Trúc Lâm

Thiền

Trúc Lâm

Branch of Thiền

The Trúc Lâm (竹林, Bamboo Forest) school is the only indigenous Vietnamese Zen tradition, founded in 1299 by Trần Nhân Tông (1258–1308), the third emperor of the Trần dynasty who abdicated the throne to become a monk. After leading Vietnam to victory against two Mongol invasions, Trần Nhân Tông retired to Yên Tử Mountain and unified the three existing Vietnamese Thiền schools—the Vinitaruci, Vô Ngôn Thông, and Thảo Đường lineages—into a single school. The Trúc Lâm tradition was continued by two more patriarchs, Pháp Loa (1284–1330) and Huyền Quang (1254–1334), before gradually declining as a distinct school. It was revived in the twentieth century by Thích Thanh Từ as a modern Vietnamese contemplative movement with monasteries across the country.