The Hue Incident
The State reform of Buddhism
failed to unify various Buddhist sects into a sigle organization under the
supervision of the Communist Party and administration. It met with resilient
resistance notably ftom the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam in the old Capital Hue,
where the Buddhist clergy and faithful determinedly defended their religious
faith. They had played the major role in the overthrow the administration of
President Ngo Dinh Diem in the “coup d’etat” of November
11, 1963 . The Communist administration seemed to ignore the fact and sought to
subdue the Unified Buddhist Church right at its cradle. Under
the pretext that the Unified Buddhist Church was an outlawed
organization, and thus the conduct of affairs of its leadership and clergy were
regarded illegal, the Communist
administration decidedly flattened out all
their assemblies, services, and activities.
The clergy and faithful
could no longer bear the misfortune that fefell on them. From Hue , a nonviolent resistance to
repression sparked to life. The opportune moment happened when Patriarch Thich Don Hau, the acting president of the Unified Buddhist Church , passed away at Linh Mu Pagoda, Hue , on April 23, 1992 . A message from Saigon to a Buddhist monk living
in Southern
California on April 30, 1992 disclosed that the Buddhist
opposition in Hue against the Communist
authorities’ repression was taking shape. Patriarch Thich Don Hau had
instructed in his will his family members and disciples to perform his funeral
rites and rituals in commemorative silence and in the absence of condolences
and citations. Contradicting his will, the Communist administration, alleging
as a pretext that Patriarch Thich Don Hau had been a member of the Communist
Fatherland Front’s leadership, insisted that it be the organizer for the
funeral. The decision was imposed on the dignitary’s family members and
disciples, and thus met with strong opposition. Regardless of discontent and
protest from the defunct’ s family members and disciples, it unilaterally
instituted an organizing committee for the funeral with Nguyen Huu Tho, the
vice-president of the Vietnam National Assembly, as its head.
Executing the will of Patriarch Thich Don Hau, his family members and disciples refused to join in the
committee. Four Buddhist monks went on a
hunger strike. The Venerable Thich Tri Tuu, who was the superior monk at Linh
Mu Pagoda, declared that he would immolate himself by fire to protest against
the interference of the State in the internal affairs of the Unified Buddhist Church .
On October 3, 1991 , the Buddhists assembled at Linh Mu Pagoda to
protest against the dissolution of the Unified Buddhist Church of the State. Four overseas Buddhist associations demanded
in a joint declaration that the Communist government in Vietnam to reestablish the Buddhist
Churches’ legal status, restore their ecclesiastic personnel, and return to
them all their properties. They also pledged to take steps towards
strengthening the Buddhist organizations and consolidating union among the
Buddhists overseas. They would act in response to Patriarch Thich Don Hau' s
religious order and vow to struggle for the rights to religious freedom in their home country.
Facing strong opposition
from the Church at home and overseas, the administration yielded to the its
demands by withdrawing its unilateral decision to organize the funeral ceremony
for the late Patriarch Thich Don Hau. In the meantime, to divert the motivation
of the protesters, Nguyen Kim Dinh, an official at the Department of Religious
Affairs of the province of Thua Thien - Hue , tried to blind public
opinion, divulging speculations about the situation. There would a hunger
strike at Linh Mu Pagoda. Confusion would arise and the funeral ceremony for Patriarch Don Hau would be entangled with difficulties.
The funeral procession for
the late Patriarch Thich Don Hau proceeded as planned and in order and at peace.
Nguyen Huu Tho, who represented the administration, was allowed to be present
at the funeral ceremony for 3 instead of 15 minutes and to read a
“commemorative speech” without
mentioning the secular titles or positions of the departed instead of a “speech of condolences.” The concession
on the part of the administration was only a tactic of a hidden scheme. The
administration took “one step backwards to move two steps forward.” To begin
with, on April 4, 1993 , the police broke into Linh
Mu Pagoda. Telephone lines in the pagoda were cut off. The security forces
squelched the assembly of lay Buddhists. At he same time, the police stormed
and searched through the legendary Tu
Dam Pagoda.
Repression Intensified
The movement of protest spread as far as the high plateau of
Central Vietnam. Buddhist Monk Thich Tri Luc, living in Hoa Nghiem Pagoda was arrested for ungrounded
reason while he was riding in a vehicle on Bach Thai Buoi Street , First Precinct, Saigon , on October 2. 1992. The
monk is one of the disciples of the Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang. On the day of his arrest, he had with him the
letters of protest against the State. He was then charged with acting with
intent to oppose the “Revolution.” He was put under house arrest in early
1993.
Repression intensified. The
administration prohibited all religious services and activities at pagodas. Buddhist
dignitaries, monks, and 3,000 followers attending the first commemorative
anniversary of Patriarch Thich Don Hau at Linh Mu Pagoda protested
against acts of oppression of religious practices. Police checkpoints were
posited at crossroads in Hue . Fear pervaded the old
Capital. Foreign visitors were forbidden to come near pagodas. Three convoys
busing Buddhists from the provinces in the South to Hue were blocked on Hai Van
Pass. The Venerable Thich Hai Tang was stopped on his way to Hue at Binh Son District, Binh Dinh Province . The monk was interrogated,
and all his documents were confiscated. He insisted that they be given back;
otherwise, he would go on a hunger strike. Buddhist dignitaries in the
provinces adjacent to Thua Thien - Hue were not allowed to come to
Hue to attend the ceremony. The Most Venerable Thich
Huyen Quang was restricted to house arrest.
