The Abbot

Ven. Thich Thien Son is the founder of Pagoda Phat Hue. He is head of its religious community and manages its affiliated lay community.

Thich Thien Son was born in 1967 in Saigon and was ordained in the Lin-Chi lineage of Zen Buddhism at the age of 8. In 1979, he fled political persecution in Vietnam and emigrated to Germany. During many years of training as a monk, he was educated in Taiwan and China in traditional Chinese medicine. He has participated in numerous charity and Dharma projects around the world.

His diverse activities aim to spread Buddhist theory and practice and to help people understand themselves and manage difficult life situations. As a Zen Master, he specializes in teaching the Zen method and is committed to the Lin-Chi tradition.

Ven. Thich Thien Son leads a series of Zen Seminars that build one upon another. During these seminars lay practitioners are able to gain important insights into themselves through their own effort. The first step is learning to recognize their personality structures and behavior habits using a variety of methods, including those of Western psychotherapy.

The abbot’s deep understanding of both Eastern and Western cultures is incorporated into these seminars, into projects involving the German and Vietnamese lay communities, and into a host of multi-cultural events at Pagoda Phat Hue.