Buddhism and contemporary religiosities of Vietnam

Auditorium of the Cernuschi Museum at 18H00

Buddhism and contemporary religiosities of Vietnam by Pascal Bourdeaux, lecturer, Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes.

Crafted for centuries by Confucian morality, crossed in its foundations by an entanglement complex of local divinities and popular beliefs, structured around cults with half-public and semi-private spirits and ancestors, Vietnam is nonetheless a country of Buddhist culture that has emerged, under differentiated expressions and from ancient times, great schools of thought and strong regional traditions. During the last century, wars and socio-cultural mutations have not removed anything from the ethical, compassionate and sometimes emotional significance of Buddhism, which remains a constitutive referent of the Vietnamese mental universe. Today, he even knows a real revival of perceptible interest in all its dimensions erudite, meditative, practical, social and sometimes even in pragmatic or even non-conformist forms. This panoramic evocation of Buddhism and, more broadly, contemporary religiosity, thus illustrate the richness and intense vitality of present-day Vietnam.