Unlike the Red River Delta's long-established religious traditions, southern Vietnam's Mekong region gave rise to indigenous faiths whose spiritual leaders offered healing, hope and support to communities facing hardship.

Perched on a hillside in central Vietnam's former imperial capital, Thien Lam Pagoda stands out for its golden stupa, striking Buddha statues and Theravada architecture rarely seen among Hue's historic temples.

At Hanoi's Hoe Nhai Pagoda, a Buddha sits on the back of a kneeling king. Linked by tradition to a Vietnamese monarch's repentance, the centuries-old statue offers a timeless reflection on power, humility and the courage to admit mistakes.

From across Vietnam, handwritten Buddhist sutras have made their way to Dia Tang Phi Lai Pagoda, where 49,000 copies now embody a quiet pilgrimage of patience, gratitude and spiritual reflection.

More than seven centuries later, Vietnam’s Tran dynasty still resonates in the country’s spiritual life, from the worship of national hero Tran Quoc Tuan to the distinctly Vietnamese Truc Lam Zen tradition. 

Co Le Pagoda in Vietnam’s Ninh Binh province is known for its unusual architecture. It also preserves the story of 35 Buddhist monastics who left religious life to fight for their country.

Vietnam’s Buddhist manuscripts, written over centuries in classical Chinese and Nom script, are scattered and deteriorating. Scholars and monks are calling for an urgent effort to preserve them.

Stone elephants, horses and dogs stand guard beside a 350-year-old terracotta tower at An Xa Temple, preserving traces of a rare Taoist spiritual world in northern Vietnam.

Nepalese Buddhist nun and renowned spiritual singer Ani Choying Drolma says a pilgrimage to Vietnam's sacred Yen Tu mountains left her deeply moved by how the country preserves its Buddhist heritage.

For 16 years, Vietnamese artisan Nguyen Cong Dat has searched hundreds of pagodas for traces of his village’s woodblock masters, while fighting to keep their centuries-old Buddhist printing craft alive.

Across a small bridge in northern Vietnam, Nom Pagoda emerges beneath old trees, a place where ancient clay statues, Buddhist legends and the rhythms of an old village market blur the line between the sacred and everyday life.

For 26 years, 93-year-old Khmer man Mai Huyen has poured his time, savings and faith into a 20-meter tower in southern Vietnam, filling it with thousands of Buddhist statues, many made by his own hands.

A collection of 18 Buddhist arhats carved directly into a cave wall nearly 800 years ago in Ninh Binh Province, northern Vietnam, has been recognized as a National Treasure.

Archaeologists are calling for urgent action to protect three rare Buddhist relic towers in northern Vietnam linked to the origins of the influential Truc Lam Zen Buddhist tradition.

Rough brown on one side and smooth white on the other, the unusual rocks of a Yen Tu mountain stream are associated with a centuries-old story about one of Vietnam’s most revered Buddhist figures.

Amid pine forests and mountain streams, Con Son brings together Truc Lam Buddhism, centuries-old legends and the enduring presence of national hero Nguyen Trai.

Thousands of people visited Phuoc Tuong Pagoda in Ho Chi Minh City for Vu Lan, a season of gratitude marked by prayer, family remembrance and acts of kindness.

Ahead of Vu Lan, Minister Nguyen Dinh Khang met Buddhist leaders in Hanoi, praising the Sangha’s work and the festival’s deep connection to Vietnamese traditions of gratitude.

Long before Hanoi wakes, volunteers at a small Buddhist temple are already cooking. Their kitchen provides more than 150,000 free meals to cancer patients and others in need each year.