In Vietnam, based on documents researched by the author, Chinese character variants appeared and were used in writing from the 12th century at the latest, during the independent and self-reliant period in Vietnamese history, when Chinese characters were particularly prevalent among Vietnamese people. This paper analyses 14 variants of the character ‘佛’ (Vietnamese: Phật; Chinese: Fó; i.e. Buddha) and some other characters (such as ‘之’ Vn. Chi/Ch. Zhi, ‘聽’ Vn. Thính/Ch. Ting, ‘聖’ Vn. Thánh/Ch. Sheng), in comparison with variants in reference books of China, aiming at demonstrating the diversity of Chinese character variants generally and those of the character ‘Buddha’ specifically in Vietnam.
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