Tinh Xa Trung Tam - Demographics and Activities

Demographics and Activities

The lay attendees at Tinh Xa Trung Tam are predominantly female by a ratio of around 5 to 1, and most of the temple-goers are over 40. Most of the younger lay disciples are relatives of regular, older attendees. In addition to local residents, who make up the bulk of the disciples, some are from other parts of Vietnam, as well as overseas Vietnamese who are temporarily in the country. According to the American professor of Vietnamese history and religion Mark W. McLeod, who did fieldwork at Tinh Xa Trung Tam, he did not survey the laypeople about their income, for fear of embarrassing them, but conjectured that most had an above average income as they were able to devote a considerable amount of time to organized religious activity instead of working longer hours. A regular occurrence at the temple is the weekly Bát Quan Trai Giới (Eight Precepts Ritual). As part of this, the participants take on three additional vows apart from the Five Precepts and stay at the temple for a 24-hour period. These vows prohibit adornments such as makeup and jewellery, the use of comfortable beds and chairs, and eating impurely. During the retreat day, meals are taken in silence and talking is avoided, apart from during dharma talks, sutra chanting and religious debate. Meditation is also a part of the routine. Tinh Xa Trung Tam holds the Eight Precepts Ritual more often than any other institution in the city; the next most frequent temple holds the retreat once a fortnight. Dharma talks are held weekly by the resident monks and nuns, which is generally more frequent than at other places in the city. The disciples and monks at the temple told McLeod that they chose Tinh Xa Trung Tam because of what they regarded as a higher level of discipline, rigor and scholarship at the institution. The monks are transported by their disciples as they are forbidden to drive.

The founder of khất sĩ had been a supporter of freeing birds as an act of compassion, and this has been continued by some monks and lay people as it is believed to be meritorious, but others have spoken out against on the grounds that the demand for birds used for such ceremonies merely prompt more people to capture them in the first place.

According to the scholar Mark McLeod, the temple incorporated aspects of both Mahayana and Theravada traditions in its style of practice and architecture. He felt that the modest and uncomplicated wooden statue of the Buddha is more reminiscent of Theravada architecture, while the Ksitigarbha and Avalokiteshvara statues are distinctly Mahayana, as these figures are absent from Theravada teachings. One monk interviewed by McLeod said that his temple’s interpretation of Buddhism and its inclusiveness of Mahayana and Theravada aspects is "like a tree, which needs roots, a trunk, branches, and leaves; it cannot survive if any is missing." He added that the appropriateness of a teaching, practice, symbol, is independent of its origin, but is determined by "whether or not it accords with the Buddha’s Teachings."