The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (463 page)

gha unchecked by colonial powers produced some important manifestations of Buddhism. Mongkut's rejection of supernaturalism has encouraged educated members of the sa
gha to present Buddhism in modern scientific dress.
Buddhad
sa
(Skt.; Putat
t, Thai) has reformulated cardinal doctrines.
Other leading monks share the progressive outlook of Buddhad
sa, but are famous primarily as meditation teachers (Achan Mun) or practitioners of development (Phra Maha Narong Cittasobhano).
Vietnamese Buddhism differs from that of other mainland SE Asian Buddhist countries in that it was both Therav
din and Mah
y
nist from an early stage, and has been heavily influenced by Confucianism and Taoism. The comparatively high proportion of Therav
dins in the south is the legacy of the Cambodian presence between the 15th and 19th cents. Vietnamese monks have been heavily involved in politics, and in 1963 Thich Quang Duc, a 73-year-old monk, performed self-immolation as a protest against the Diem regime. The United Vietnamese Buddhist Church, which came into being during the religious and political ferment of the 1960s, united Therav
dins and Mah
y
nists in a single ecclesiastical structure. Thich Nhat Hanh is representative of the moderate political wing of the Church.
Cao Dai
and
Hoa Hao
are even more syncretistic than their parent Vietnamese Buddhism. The former, founded in 1926 by Ngo Van Chieu (1878–1932), tries to draw together Confucianism, Taoism, Buddhism, and Christianity into a single religion of the Way (Tao). Hoa Hao, founded by Huynh Phu So in 1939, is more distinctively Buddhist and reformed in its opposition to religious rituals.
Thus SE Asia Buddhism is a highly complex system of interlocking historical, geographic, political, and cultural traditions. Although common features exist, such as the role of the monarchy and accommodation between Buddhism and pre-Buddhistic animism and Hinduism, there is an enormous diversity which characterizes not only the differences between countries in the region but also significant distinctions which exist between the Therav
da Buddhism of SE Asia and its historical parents in