Poetic Instructions on Prophecy: An Annotated Translation of Hòa Hảo Buddhism's Sấm Giảng Thi Văn

Hòa Hảo Buddhism is a new religious movement that originated in southwestern Vietnam (called Cochinchina during the French colonial period). From its inception, the movement rapidly gained several million followers in less than five years. According to official statistics from the Vietnamese Government Committee for Religious Affairs in 2010, there are approximately 1.3 million Hòa Hảo Buddhists in Vietnam. There are also many followers in the diaspora, particularly in the United States and Australia. Despite its profound impact on Vietnamese religious culture and history, Hòa Hảo Buddhism has been relatively understudied. Among the few studies on the subject, there is no comprehensive research on the doctrine of Hòa Hảo Buddhism. This project represents the first attempt to thoroughly study Hòa Hỏa Buddhism in its doctrinal dimension with an annotated translation of the Sấm Giảng Thi Văn (Poetic Instructions on Prophecy), a six-volume collection of the teachings of the founder, Huỳnh Phú Sổ (1920–1947). The translation of these canonical texts, accompanied by commentaries on Hòa Hảo Buddhist concepts within their socio-political and especially conceptual contexts, is expected to serve as the primary textual reference source for potential scholarship on Hòa Hảo Buddhism in Vietnam and abroad.