Punting through a Shallowed World

Master Buddha Đoàn Minh Huyên’s Watery Eschatology amidst the Rising Tides of Climate Change in the Mekong Delta

Abstract

In the mid-nineteenth century, along the lower Mekong Delta, Đoàn Minh Huyên taught that as humankind’s morality shallowed during the receding of the Dharma, the waters of his homeland would rise in stormy deluge, sparing amidst the floodwaters only the high ground of the Seven Mountains, where a renewed cycle of Dharma would begin. Today, Huyên’s teaching bears new relevance vis-à-vis climate change. Not only does Huyên’s watery eschatology enjoy a significant following in Vietnam, but the lay-oriented, “this worldly” practice of traditions associated with Huyên’s teachings, their established organizations and networks—and the fact that much of the millenarian fervor of Huyên’s day has since been channeled towards charity and good works—renders such traditions well-poised to face climate change. However, should the delta come to resemble the catastrophic vision of Huyên’s “water world” and attempts to attenuate the perils of climate change fall short, then the relatively meek activity of these traditions in recent history would not preclude the resurfacing of the violence and upheaval inspired by Huyên’s prophecy in previous centuries