Situated in the easternmost region of mainland Southeast Asia, Vietnam lays in the crossroad of Theravāda and Mahayana Buddhism. Much of its Mahayana Buddhism traces its influence to China. Unsurprisingly perhaps, the discourse of Mahayana Buddhism in Vietnam and Taiwan share many similar characteristics. This similarity has attracted many Vietnamese monastics to study in Taiwanese Buddhist seminaries in recent decades. Combined with a growing Vietnamese migrant community, a handful of Vietnamese monastic students have established Buddhist organizations in Taiwan. Although Vietnamese Buddhism has successfully taken roots in Taiwan, little attention has been paid to the study of Vietnamese Buddhism in Taiwan, and to the role of Vietnamese nuns in particular. This paper uses the case study of a Vietnamese Mahayana nun, Thuần Tịnh, to explore the elements of gender in translocating Vietnamese Buddhism to Taiwan. While most Vietnamese student monks I encountered do not envision a long-term Dharma propagation plan in Taiwan, Thuần Tịnh is one of the few who have long-term plans to propagate Vietnamese Buddhism on the island. This paper attempts to answer three interrelated questions: Does gender have anything to do with the Dharma propagation strategy of Vietnamese monastics in Taiwan? Given that most Vietnamese migrants in Taiwan are women, what role does gender play in the provision of religious services? And finally, if gender is socially-constructed, do nuns reshape or challenge conventional Vietnamese Buddhist perspective on gender in Taiwan?
