Hoa Hao Village

Nguyen Huynh Mai was born in 1947 at Long Kien Village, Long Xuyen district, An Giang province, by the side of the Nine-Dragon River (the Mekong).  She lived from the age of three with her family in a house near the Ancestral Temple at Hoa Hao Village (currently in Phu Tan District), where Prophet Huynh Phu So had founded Hoa Hao Buddhism in Tan Chau district, Chau Doc province, in the western part of South Vietnam.

The lifestyle, the people, and the peaceful atmosphere of a religious village --- with the sounds of the teachings and the oracles by the Prophet echoing through auditorium halls and recited by parents day and night --- penetrated the pure soul of the little girl and forged a deep faith in the Hoa Hao religion as well as a strong love for the country, the people, and peace for mankind.

During the time of the First Republic in South Vietnam, when Hoa Hao Buddhism was persecuted, Nguyen Huynh Mai followed her parents to live in exile in Cambodia.  They returned to Vietnam in 1964 when the religion was officially recognized and restored under the Second Republic, but they had to flee again, this time to the United States, when the South fell to Communism in 1975.

With the objective of promoting her vision of the truth, Nguyen Huynh Mai obtained a B.A. in Journalism in 1972 at Van Hanh University in Saigon. She worked for the weekly magazine Tim Hieu and was associated with Chinh Luan newspaper while also working for PACEFOCO Co. in Saigon as Deputy Director of Administration, Human Resources, and Logistics.

After fleeing to the U.S. in 1975, she resettled in Minnesota and later in California.  She continued her education and her career in journalism. In 1980, Ms. Mai graduated with a B.A. in television and radio from Long Beach University. She worked for television station KCET in Los Angeles and acted as advisor for television programs about South East Asian refugees for KOCE-50 in Orange County.

From 1976 until today Ms. Mai has written for various newspapers and magazines such as Việt Nam Hải Ngọai (San Diego), Người Việt Tự Do (Japan), Người Việt, Việt Báo (Orange County), and other Vietnamese publications in many countries with Vietnamese refugee populations. 

From 1981 until July 2004, she served as Editor-in-Chief for the periodical Đuốc Từ Bi, the official voice of the Overseas Hoa Hao Buddhist Church.

As an activist for religious and humanitarian causes, Nguyen Huynh Mai visited many refugee camps in South-East Asia, campaigning for humane treatment of Vietnamese boat people and for freedom of religion in Vietnam.

In 2001, Nguyen Huynh Mai testified at the United States International Religious Freedom Committee’s hearing in Washington DC on the persecution of Hoa Hoa Buddhism by the Vietnamese Communist regime.

Currently, Nguyen Huynh Mai devotes herself to writing books, publishing and updating news about Hoa Hao Buddhism at http://hoahao.org, and maintaining a personal home page at http://nguyenhuynhmai.com where she publishes her books, reports, and interviews about activities of Vietnamese communities in the US as well as articles she wrote for the Chinh Luan newspaper before 1975.

Appendix I:  Highlights of Nguyen Huynh Mai’s books and writings.

Nguyen Huynh Mai is the author of several published books in Vietnamese: The Little Girl of Hoa Hao Village (1995); The Sacred Spirit of the Nation (1997); On the Road (2001); and a series of seven Spiritual Journals including The Teachings of the Prophet, The Nine-Dragon Rivers Awakens, The Prophet is Not Absent, The New Millennium’s Bell, The People’s Way of Heart, The Greatest Wisdom, and Preaching The Perfect Way.

Three of Nguyen Huynh Mai’s books, The Little Girl of Hoa Hao Village, A Spiritual Journal I, and A Spiritual Journal II, have now been translated into English for the interest of young Vietnamese overseas.  They are available online at http://nguyenhuynhmai.com.

Nguyen Huynh Mai has recently written a sequel to “On the Road” entitled “The Journey Continues”.  She has also written a book on her pilgrimage in India, during which she and her party visited Tibetan monasteries (where they met with the Lamas) as well as the Buddhist sacred sites.

In the near future, Nguyen Huynh Mai will publish her personal journal “The Return” with stories about her two visits to her homeland, Vietnam.

Other writing and features available on Nguyen Huynh Mai’s website include: Visiting Miami, Florida; Here’s New York; Visiting Houston and Dallas, Texas; Vietnamese in the Philippines; South Vietnamese Soldiers; Vietnam Women Veterans; A Hero of the Airborne Special Forces; Vietnamese Refugees; Vietnamese in Cambodia; and Pilgrimage for Peace in Rome.