Important Vietnamese Buddhist leader and religious academic in the USA. Ordination and advanced religious training in Vietnam.1978: PH.D. （Taiwan）. President， Vietnamese Refugee Relief Association （Taiwan）. 1981: Founder and Head of International Buddhist Monastic Institute （which includes a Publishing House） - an institution mainly devoted to the training of monks and nuns as well as to the publication of sutras and commentaries.1992 -. head of Leadership Council， Vietnamese-American Unified Buddhist Congress， an umbrella organization covering several Vietnamese Buddhist organizations in the USA. In addition to reprinting and distributing over two hundred titles， Master Duc-Niem has also written/translated a dozen Dharma books including A Commentary on Mahayana Pure Land Thought.