Vietnamese Buddhism

While Buddhism is the majority religion in Vietnam, different Buddhist factions were critical in the political processes of the Republic of Vietnam (i.e., South Vietnam).

The factions were not especially differentiated on theological, but rather on ideological, grounds. There also were political and religious groups based on variations of Buddhism, such as the Cao Dai.

A major area of conflict was that Ngo Dinh Diem, president from 1954 to his overthrow in 1963 was a Catholic, and gave preferences to the Catholic majority. Even so, there were later events such as the Buddhist crisis of 1966 involving activist Buddhist groups, even though they were protesting against a government whose leaders were primarily

Perhaps the most activist major faction was led by Tri Quang. Arguably, he maintained the largest political organization in South Vietnam, other than the Viet Cong.