A Call for International
Support
The Most Venerable Thich
Quang Do received warm sympathy from public opinion worldwide for his resilient
struggle for religious freedom and patriotic fervor for national sovereignty.
The Paris-based International Federation of Human Rights (IFHR) sent a letter
to the Vietnamese Ambassador in Paris asking it to issue visas for three French
lawyers who were mandated by it to defend the Most Venerable Thich Quang Do
before the Court. The monk was standing on trial this time in Saigon on charges of "provoking
trouble in contrary to the Vietnamese law." The three French lawyers were
Etiienne Grumbach, Guy Aurench, and Carine Jacoby. The Communist authorities
did not confirm the date of issuance of the visas, however.
The Most Venerable Thich
Quang Do was convicted of being a "Vietnamese delinquent, and not a
Buddhist." The International Information Office of Buddhism, on November
4, 1995 informed that he might have been moved to a prison in North Vietnam at
an unknown date. The dignitary was born in North Vietnam on November 27,
1928. He was a well-known scholar and
one of the advocates of religious freedom, democracy, and human rights for
Vietnam . Because of his firm stance on this issue, he has been targeted with
enmity over the years.
The Legitimacy of the
Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam
The two letters written on
the occasion of Buddhist fete of Phat Dan
(Buddha Anniversary), one by the
Most Venerable Thich Quang Do, and the other by the exiled Patriarch Thich
Huyen Quang, put into question the the unlawful ban on the legal status of the
Unified Buddhist of Vietnam and renewed the call for the Vietnamese Buddhists
participation in the campaign for religious freedom and democracy. The Unified
Buddhist Church of Vietnam, in particular, declared the Church legitimacy in
its Appeal for Democracy in Vietnam on the occasion of the 4880th Anniversary
of the Founding Fathers, the Hung Kings and the Dawn of the Third Millennium as
follows:
“Buddhism came into the
world to deliver all creatures from suffering. The emergence of Buddhism 2,544
years ago represented a brilliant advancement in the thinking and practices of
all times, both in the Indian society and the world at large. It stressed the
Enlightened Path towards liberation for mankind, liberation from ignorance,
liberation from fear, and alteration for
the better of idolatry, dogmatism, and fanatical ideology, emancipation
from tyranny and the injustices of all
social systems. During his lifetime, Buddha’s teachings defeated all
contemporary doctrinal schools and trends of nihilism, materialism, skepticism,
and determinism, placing the human person at the center of society and the
universe, endowed with the potentiality to free himself and emancipate his
fellows. Buddhism [as a religious doctrine] has never preached alienation of
society. On the contrary, a Buddhist always seeks to respect and protect the
human person, actively opposes all forms of social constraint that impede them
from attaining Enlightenment. Buddhism liberates man from injustice and inequality that trample on
the human person’s rights to life, that hinder spiritual progress, prevent the
Buddhists from fulfilling Boddhisattva’s vow to salvage humankind and translate
into reality the tenets of compassion, tolerance, wisdom --the guiding
principles of salvation , help Vietnamese Buddhism develop the dynamic tradition
of Buddhist enlightenment to defend the Vietnamese people and nation.
The history of Vietnamese
Buddhism, which is inextricably interrelated with the Vietnamese history
throughout two thousand years, repeatedly demonstrates that the mutually-reinforcing
principles of Protecting the People, Protecting the Nation, and Protecting the
Dharma (Buddhist Faith), thereby constituting the lodestar to guide the
Vietnamese Buddhists’ actions and ways of life. One of the earliest Vietnamese
Buddhist sultras, Luc Do Tap Kinh (Six Ways of Liberation) translated by Monk
Khong Tang Hoi in the second century, A. D. reflects this spirit of engagement.
When the Boddhisattva (Enlightened Man) hears his people lamenting, he brushes
away tears and throws himself into the combat against tyranny to save them from
suffering. To authoritarian rulers who oppress and persecute people, the Sultra
declares: ‘Wild wolves cannot be tammed; therefore,, tyrants cannot be
kings.’ In his book “Ly Hoac Luan” (Essay on Dissipating Doubt) written in the
second century A. D. in Giao Chau,
formerly Vietnam, the Scholar Mouzi spoke highly of Vietnamese Buddhists
whilst criticizing the alienating effects of cultural values and ethics
imported from China (which sought to assimilate Vietnamese culture into a
Chinese subculture, as part of Chinese expansionist policies.
The essence of Buddhism is
that it can be used at the domestic level to develop and respect for one’s
parents, to educate and shape the people’s moral life at the national level,
and to develop self-control at the individual level. This perception inspired
countless resistance movements against foreign aggressors and supporters of
ideological domination that were registered in our history. It was the driving
force of the struggle for self-determination and the survival of Vietnamese
cultural identity, freedom, and welfare, Trieu Thi Trinh and her brother,
[Trieu Quoc Dat] (248 A.D.) , the founder of the independent State of Van Xuan under [King] Ly Nam De (544 A. D.),
and others were the examples. Those movements paved the way for the
independence of the country and happiness of the people. The annals of history
relate the struggles of the two Trung Sisters (40 A.D.), (?) the nine uprisings
of Khu Lien, Chu Dat, Luong Long, Khong Chi and Tru Thien Tuong Quan
(throughout the second century, the development of a flourishing Vietnam under
the Dinh, Le, Ly, Tran, and the Le Posterior dynasties.)
