Ông Đạo Dừa

Ông Đạo Dừa ("The Coconut Monk"), born Nguyễn Thành Nam (December 25 1910 – May 13 1990), was a Vietnamese mystic and the founder of the Coconut Religion (Đạo Dừa) in Vietnam.[1][2]

Đạo Dừa temple in Bến Tre.
A marble slab with a brief inscription of Ông Đạo Dừa's name

Biography

Born on 25 December 1910 as Nguyễn Thành Nam, he was born in a village in Truc Giang district, Kien Hoa province. He was the son of a rich family. In 1928, he went to Rouen, France, to study. He graduated as a chemical engineer in 1935 and returned home. In 1945, he went to an pagoda in Bay Nui, Chau Doc. Following the law of momentum, he sat on the stone pedestal in front of the pagoda's pole for 3 years, silent day and night, endured the wind and dew, his body was only skin and bones. In 1948, he returned to Dinh Tuong and sat on the riverbank on the North Bridge, practicing religion while walking around. Two years later he built a 14-meter high religious station while practicing religion at night.

In 1963, he established his ashram on Phoenix Island in Bến Tre province and founded the Coconut Religion. He was a candidate for the 1971 South Vietnamese presidential election. It is alleged that Nam consumed only coconuts for three years, for that period he also organized mass meditations and praying for the ending of the Vietnam War on a floating platform. Despite his eccentric behaviour, the government of Saigon respected him and called Nam a "man of religion".[3] He usually sported a crucifix around his neck and dressed in traditional Buddhist robes.[4]

After the 1975 Communist takeover of the South, his religion was deemed a cult and he was imprisoned for 10 years. He died on 13 May 1990 after a clash with the communist authority.

References
  1. The Rough Guide to Vietnam 4 Page 142 Jan Dodd, Mark Lewis, Ron Emmons - 2003 "Ong Dao Dua, the Coconut Monk Ong Dao Dua, the Coconut Monk, was bom Nguyen Thanh Nam in the Mekong Delta, ... During a lengthy period of meditation at Chau Doc's Sam Mountain (see p.172) he devised a new religion, "
  2. Vietnam Page 115 John Hoskin, Carol Howland - 2006 "Ong Dao Dua, a charismatic leader, initiated a new religion that fused Buddhist and Christian elements. For three years he is said to have sat and meditated on a stone slab, sustained only by a diet of coconuts (hence the nickname)."
  3. Ellithorpe, Harold (1970). "South Vietnam: The Coconut Monk". Far Eastern Economic Review. p. 15.
  4. "THE OTHER SIDE OF EDEN: LIFE WITH JOHN STEINBECK". American Buddha. Archived from the original on June 24, 2013. Retrieved May 26, 2013.


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