Religious Revival of Vietnamese Buddhists in the Czech Republic: A Possible Example of Post-Secular Tendencies in an Immigrant Community

Abstract

Thirty years passed between the arrival of the Vietnamese minority in the Czech Republic and the dedication of the first shrine of the Vietnamese version of Mahayana Buddhism in 2007. This paper studies the growing activity of Buddhists of Vietnamese origin in the Czech Republic and places it in a social and religious context. It provides a summary of information about the Vietnamese minority in the Czech Republic and Buddhism in Vietnam, emphasising the tradition practised by Czech Buddhists of Vietnamese descent. In the research part, the paper describes the community of Buddhists of Vietnamese descent in the Czech Republic, analyses trends in its development, describes the places where religious practices occur, and presents data acquired by a questionnaire survey distributed to participants at religious services. The data interpretation suggests that the Vietnamese minority is becoming increasingly more religious. This can be viewed as a part of post-secular tendencies in secular Czech society.