Most Venerable Thích Minh Hiền, head of the judge, shares about the contest at the press conference. — VNS Photo Minh Thu

HÀ NỘI — A photo contest that has kicked off in Hà Nội, is seeking beautiful and artistic angles of Buddhism through the lens of domestic and foreign photographers.

The 'Buddhism in Life' contest is organised by the Việt Nam Buddhist Sangha and Ngọa Vân Hồ Thiên Company to find beautiful images of Buddhist architecture, rituals, Trúc Lâm Yên Tử Zen monastery and Buddhism activities.

The contest aims to help build a photo stock to introduce Vietnamese Buddhism to the world and provide references for Buddhism researchers.

Entries should be sent to the organising board via website thianhphatgiao2020.com before November 20.

The contest commemorates 712 years Buddha King Trần Nhân Tông entered Nirvana (1308-2020) and honours him as the founder of Trúc Lâm Yên Tử Zen monastery.

This means photos taken at Ngọa Vân Hồ Thiên relics on Yên Tử Mountain, the northern province of Quảng Ninh, are particularly encouraged. Apart from the main prizes, there are some prizes for photos depicting these relics.

Việt Nam News photojournalist Nguyễn Việt Thanh, member of the jury board, estimated the contest will draw about 4,000 photos to compete. So far, more than 2,000 photos have been sent to the contest by 450 participants.

“Buddhism is a wide theme and it’s easy to have artistic pictures because colours and activities in Buddhism themselves are beautiful,” he said.

“I myself feel excited to join the judges because the entries will bear colours of spiritual life and belief.”

A photo taken by Việt Văn, a photojournalist from Lao Động newspaper, member of the jury board. — VNS Photo Việt Văn

Most Venerable Thích Minh Hiền, a member of the central committee of the Việt Nam Buddhist Sangha, who also loves photography, expressed concerns that the quality will not be high.

“It’s good to see many photos sent to the contest, however, many of them just describe the figures and do not reflect the souls of those figures, I prefer to see soulful photos which contain zen colours,” he said.

The exhibition of 150 excellent photos will take place on December 10-20 at Ngọa Vân Pagoda and on December 25-31 at the Temple of Literature, Hà Nội. — VNS