Yet, today, while all the
countries in the world are increasingly developing prosperous, free, and
democratic societies, our country economy remains paralyzed in despair and
poverty, and the people are trampled underfoot and oppressed.
In his ‘Message for the
Lunar New Year 2001, the Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang, the UBCV’s Patriarch
and Head of the Sangha summed up the situation in one sentence: ‘We have
endured 35 years of war [under the present regime], [we are] deprived of our
human rights and religious freedom!’ A total of sixty miserable, dark years
that have led us to this impasse without possible means of escape.
This tragic situation
persists because it is supported by three factors:
1. A pretentious,
self-absorbed government that rejects all alternative opinions, resulting in a
one-Party, authoritarian regime;
2. A government that excludes
the people from their legitimate demands for human rights and civil liberties,
resulting in a ruthless, repressive dictatorship; and
3. A government that imports
everything from abroad, from ideology to the organizational structures of the
State apparatus, and imposes its imperatives unilaterally on the people.
All of these factors
contribute to creating a total collapse of the Vietnamese society and
civilization and immerse our people into
a course of cultural alienation and slavery, entailing the corruption of moral
values and the nation’s decline.
The Unified Buddhist Church
of Vietnam has inherited this tradition of engagement, to flourish the
Vietnamese Buddhism, in theory and in practice, owing to the
millennium-old heritage of building and protecting the nation. Today, the UBCV
cannot stand idle and watch with indifference
as our society plunges into a profound
crisis and our people sink into poverty. The people are deprived of
their fundamental freedoms and human rights. We, both UBCV monks and nuns and
the laity, therefore, solemnly call upon
the Vietnamese from all walks of life, regardless of their political opinions or religious tenets,
both UBCV monks, nuns and the laity to mobilize our energy and rally ourselves
in a unique movement to find solutions
to the grave problems facing our country today.
The Unified Buddhist Church
of Vietnam considers that:
1. To counter the current
trend of one-Party leadership, and replace it with a popular alliance composed
of different religious and political tendencies to ably lay the foundation of a
democratic and pluralist government. Specifically, abolish Article 4 of the
[1992] Constitution [on the supremacy of the Communist Party and Marxist-Leninist
doctrine]. The Vietnamese culture and thoughts imbued with genuine traditions
of tolerance dating back to the times of our Founding Fathers, the Hung Kings,
should be retrieved as the supreme spiritual and moral values in society, thus
stimulating the driving force of this social-based popular alliance;
2- To counter the rigid
control of the totalitarian regime with all UN human rights treaties and
international covenants of political and civil rights, challenging the
Party-State to fully implement these rights [by which it has pledged to abide].
In concrete terms, the freedom to form
association must not be subjected to approval by the Fatherland Front, which is
a political tool of the Vietnamese Communist Party, the freedom of expression
must not be subordinated to Marxist-Leninist doctrines and thought, the freedom
of the Press must necessarily include the right to publish private newspapers
independent of the Vietnamese Communist Party control, the freedom to form free
trade unions that are free to operate independently outside the Vietnamese
Communist Party organic structures, and the worker’s rights must be fully
guaranteed. The respect for these fundamental freedoms will safeguard the
rights to free expression of democratic aspirations of the people and the
exercise of their right to life;
3- To counter the blind
imposition of an alien imported ideology in all aspects of the society and
nation thereby encouraging the rebirth of a tradition-based Vietnamese
civilization. This civilization will uphold the national cultural heritage
whilst opening up to a cross-cultural communication with the capacity to absorb
the quintessence of the cultural currents from all over the world to enrich our
own culture; and
In the light of the three
observations with counteractive remedies described above, the Unified Buddhist
Church of Vietnam calls upon every Vietnamese
to join in its efforts to struggle for the national cause and freedoms
of the people and pledges its full support for all individuals or organizations
that pledge to realize the eight-point program for national salvation
underlined below:
1. Build a tolerant,
peaceful, pluralist, and egalitarian
society, the one that upholds internal and external warfare and that is
governed by democratic institutions of a multiparty system;
2. Dismantle all
discriminatory antidemocratic mechanisms of control, notably the threefold
mechanism of the ‘ly lich’ (curriculum vitae), ‘ho khau’ (compulsory residence
permit), and the network of ‘cong an khu vuc’ (local security police). Organize
free and fair general elections under the United Nations supervision to elect a
National Assembly that is representative of the people: guarantee universal
suffrage and the right to run for office of all independent candidates and
political formations outside the Vietnamese Communist Party. Separate the
powers of the executive, legislative, and judiciary organs and build a society
grounded on the rule of law, based on the principles enshrined in the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights;
3. Definitively, close
down all reeducation camps. Release prisoners and prisoners of
conscience detained in Northern Vietnam after the 1954 Geneva Agreement
and in Southern
Vietnam since 1975, and encourage all former prisoners with specialized skills
and knowledge to participate in the process of national reconstruction. At the
