Published:  00:00 Friday - July 30, 2010

Buddhism under the Ly dynasty (1009-1225) was a special cultural heritage of Vietnam, said the Director of the Vietnam Buddhist Research Institute’s Hanoi branch.

The Most Venerable Thich Thanh Due said at a seminar on “Buddhism under the Ly dynasty with 1000-year Thang Long-Hanoi” in Hanoi on July 29.

The event, co-organised by the Buddhist Institute and the Institute for Religious Studies under the Vietnam Academy of Social Sciences, forms part of the Buddhist Week, to herald the millennium anniversary of Thang Long-Hanoi.

The cleric affirmed that Buddhism under the Ly dynasty became one of the most important spiritual elements in the course of liberation and development of an independent and self-reliant Dai Viet – the former name of Vietnam.

He said Buddhism under the Ly dynasty laid the first brick for the building of Vietnam’s own Buddhism in the 11th century before becoming a unified faith and flourishing in the end of the 13th century and early 14th century.

Under that dynasty, Buddhism’s influences have been seen in the building of Van Mieu ( Temple of Literature ), which was Vietnam ’s first university, the opening of schools and the development of a contingent of scholars, they said.

At this seminar, the participants continued to assess the religion’s contributions to the country’s development in a scientific and objective manner.

They also discussed ways and means to promote good values of Vietnamese Buddhism in the course of industrialisation and modernisation.