Most Venerable Thich Thanh Tu, Permanent Vice President of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha’s Executive Council, passed away on Nov. 26 at the age of 85.

Most Venerable Thich Thanh Tu (real name Tran Van Long) was born in 1927 in Song Mai commune, Kim Dong district, the Red River Delta province of Hung Yen .

The Most Venerable was also a member of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha’s Patronage Council, a deputy to the 11 th and 12 th National Assemblies, and a member of the Presidium of the Vietnam Fatherland Front Central Committee.

When he was five years old, he left home to live in Nho Lam pagoda in Kim Dong district, where he began studying Buddhism.

The Buddhist dignitary made a significant contribution to merging nine Buddhist sects and organisations and setting up the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha.

He had encouraged Buddhist monks, nuns and followers to practice their religion in line with the Party’s and State’s guidelines, policies and laws, as well as participating in patriotic emulation movements and social activities.

With his contributions, Most Venerable Thich Thanh Tu was conferred by the Party and State a number of noble distinctions, including the Ho Chi Minh Order, Independence Order (second class), Resistance Order (first and second classes) and Great National Unity Order.

Tributes to the Most Venerable will take place on Nov. 28 and 29 at the Quan Su Pagoda – the headquarters of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha. A commemorative ceremony for the Most Venerable will be held on Nov. 30 and he will rest at the stupa at the Vietnam Buddhist Institute in Hanoi’s outlying Soc Son district./.