The Journey: 2017 to the present

Chapter 1 — The Silent Years (2017–2023)

Le Anh Tu, born 1981 in Ha Tinh province, left a stable career as a land surveyor in the mid-2010s to pursue Buddhist practice. After a brief period at a monastery — where he received the dharma name Minh Tue — he chose the path of independent practice, gradually adopting the thirteen dhutaṅga austerities: one meal a day taken before noon, robes sewn from discarded cloth, sleeping in a sitting position, owning nothing beyond three robes and an alms bowl (famously, the inner pot of a discarded rice cooker).

Between 2017 and 2023 he walked the length of Vietnam three times, barefoot, living entirely on alms. These journeys attracted almost no attention: he announced nothing, carried no phone, and was usually mistaken for a homeless wanderer. The few photographs from this period — taken incidentally by passers-by — later became precious historical evidence that his practice long predated his fame.

Chapter 2 — The 2024 Phenomenon

His fourth walk, begun in early 2024, collided with the algorithmic age. Short videos of a barefoot ascetic who addressed everyone humbly, refused all money, and answered questions with disarming simplicity went viral, drawing hundreds of millions of views. By May 2024, thousands of people were following him on the highway, alongside hundreds of livestreamers filming around the clock — against his repeatedly expressed wishes.

The crowds created serious safety problems; one follower died of heatstroke. On June 3, 2024, the Government Committee for Religious Affairs announced that he had voluntarily stopped walking; the same day, the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha issued a notice clarifying that he was not a monastic under its administration — consistent with his own self-description as "a Vietnamese citizen learning to practice according to the Buddha's teachings." He has never claimed any title, attainment, or institutional affiliation.

Chapter 3 — Retreat in Gia Lai (June–December 2024)

He withdrew to his family's area in Gia Lai province, where he quietly resumed alms rounds. During this period he was issued a citizen ID card and, later, his first passport. In November 2024 he released a signed handwritten note asking the public not to film, photograph, or post images of him online, and confirming that he owns and operates no media channel whatsoever — a document that grounds this website's image policy and its warnings against impersonation.

Chapter 4 — Walking to the Buddha's Land (December 2024 – present)

On December 12, 2024, he and a small group of fellow practitioners crossed the Bo Y international border gate into Laos, beginning a walking pilgrimage toward the four holy sites of Buddhism in India and Nepal — Lumbini, Bodh Gaya, Sarnath, and Kushinagar. The group has since walked across Laos and Thailand, warmly received in countries where the Theravāda alms tradition is part of daily life, and continues through South Asia as of mid-2026.

This site records each verified milestone with a minimum of two independent sources, does not publish the group's real-time location (both unverifiable and unsafe), and takes no position on disputes surrounding the journey's logistics. The itinerary and arrival dates circulating on social media do not come from the group; treat them as unverified.