddha's earlier lives. Two short ones: the hare, and the golden deer.
- Maudgalyayana and filial gratitudeThe story of the disciple Maudgalyayana remembering his mother, the origin of the Vu Lan season of filial gratitude.