AT A GLANCE
Why go?
Hai Quang Buddhist Temple (Chùa Hải Quang) is a small Mahayana nunnery tucked along Nguyễn Văn Đậu street in Ho Chi Minh City's Bình Thạnh district, established in 1964 by local Buddhist followers and rebuilt in 1997.↗↗
Though it doesn't draw crowds of tourists, the temple offers a quiet window into everyday Buddhist life in one of Saigon's most densely populated residential neighborhoods.
A Local Temple with a Sixty-Year Story
Founded in 1964 by a group of local devotees, Hai Quang was built in the Bắc tông (Northern Vietnamese Mahayana) tradition — the school that brought Chinese-influenced temple architecture, sutra chanting practices, and a pantheon of bodhisattvas to southern Vietnam. The temple was renovated in 1997 and today continues as a functioning nunnery led by the current abbess, SC.Thích nữ Ngộ Đăng.↗
The previous abbess, NT.Thích nữ Như Sự, is commemorated annually on the sixth day of the fourth lunar month. Under the leadership of nuns, Hai Quang participates in purely religious observances at the ward level — daily practice, seasonal ceremonies, and community support rather than large-scale public events.
