Đạo Bửu Sơn Kỳ Hương (, , "Way of the Strange Fragrance from the Precious Mountain") refers to a religious tradition originally practiced by the mystic Đoàn Minh Huyên (1807–1856) and continued by

Huỳnh Phú Sổ Huỳnh Phú Sổ (; 15 January 1920 – 16 April 1947), popularly known as Đức Thầy (lit. "Virtuous Master") or Đức Huỳnh Giáo Chủ (lit. Virtuous ectFounder (ie Patriach) Huynh), was the founder of the Hòa Hảo religious traditi ...

, founder of the

Hòa Hảo Hòa Hảo is a religious movement described either as a syncretistic folk religion or as a sect of Buddhism. It was founded in 1939 by Huỳnh Phú Sổ (1920–1947), who is regarded as a saint by its devotees. It is one of the major religions ...

. The phrase itself refers to the Thất Sơn range on the Vietnamese-

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...

n border, where Huyên, claiming to be a living

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha, was a śramaṇa, wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist tradition, he was ...

sent into the world to rescue humankind, and accepted as such by followers of Hòa Hảo, is said to have made his first appearance in 1849.

History

Đoàn Minh Huyên, a native of

Sa Đéc Sa Đéc is a Provincial city (Vietnam), Provincial city in Đồng Tháp Province in the Mekong Delta of southern Vietnam. It is a river port and agricultural and industrial trading center. The Sa Đéc economic zone consists of Châu Thành D ...

(now Đồng Tháp) province in the

Mekong Delta The Mekong Delta ( vi, Đồng bằng Sông Cửu Long, lit=Nine Dragon River Delta or simply vi, Đồng Bằng Sông Mê Kông, lit=Mekong River Delta, label=none), also known as the Western Region ( vi, Miền Tây, links=no) or South-weste ...

region of Vietnam, came to be known as the "Buddha Master of Western Peace" (''Phật Thầy Tây An'') during the

cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...

epidemic An epidemic (from Ancient Greek, Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of patients among a given population within an area in a short period of time. Epidemics ...

in 1849, which killed over a million people. Huyên was reputed to have supernatural abilities to cure the sick and the

insane Insanity, madness, lunacy, and craziness are behaviors performed by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity can be manifest as violations of societal norms, including a person or persons becoming a danger to themselves or to ...

. His followers wore amulets bearing the Chinese characters for ''Bửu Sơn Kỳ Hương'', a phrase that became identified, retrospectively, with the religion practiced by Huyên, and the

millenarian Millenarianism or millenarism (from Latin , "containing a thousand") is the belief by a religious, social, or political group or movement in a coming fundamental transformation of society, after which "all things will be changed". Millenariani ...

movement associated with the latter. Huyên, along with Huỳnh Phú Sổ, are regarded by Hòa Hảo followers as living Buddha destined to save mankind from suffering and to protect the Vietnamese nation. Historian Hue-Tam Ho Tai suggests that the phrase ''Bửu Sơn Kỳ Hương'' may have been coined by writers belonging to

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Buu Son Ky Huong Religion in Vietnam Vietnamese folk religion 1849 establishments in Vietnam Yiguandao Thiền