Most Venerable Thich Minh Hien, head of the judge, shares about the contest at the press conference. — VNS Photo Minh Thu

The 'Buddhism in Life' contest is organised by the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha and Ngoa Van Ho Thien Company to find beautiful images of Buddhist architecture, rituals, Truc Lam Yen Tu Zen monastery and Buddhism activities.

The contest aims to help build a photo stock to introduce Vietnamese Buddhism to the world and provide references for Buddhism researchers.

Entries should be sent to the organising board via website thianhphatgiao2020.com before November 20.

The contest commemorates 712 years Buddha King Tran Nhan Tong entered Nirvana (1308-2020) and honours him as the founder of Truc Lam Yen Tu Zen monastery.

This means photos taken at Ngoa Van Ho Thien relics on Yen Tu Mountain, the northern province of Quang Ninh, are particularly encouraged. Apart from the main prizes, there are some prizes for photos depicting these relics.

Việt Nam News photojournalist Nguyen Viet Thanh, member of the jury board, estimated the contest will draw about 4,000 photos to compete. So far, more than 2,000 photos have been sent to the contest by 450 participants.

“Buddhism is a wide theme and it’s easy to have artistic pictures because colours and activities in Buddhism themselves are beautiful,” he said.

“I myself feel excited to join the judges because the entries will bear colours of spiritual life and belief.”

A photo taken by Viet Van, a photojournalist from Lao Động newspaper, member of the jury board. — VNS Photo Viet Van

Most Venerable Thich Minh Hien, a member of the central committee of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha, who also loves photography, expressed concerns that the quality will not be high.

“It’s good to see many photos sent to the contest, however, many of them just describe the figures and do not reflect the souls of those figures, I prefer to see soulful photos which contain zen colours,” he said.

The exhibition of 150 excellent photos will take place on December 10-20 at Ngoa Van Pagoda and on December 25-31 at the Temple of Literature, Hanoi.  VNS

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