Аннотация:Vietnam‟s long history is marked by cultural revivals as well as political struggles and
intense efforts at national emancipation. The thousand-year-long distinct civilizational
history has been analysed by many scholars in the past; in a more recent, post-colonial
time, from Dao Duy Anh to Tran Quoc Vuong, from Tran Van Giau to Tran Ngoc Them,
intellectuals influenced by Marxism have been looking for a Vietnamese cultural
characteristic with a clear foundation in the socio-economical context of Vietnam, the
Vietnamese village culture or Vietnamese rice agriculture. These views are examined
against the background of the intellectual legacy of Max Weber, Christopher Dawson and
Paul Tillich who see religion as the core of culture in its widest meaning, as a life-form of
human existence (Dasein). By studying relations between great cultures and their main
religions, this paper aims to emphasize that it is impossible to find Vietnamese cultural
characteristic only in the physical and tangible culture. It is necessary to look for it in the
„Vietnamese spirit‟, that is, in non-material cultural phenomena, including the Vietnamese
traditional religions (Confucianism, Buddhism and native religions) and possibly even in
new forms of religious expressions. A careful study conducted with such holistic outlook
will lead to the conclusion that Vietnam belongs not only to the East Asian Confucian
cultural region but also to the Southeast Asian native civilization.