Truc Lam Bac Lieu Zen Monastery

Truc Lam Bac Lieu Zen Monastery is a large Zen Buddhist monastery of the Truc Lam Yen Tu tradition located in Hiep Thanh Commune, Bac Lieu City, Ca Mau Province in southern Vietnam. Built on an approximately 18-hectare site near the East Sea coast, it is notable for its traditional Vietnamese Zen architecture, spacious courtyards and serene landscaped gardens. The monastery serves as a center for meditation, Buddhist practice and cultural tourism in the Mekong Delta.

Visitors can expect a spacious, tranquil monastery complex with traditional Vietnamese wooden architecture, tiled roofs and symmetrical courtyards. The site includes a main meditation hall (Chanh Dien), bell tower, drum tower, statues of Buddha, landscaped gardens, lotus ponds and tree-lined pathways. The surroundings are open and coastal, with quiet grounds suitable for walking, sightseeing and observing monastic daily life. Areas open to visitors include outer courtyards, gardens and main halls outside ceremony times.

The monastery belongs to the Truc Lam Yen Tu Zen lineage revived by Zen Master Thich Thanh Tu. Construction began in 2010 on an 18-hectare site in Hiep Thanh Commune and the monastery was inaugurated in subsequent years as one of the largest Truc Lam monasteries in the Mekong Delta, built to serve Buddhist practice and preserve traditional Vietnamese Zen architecture.

The monastery is an important center of Truc Lam Yen Tu Zen Buddhism, a distinctly Vietnamese Zen tradition. It serves as a place for meditation, Buddhist study, religious festivals and community gatherings, and represents the spread of Truc Lam Zen practice in southern Vietnam.