The Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam

    

    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.