Thích Thanh Từ is a Buddhist monk who was born and raised in Vietnam whom in recent time has been most influential of increasing traditional Vietnamese Buddhism practices in Vietnam. His efforts are brought forth from the principles of 3 patriarchs whom he believes have very minimal amounts of transition from traditional Chinese Buddhism. Thich Thanh Tu claims to be re-establishing the Truc Lam Traditions but in his own way has modified it from its original ways. He wasn’t much of a global influence in his earlier years of work, but in recent history has been on top of Buddhist movements on the global level. His initial work in Vietnam has now moved onwards to western civilization by getting his word across through the translation of books that he has written. He is having the most influence on today’s view on Buddhism and what it means to be a Buddhist monk through the implementation of the revived religion referred to as Truc Lam.

Background Information

Thich Thanh Tu began his life in a well educated family that followed Cao Dai

Cao Dai

Cao Đài is a syncretistic, monotheistic religion, officially established in the city of Tay Ninh, southern Vietnam, in 1926. Đạo Cao Đài is the religion's shortened name, the full name is Đại Đạo Tam Kỳ Phổ Độ...

, a Vietnamese religion founded in 1926. He was born on July 24, 1924 in Can Tho, Vietnam with the birth name of Tran Huu Phuoc. He was determined to become a Buddhist monk after noticing the suffering of his people during wartime and after 3 months of Buddhist duties and at the age of 25 was given his Buddhist name which he is now known for, Thich Thanh Tu. After 3 years of servicing as an expression of gratitude towards his master he finally decided to leave so he could find his true self, which resulted in secluding himself in a meditation chamber that he built in 1966. This led him to discover the concept of Nothingness after many of attempts at other meditation practices. Realizing how powerful his meditation

Meditation

Meditation is any form of a family of practices in which practitioners train their minds or self-induce a mode of consciousness to realize some benefit....

 can be he wanted to expose himself to the public and teach the Buddhist ways and lived by the phrase "After realization, enlighten others."

Thich Thanh Tu’s Vision

Thich Thanh Tu began is teachings in December 1971 with only 10 students and involved scriptures, discourse

Discourse

Discourse generally refers to "written or spoken communication". The following are three more specific definitions:...

s, history

History

History is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...

 and meditation methods. His focus is to be aware of any false thoughts, but prevent from attaching to them. Three years later opened three new monasteries which included Ling Quang, Chan Khong, Bat Nha monasteries. From the initial 10 students he taught, he went on to teach thousands of other monks and nuns to pass on his dharma

Dharma

Dharma means Law or Natural Law and is a concept of central importance in Indian philosophy and religion. In the context of Hinduism, it refers to one's personal obligations, calling and duties, and a Hindu's dharma is affected by the person's age, caste, class, occupation, and gender...

 teachings. He also founded Th’o’ng Chie monastery (1974) in Da Lat which became the headquarters of his organization in 1986. Thich Thanh Tu discovered meditation to help improve the common practice of Vietnamese Zen

Zen

Zen is a school of Mahāyāna Buddhism founded by the Buddhist monk Bodhidharma. The word Zen is from the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese word Chán , which in turn is derived from the Sanskrit word dhyāna, which can be approximately translated as "meditation" or "meditative state."Zen...

 in Vietnam, mainly at the site of the Truc Lam school. His practice methods are constructed from 3 important keys in historical Zen from china, which consists of patriarch Hue Kha, Hue Nang, and Truc Lam Dau Da. He put together their enlightened ideas and practice which they now practice in his monasteries’. He refers to the "Transmission of the Lamp" as one of the main objectives of distributing his teachings among his students of the Truc Lam Philosophies. He talks about lighting 10 to 20 torches which will then light 30 to 40 torches in order to light up the whole world.

Truc Lam

Truc Lam was founded in and around the time of Tran Nhan Tong (1258–1308) whom was a former king of Vietnam. The first Truc Lam Temple

Truc Lam Temple

Trúc Lâm Temple is a Zen Buddhist temple outside the resort town of Da Lat, in Vietnam.The temple is located outside the centre of Da Lat. From the district of Hòa Bình in the city centre of Da Lat, the temple is located at a turnoff on the road from the city centre towards Prenn Hill, the temple...

was on top of Yen Tu Mountain where Nhan Tong retired to. This was the only school of Zen that was founded in Vietnam instead of originating from China. The Truc Lam Sect grew enormously with the help of the next 2 patriarchs, phap loa and huyen quang. Once they came to the end of their time, the school successfully came to an end. After many attempts to revive the school, Thich Thanh Tu is the most recent and becoming the most successful monk to restore Truc Lam. He built a monastery in Yen Tu Mountain to re-connect the meaning of Truc lam to its origin, and while using this name, is able to strengthen the impact of his movement. Although it can be argued that what he had created was not original Truc Lam Buddhism but still had a positive effect on the reform of Buddhism on the global level.

Books written by Thich Thanh Tu:

1. My Whole Life
2. The Source of Buddhist Dharmas
3. The Coffee Leaves
4. If You Know
5. Buddhism and the Youths
6. The Practicing Method of Vietnamese Zen

Thich Thanh Tu started writing in 1961 and in over 45 years has written over 50 books.