Thich Vien Ly

Personal Bio

Born in Banh Dinh, a province in central Vietnam, Ly became a monk at a young age. Communists put him in jail when he was a teenage monk teaching in a monastery in central Vietnam. Ly attempted to escape by boat twice and  failed, but he succeeded the third time. He came to the United States in 1982. He’s served as the temple’s abbot for the last nine years. Dieu Ngu is the only Buddhist temple in Little Saigon.