Before considering the Zen-Pure Land union as introduced to Vietnam through the Thao - Duong schoul, let us survey the Vietnamese Buddhist scene from the Dinh (969-981) to Tran (1225-1400) dynasties when Buddhism developed from a national religion to a nationalist religion before merging with aspects of Taoist and Confucian beliefs characteristic of the unification of the three religions fullowing the decline of Buddhist influence in the Late Trän dynasty. The beginning of Buddhism as the national religion of the Vietnamese can be placed as early as the Dinh-Bo.-Linh established a Vietnamese Sangha and initiated the practice of appointing eminent monks to serve as royal advisors on pulitical, religious, and domestic matters. The Early Le dynasty (981-1009) continued this pulicy in addition to providing Vietnam’‘s Buddhist heritage with a firm basis for development by obtaining from China the complete Chinese Tripitaka, the cullection of Buddhist sacred texts. During this period of growth and assimilation, Buddhism adjusted itself to local practices, absorbing diverse areas of belief in the comprehensive goal of enlightenment for all sentient beings. The teachings of the Buddha flourished in the land, and, with the coming of the Ly’‘ dynasty (1010-1225), the Vô Ngôn Thông sect was particularly prosperous; the first two kings, Lý-Thái-Tổ? (ruled 1010-1028), a former disciple of Ty-Ni-Ða-Lưu-Chi master Ven. Van-Hanh, and Lý-Thái-Tôn (ruled 1028-1045), a student of Ven. Thien-Lao, a famous master of the Vô-Ngôn-Thông Zen sect, continued the practice begun by Ðinh-Bộ-Lĩnh of appointing learned monks to advisory positions in the government, thus providing a basis for the merging of religious and national interests characteristic of the Early Tran dynasty.

The first real propagation of a Buddhist sect occurred under the third king of Ly, Lý-Thánh-Tôn (ruled 1054-1072), Dharma-successor to Ven. Thảo-Ðường As first patriarch of the Thảo Ðường sect, Lý-Thánh-Tôn was instrumental in establishing the teachings of his master in Vietnam and in providing a suitable eculogy for the growth of Thảo-Ðường Zen. The four successive monarchs of the Ly were likewise earnest Buddhist patrons; among them Lý-Anh-Tôn (ruled 1138-1175) and Lý-Cao-Tôn (ruled 1176-1210) received the seal-of-mind (V. Tam-an, J. Shin-in) in the Thảo-Ðường tradition. With emphasis on the merging of loving-kindness (S. karuna) and insight (S. prajna), the Thảo-Ðường sect provided the background material from which the first monarch of the Tran dynasty, Trần-Thái-Tôn, constructed his all-encompassing philosophy of humanism, which was to weave an important pattern in the Zen of the Truc-Lam sect founded by Tran-Nhan-Ton in the thirteenth century.

The interval separating King Lý-Cao-Tôn’‘s abdication to accept the seal-of-mind within the patriarchial tradition of the Thảo-Ðường schoul from King Tran-Nhan-Ton’‘s resignation to become a monk and founder of the Truc-Lam schoul was marked by three significant events acting as a catalyst phasing the religion of the Ly dynasty into the national religion, the comingling of nationalism and religion of the Tran dynasty. These events--the Mongul invasions of 1257, 1285 and 1287--led to a reassessment of national character, inner conviction, and ethnic aim culminating in the founding of the Tru’‘c-Lam Zen sect. Thus we may say of the T