The mysterious religion of coconuts

The elder Nguyen Ten, 79, is the final identified practitioner of the so-called coconuts religion, a weird variant of Buddhism that emerged within the Vietnam upheaval of the 60s and got here to have greater than 4,000 followers throughout the globe .

Ten assures that since 1974 he solely feeds on coconut and infrequently juices of another fruit, thus following the teachings of his instructor, Nguyen Thanh Nam, founder of the religion and nicknamed the coconut monk till his loss of life in 1990.

“However I take the coconut with chili, with salt or with pepper and the instructor ate it alone. It isn’t a sacrifice for me, my physique has develop into accustomed and if I attempt different meals they harm me,” he explains.

The outdated lady travels round 100 meters that separate her home from the sanctuary, inbuilt 1972 on the small island of the Phoenix, an space identified for its coconut palm crops within the Mekong River Delta, about 100 kilometers south of Ho Chi Minh ( historical Saigon).

The spiritual advanced, though deteriorated by the passage of time, maintains the unique design devised by the founder, extra much like a primitive amusement park than to a standard temple.

Teams of vacationers take heed to the reasons of their guides as they stroll by means of a small esplanade with 9 dragon-shaped pillars the place the devoted used to follow the rituals of this religion, formally known as Hoa Dong and impressed by Buddhism however with Christian, Taoist and Christian parts. Different cults

The customer's gaze is straight away directed in the direction of the colourful futuristic-looking metallic buildings that rise above the plush vegetation: a tower impressed by the Apollo spacecraft, two metallic towers about 15 meters excessive related by a walkway to represent the union between the 2 Vietnam confronted through the warfare and one other within the identify of peace.

The outdated Ten leaves apart the tumult of the guided teams and walks straight in the direction of the temple: a cement grotto the place she spends the morning praying earlier than an altar and answering the guests' questions.

“I don't come every single day, however right this moment the instructor contacted me from the opposite world and informed me that there have been individuals who wanted to see me,” he says.

When he begins to speak about religion, about his instructor, about his coconut-based weight loss plan for 4 a long time, Ten emerges a vitality that doesn’t correspond to his squalid and filthy-looking physique.

“The message of the coconut religion is that each one beliefs have the identical root, there is just one God. We now have to dwell a easy life, not eat animals to not kill, not give significance to materials items. We eat coconuts as a result of it’s the most plentiful meals, “he explains.

Whereas he talks, he distributes among the many vacationers images of his instructor in several conditions: with a coconut palm with a number of trunk, holding a coconut within the form of a lotus flower, exhibiting a tuber that reminds a dragon and one other with the cats he raised with mice as an emblem of peace amongst males.

At its peak, this department of Buddhism had followers in america, together with journalist and author John Steinbeck IV, son of the well-known creator of “The Grapes of Wrath.”

Steinbeck was ordained a monk by the creator of the cult, Nguyen Thanh Nam, an mental born in 1909, educated in France and controversial for his opposition to French colonialism and the regime established in South Vietnam after the defeat of France.

Nam, from a rich household, devoted himself for just a few years to promote coconut-based cleaning soap, however after being saved in extremis from an execution by French troopers, he determined to commit his life to meditation, in line with the guide “The 25 Years Century “, by Quang Thi Lam.

After three years of retirement in some mountains close to the border with Cambodia, he determined to settle in his residence province of Ben Tre, well-known for the cultivation of coconut bushes, and based the religion.

His sturdy dedication to peace and his notoriety – he was a candidate for the presidency of the South Vietnam in 1968 – gave the coconut religion some reputation through the Vietnam Battle, however the cult has by no means been acknowledged by the communist regime that governs The nation since 1975.