Tịnh Xá Trung Tâm is a Buddhist temple in Ho Chi Minh City, the largest city in Vietnam. It was founded in 1965 and is the spiritual birthplace of the khất sĩ tradition of Vietnamese Buddhism that attempts to recreate the original tradition of the Buddhist sangha by walking barefoot and begging for alms. The temple is located at 7 Nguyễn Trung Trực Street, in Bình Thạnh District. It is known for its weekly Bát Quan Trai Giới (Eight Precept Ritual) retreat, which is staged more frequently than at other institutions in the city, and has a reputation among its followers for rigour and discipline. The attendees of the temple are typically over 40 years of age and are overwhelmingly female.
The temple is set on a plot of 5,490 square metres (59,100 sq ft), and construction took ten years. Initially, the complex comprised two halls, two compounds for the sangha other buildings. The temple was the headquarters of the Vietnamese khất sĩ Sangha Association until 1980. In 1998, an octagonal nine-story tower, named the Buddha Gem Tower, was built. The tower is lit at night and is visible throughout the surrounding area. The bottom four floors form the library as well as the repository for some relics of Gautama Buddha. Many of the inner walls of the halls of the temple are adorned with relief carvings and paintings depicting important events in the life of Buddha. In the courtyard stands a statue of Avalokiteshvarabodhisattva. (Full article...)
Image 1Water puppetry, lit. "Making puppets dance on water") is a tradition that dates back as far as the 11th century when it originated in the villages of the Red River Delta area of northern Vietnam.
Image 2Hanging fishing nets in the Cu Đê River, just before it merges with Da Nang Bay
Image 3The painting depicts the retired emperor Trần Nhân Tông who has now become a monk and returned to Hanoi from his hermitage in Vũ Lâm.
Image 13Dong Ho painting is a line of Vietnamese folk painting originating in Đông Hồ village (Song Hồ commune, Thuận Thành District, Bắc Ninh Province.
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... that Don Luce led a group of Americans to a secret part of a South Vietnamese prison where inmates were kept in squalor in what were called "tiger cages"?
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Image 3Traditionally, people wore white clothes along with white turbans during funerals. Vietnamese officials Hồ Đắc Trung, Tôn Thất Hân, Nguyễn Hữu Bài and Đoàn Đình Duyệt depicted during the funeral of emperor Khải Định. (from Culture of Vietnam)
Image 5A trio of Vietnamese musicians performing together. The man on the far left plays kèn đám ma, the man in the middle plays the đàn nhị and the man on the right plays the trống chầu. (from Culture of Vietnam)
Image 1919th-century manuscript of "Mysterious tales of the Southern Realm" (Lĩnh Nam chích quái), a copy of 15th-century original tale. (from Culture of Vietnam)
Image 20A Kinh Vietnamese woman with blackened teeth. (from Culture of Vietnam)