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]

Biography

Born on December 25th 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. On 1928, he went to France to study in Rouen. 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 build a 14-meter high religious station while practicing religion at night.

Đạo Dừa temple in Bến Tre.
The temple in 1969

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)."


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