Among the China-based Buddhist traditions of East Asia, Vietnamese Buddhism is the least known. To most Westerners, it is an extrapolation of popular perceptions of modern East Asian Buddhism, particularly Japanese Zen. As a result, Vietnamese Buddhism has been considered a faithful continuation of Chinese Zen - a view enthusiastically embraced by Vietnamese Buddhists themselves.

At the root of this misperception lies the uncritical acceptance of the Thien Uyen Tap Anh (Outstanding Figures in the Zen Community [of Vietnam]), a fourteenth-century text of the Chinese "chuandeng lu" (transmission of the lamp) genre, which claims to report the transmission of the Zen lineages in Vietnam.

The author proposes a rereading of the Thien Uyen and an analysis from a variety of perspectives (historical, textual, and comparative), which includes an outline of influences and borrowings from the Chinese Jingde chuandeng lu, a text composed in the early eleventh century. He concludes that there has never been a "Zen tradition" in Vietnam in the sense of unbroken lineages, a well-defined philosophical outlook, or institutions with an identifiable set of scriptures, doctrines, and practices. Rather Zen Buddhism manifests itself in a philosophical attitude and artistic sentiments scattered throughout religious and cultural life.

To support his argument, Nguyen concludes his study with a complete, annotated translation of the Thien Uyen, the first ever in English.