Great master Hien Ky and the transmission of the Tiantai sect in Vietnam

Abstract

At the beginning of the 20th century, Great master Hien Ky (1858-1932), the abbot of Ching Shan Monastery (Ching Shan Temple) in Hong Kong, China, mobilized the Minh Su dao clergy in Long An to travel to Hong Kong for ordination, where they took monastic vows and were admitted into the Tiantai Sect, thereby indirectly transmitting this lineage to Vietnam. After its introduction to Vietnam, the Tiantai Sect was swiftly embraced, establishing firm roots and spreading widely across both the northern and southern regions. It later became one of the nine Buddhist sects that participated in the founding of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha in 1981 at Quan Su Temple in Hanoi. Currently, the research on Great master Hien Ky and the transmission of the Tiantai Sect in Vietnam remains quite limited due to a lack of reference materials, as well as insufficient cross-referencing among studies, leading to inconsistencies in research findings. Through fieldwork, in-depth interview methods, and comparative, historical and logical analyses, along with new documents such as the ordination vows from Ching Shan Monastery’s Grand Ordination in the 18th year of the Republic of China at the verdict on the dispute between Ching Shan Monastery and the Dao family at Tuen Mun, Hong Kong, correspondence between Great master Hien Ky, Great master Bao Tinh, Patriarch De Nhan and internally circulated documents of Minh Su dao. This study aims to elucidate the transmission of the Tiantai Sect to Vietnam and to clarify the life and religious achievements of Great master Hien Ky.