An Quang Pagoda
Encyclopedia
Ho Chi Minh City
Ho Chi Minh City , formerly named Saigon is the largest city in Vietnam...
and is a site of the Institute for Dharma Propagation. It has been at the focus of development of modern Vietnamese Buddhism as the seat of the School of Buddhist Studies and the headquarters of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam
Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam
The Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam is a Buddhist organization in Vietnam. The Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam was founded in 1964 to unify 11 of the 14 different sects of Vietnamese Buddhism at the time present in the country...
.
Since its founding in 1948, its buildings have been expanded in number and size; they now include a library
Library
In a traditional sense, a library is a large collection of books, and can refer to the place in which the collection is housed. Today, the term can refer to any collection, including digital sources, resources, and services...
and a publishing house. But the importance of the pagoda
Pagoda
A pagoda is the general term in the English language for a tiered tower with multiple eaves common in Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam and other parts of Asia. Some pagodas are used as Taoist houses of worship. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most commonly Buddhist,...
lies in the large number of Dharma
Dharma
Dharma means Law or Natural Law and is a concept of central importance in Indian philosophy and religion. In the context of Hinduism, it refers to one's personal obligations, calling and duties, and a Hindu's dharma is affected by the person's age, caste, class, occupation, and gender...
teachers who started from this place and the thousands of monks and nuns who received their training there.
Today the pagoda serves as the headquarters of the Ho Chi Minh City Buddhist Sangha and it may serve as a place of reconciliation between the (underground) Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam
Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam
The Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam is a Buddhist organization in Vietnam. The Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam was founded in 1964 to unify 11 of the 14 different sects of Vietnamese Buddhism at the time present in the country...
(UBCV) and the Communist Party
Communist party
A political party described as a Communist party includes those that advocate the application of the social principles of communism through a communist form of government...
and Government who oppose it.