Regulating Tibetan Buddhist New Religiosity in Late-Socialist Vietnam

This presentation analyzes the 2010s emergence of “Tibeto-Vietnamese Vajrayana” (TVV), an umbrella term for adaptive Tibetan Buddhist new religiosities in Vietnam. Based on fieldwork conducted between 2018-26, it examines how TVV navigates tension with state regulatory frameworks and mainstream Buddhist institutions. Under Vietnam’s late socialist legal framework, Tibetan Buddhism is often framed as a foreign new religiosity that must be indigenized or incorporated into national heritage because it operates outside the state sanctioned Vietnam Buddhist Sangha. This has led to state monitoring, legal investigation, and police intervention, exemplified by the alleged extrajudicial state killing of Hungkar Rinpoche in Vietnam in 2024. Other recent cases involving alleged spiritual manipulation, financial misconduct, and religious licensing abuse have drawn intense media coverage and intensified scrutiny of some TVV groups. These dynamics shape TVV as an emerging field of new religiosity. This presentation draws from an article accepted for publication in Asian Ethnology (2026).