Venerable Thich Dao Thinh
Venerable Thich Dao Thinh, with the Dharma name Phap Tinh and the Dharma title Thuong Chieu, belongs to the Huong Tich monastic lineage. His secular name is Bui Van Kieu, born in 1975 in Sau Thuong Hamlet, Thanh Luong Commune, Kim Boi District, Hoa Binh Province (now part of Phu Tho Province). He is the Abbot of Khai Nguyên Pagoda, located in Doai Phuong commune, Hanoi. His esteemed father was Mr. Bui Van Phan (born 1945), and his respected mother was Mrs. Bui Thi Lui (born 1947). The Venerable is the third son in a family of five siblings, two of whom have entered monastic life to follow the Buddha's path.
Born into a virtuous and benevolent farming family with a long-standing, profound reverence for the Three Jewels, he soon came to realize that the world is illusory and life is transient and impermanent. At the age of 20, after reading the book "The Bodhisattva of Huong Pagoda," he was inspired to renounce the world to repay the kindness of his parents. In 1994, at Huong Tich Pagoda, he was ordained by the Patriarch Master of Huong Tich, who then sent him to study with the Sangha and perform monastic duties at the Thien Phuc Patriarchal Monastery (Thay Pagoda). Seeing his potential as a Dharma vessel to carry the Buddha’s teachings, and seeing that the right conditions had ripened, the Patriarch Master of Huong Tich entrusted him to the care of the Patriarch Master of Van Nien (Hanoi) to foster his spiritual cultivation and facilitate his studies. In 1997, at the age of 23, he received the Sramanera precepts from the Patriarch Master at the ordination ceremony organized by the Ha Tay Provincial Buddhist Sangha.
In 2000, he received the transmission of the complete Bhikkhu precepts at the Great Ordination Ceremony held at Mo Lao Pagoda, organized by the Ha Tay Provincial Buddhist Sangha. At this ceremony, he was entrusted with the transmission of the wisdom-life by the most respected elder masters of the time. The Patriarch Master Thich Pho Tue (Third Supreme Patriarch of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha) served as his Preceptor; the Patriarch Master Thich Tam Bich (of Hoi Xa Pagoda) served as his Procedural Master; and the Patriarch Master Thich Vien Thanh (of Huong Tich) served as his Instructor. From this point onward, he formally embarked upon the path of monastic life, equal with all in the true Dharma. The Master is the 13th generation patriarch of the Huong Tich lineage of the Linji School of Buddhism in Northern Vietnam, which indicates that his generation will include "Dao" in their dharma name. Following the example of the venerable predecessors in upholding the precepts and virtues, he has sustained the Dharma stream within the great Sangha, continuing the Sakya lineage.
From April 2002 to April 2006, he was a student monk in the 4th class of the Vietnam Buddhist University in Hanoi.
After receiving the Bhikkhu precepts from the Patriarch Masters, he diligently cultivated the path, observed the pure conduct, and accumulated the spiritual virtues of a Bhikkhu. With his ability to uphold and propagate the Dharma and serve as a spiritual pillar of the Sangha, he earned the trust of Patriarch Master Thich Minh Tue and the local lay Buddhist community. In 1997, he was appointed as abbot of Ngoc Tan Pagoda.
In 2003, he became the abbot of Khai Nguyen Pagoda and began the restoration. Later, in 2008, he became the abbot and undertook the restoration of Tan Vien Pagoda.