same time, encourage all professionals, intellectuals, scholars, business leaders,
individuals and organizations who left Vietnam as ‘boat people’ after 1975 and
live in exile overseas to return home and contribute to rebuild the home land
with their knowledge in various areas of technology and expertise they have
acquired in the advanced countries. Repeal all arbitrary decrees and laws and
restrictions on religious freedom and prohibition of all forms and practices
of the ‘administrative detention’
penalty;
4. Guarantee the right to
private property, free enterprise, and the right to establish free trade
unions. Accelerate the process of agrarian reform to industrialize agriculture,
modernize the rural economy, and improve the living standards of the peasants
and farmers, who form the potential labor force of our nation. Abandon the
policy of ‘market-based but socialist-orientated economy.’ This is manifest in
the State’s economy, which is modeled on
the outdated socialist economic system that failed after a 74-year experiment
in the Soviet Union, and which only provokes the enmity of its people and led
ultimately to its demise in the early 1990’s, instead of implementing
development and prosperity. Develop the free market sector in accordance with
the Vietnamese social norms, stimulate the development of a knowledge-led economy
and protection of the environment. Embrace the trend of comprehensive
globalization as a means of enhancing sustainable development and promoting
global peace and security while
combating the serious dangers posed by the current economic
globalization which promotes trade without the respect for human rights and the rights of the worker. Concentrate all efforts on
narrowing the widening gulf between the rich and the poor, which is alienating
our people from our traditional solidarity and splitting the Vietnamese society
apart;
5. Protect our territorial
suzerainty, make a clear separation between politics and the military-- the
army. Security and secret services must not be used as instruments of any
political party. Reduce the manpower of
the armed forces to the one of the normal peacetime strength. Reduce the
military budget and transfer the excess expenditure to education and health. In
the field of education, urgently train a contingent of prospective specialists of talent and
expertise capable of restoring the nation’s prosperity, energize the emergence
of a young transitional generation --the
young people who can forge a transitional path [towards democracy], assuage the
aspirations of the old revolutionary generation of war and the anachronistic
class-struggle concepts which divide and paralyze the people on the one hand, and incite the
modern preoccupation with consumerism, money-worship, and the daily pressure of
making ends meet, on the other. The access to health services must be improved.
Priority should be given to solving the serious problem of child malnutrition
and improving health infrastructures in the rural areas;
6. Abolish all degrading
forms of imported culture and ideologies that prevent Vietnamese spiritual and
moral values from flourishing. Promote the development of a vibrant,
traditional Vietnamese culture based on
the spirit of openness, creativity, and the capacity to absorb the richness and diversity of other cultures from
all over the world. Uphold the fundamental moral values of Humanism, Wisdom,
and encourage the practices of moral and spiritual conduct as did our
ancestors. Guarantee social justice, the equal status and full participation of
women in all areas of occupation and social life, nondiscrimination between the
religions, respect the autonomy and cultural differences of the ethnic
minorities; protect the interests of the foreigners living and investing in
Vietnam through processes of law, and on the basis of mutual respect ad
equality, and guarantee the rights and dignity of the Vietnamese living abroad;
7. Respect the territorial
sovereignty of the neighboring nations. Promote a policy of friendship through
dialogue and cooperation on an equal footing with the neighboring countries in
all economic, cultural, religious, and social domains. Consolidate efforts to
promote peace, security, and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region. Join with
neighboring countries in a common effort to foster the values of Asian
humanism. By preserving mankind’s central standing place within our society, we
can prevent the free market from becoming a slave market where human beings are
reduced to simple articles of commodities of trade; and
8. As regards the foreign
policy, uphold the Vietnamese tradition of friendly and peaceful relations and
the axiom of diplomatic ‘tam cong’ (winning the hearts) in the relationship
with all countries around the world.
Promote dialogue, cooperation, and mutual respect in order to bring
mutual interests to one and all without sacrificing national identity and
sovereignty. Apply this policy as basis
to accelerate economic growth and expand industrialization on a parallel and social progress to catch up and keep pace
with the civilized, progressive, and prosperous democratic nations of the world
at the dawn of the 21st century.
In order to create favorable
conditions to put into practice the above three observations, three
counteractive remedies, and the 8-point political program to save our nation,
the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam calls upon the peoples all over the
world who cherish justice and democracy and all concerned governments to
support the program for democracy and help to bring it into life.
On behalf of the Bicameral
Institute [Institute of the Sangha and Institute of the Propagation of the
Dharma] of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam.
Thanh Minh Zen Monastery, February 21, 1991
(Signature and Seal)
Sramana THICH QUANG DO
Translated and Diffused by
Ban Huong Dan Gia Dinh Phat Tu
Mien Quang Duc , Southwestern California
