ANAHEIM (VB) - Many Buddhist activists have formed an organization called Tran Nhan Tong Club on Saturday, 30 September, 2017 at a conference in Orange County.
The seminar is conducted in the spirit of thinking towards Vietnamese homeland and Buddhist Dhamma and contributing to the community’s benifit, as explained:
"... the formation of Tran Nhan Tong Club to contribute to the country's independence, social revival, revival and development of the Dharma."
According to the introduction, participants included Buddhist activists such as Musician Nguyên Kiện Lại Tôn Dũng, Dr. Trần Quốc Hưng, Phan Trung Kiên (Representative of the United Buddhist Foundation – UBF - https://lienphathoi.org/). Mr. Hậu and other activists such as Trương Ngãi Vinh (former President of a Vietnamese Community in Southern California), Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân (Director of Institution of Vietnamese Studies). For the public media there are Miss Bích Trâm (television), Lý Kiến Trúc (Văn Hóa Online Newspaper), Phan Tấn Hải (Việt Báo)...
Beginning was the topic of Medicine in Buddhism presented by Dr. Trần Quốc Hưng (Dallas), on MBSR (Mindfulness-Based Stress Reduction), the Buddhist meditation method which is being used in many American hospitals to treat many diseases.
Dr. Hung talked about the common view of disease and differences from the West and from Buddhist point of view.
Next, Mr. Phan Trung Kiên was invited by Musician Lại Tôn Dũng to present the Club’s official website.
Mr. Phan Trung Kiên said that the official website of Trần Nhân Tông Club was designed free of charge by the United Buddhist Foundation. The designer, translator Nguyễn Minh Tiến, is known to work an average of 18 hours a day for Buddhist work and already designed dozens of other websites for Buddhist associations, pagodas and monasteries. Nguyễn Minh Tiến himself is also a translator of dozens of works from English, Chinese to Vietnamese.
Musician Lại Tôn Dũng, representative of the Tran Nhan Tong Advocacy Committee, said that Vietnamese Buddhists are facing many dangers nowadays: many temples become superstitious because the Vietnamese communist government wishes them to do so. While the Government used Buddhism as a propaganda environment, and then common phenominon now is that many pagodas become businessmen. The situation is also urgent because China is trying to assimilate Vietnam, and the government expressed the Northern dependence too obvious.
He said that the Vietnamese people are in dark ages, the poor country backward, the corrupt society, the decadent culture and the country in the danger of losing control.
That is the reason for the formation of Tran Nhan Tong Club to build the prosperous Vietnam, make good society and preserve the Vietnamese culture.
The Club will operate follow network structure, operating mechanism depending on local situations. Each local unit will work independently from the all the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha but may support Buddhist events, depending on the locality.
Dr. Trần Quốc Hưng will set up the Club’s units in Houston and Dallas.
The Club in Orange County was established on Saturday night.
Ms. Nguyễn Thị Kim Ngân suggested that everyone working together is fine but should always be aware of the ignorant people who want to break up, so be patient to help them have proper thinking.
Mr. Trương Ngãi Vinh said that, as a Protestant, he welcomed the meeting to support the activities that can promote the nation, and must be wary of strangers to insert in the long run.
Special features: The youngest activist in Trần Nhân Tông Club is Minh Tâm, a top singer who is able to sing the most difficult songs with three different local voices of South, North and Central Viet Nam. The show performed by Minh Tam at the meeting showed that it was a surprise to have a better vocal than many professional singers.
You can find out more about Trần Nhân Tông Club through:
Oficial website: https://trannhantong.club/
Or email: Info@trannhantong.club