The following days, the
security forces escalated the repression. On April 12,
1993 ,
the Sangha and Buddhist followers from the provinces in Central Vietnam , both north and south of Hue , were barred from entering
the old Capital to attend the commemorative anniversary for Patriarch
Thich Don Hau. The situation in Hue was reportedly edgy. On May 21, 1993 , the Communist authorities in Hue announced that they had
found a burnt body in the backyard of Linh Mu Pagoda. The city chief of Hue Le
Van Anh declared that the authorities would conduct an investigation to probe
the veiled secret relating to the death of the victim. Sources close to the
Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, by contrast, confirmed that the dead body
was the one of a male Buddhist. The man made himself a torch of faith to
protest against the authorities' repression against his Church. He was Nguyen
Van Dung, a native of Quang Ngan Commune, Quang Dien District, Thua Thien - Hue Province . In the letter to his family before he
sacrificed himself for his faith, Nguyen specified the reason for his decision: “ I cannot live peacefully and suffer
indignation in silence under such foreign [Communist] domination as most of our
fellow countrymen. The situation in which our Church an venerable masters have
suffered is so miserable, especially since our Most Venerable Thich Don
Hau passed away at Linh Mu Pagoda. I
have to do something to prove that I am not a buffalo or an insect.”
The conflict between the
administration and Buddhism became increasingly edgy. On May 24, 1993 , the Buddhists in Hue , again, assembled in the
street to protest against the local authorities following the arrest of Monk
Thich Tri Tuu, the superior monk at Linh Mu Pagoda. To retaliate, the
administration resolutely negated any possible opposition, tightening control
on the Buddhists’ activities and restricting public circulation along the
entrances to the pagoda. Nevertheless, approximately 40,000 Buddhists in Thua
Thien - Hue Province and the adjacent provinces
reached Hue although with difficulty. They resisted police
offense when the security forces tried to disband 20 Buddhist monks and nuns
who were carrying on a hunger strike. The Buddhists joined their spiritual
leaders, staging a sit-in demonstration on Le Loi Street to demand the release of
Monk Thich Tri Tuu and respect for religious practices. The demonstration
blocked the street traffic for three hours. Clashes between the police and the
demonstrators broke out when the security forces disbanded with violence the
demonstration. Three policemen were wounded. About twenty demonstrators were
beaten up. A number of them were arrested.
The authorities later
declared that when the local police escorted Monk Thich Tri Tuu in a car back
to Linh Mu Pagoda, a number of monks and demonstrators forced the driver and
several other men in the vehicle to get off, turned it upside down, and set
fire on it. Sources close to the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, on the
contrary, affirmed that this vile scheme was instigated by the Communist
administration itself. It schemed with
an intent to put the blame on the monks and the Buddhists for having caused
social disturbance. The reconciliation came to the death end. The Buddhist
laity became chagrined and angry over the authorities' brutal repression: In
their "cascade" operations in May 1993, the city
security police overwhelmed the Buddhist demonstrators and flatly repressed
them. They killed 14 lay Buddhists and arrested hundreds of them. Among the
arrested were Monks Thich Hai Tang and Thich Hai Thinh.
Do Thuong Ngai, the director
of SRVN Bureau for Business Licenses and Taxes, during his lunch with American businessmen
at Los Angeles Hilton & Tower on September
15, 1993 admitted that the local police in Hue had shot down 14 people in
the Hue incident
Trials
Many monks in Hue were arrested, tried, and
imprisoned. Four days prior to the trial, on November
11, 1993 , a Western diplomat in Hanoi asked the Communist
authorities’ permission for an observer to attend the trial. The request was
denied, however. Ton Nu Thi Khuong Ninh of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said
that the trial would be postponed until an unknown date. Vu Khoan, Foreign
Ministry vice-minister, said in a press conference in Paris, on November 10,
1993, that there was no violation of human rights whatsoever in Vietnam, that
there was no trial of any monk, and that the Most Venerable Huyen Quang was not
under confinement.
The trial, in reality took
place on November 15, 1993 . Although the defendants
stood trial in a civil court, the court proceedings were conducted in a
military headquarters. Three-fourths of the jury were the state cadres,
plain-clothed security policemen, and retired Communist party members. The
defendants were not allowed to speak. When they were allowed to do so, the
cadres that merged with the audience at the court shouted and screamed to
intimidate the defendants. The defendants had no rights to choose their defense
lawyers, and had to defend themselves.
Five lay Buddhists, Nguyen Van Minh, Nguyen Hoang, Nguyen Khuong Hai
Tri, Tran Xuan Quyen, and Nguyen Van Vinh were sentenced from 2 months to 2
years in prison. The Venerable Thich Tri Tuu and the Venerable Thich Hai Tang
were given each a 3- year- in- prison sentence.
By sentencing the four monks with prison terms, the State certainly
showed its indifference to the demands of the Unified Buddhist Church . The negative attitude of the State toward the Church gave the initial
impetus the led to the opposition of the Buddhists subsequent to the death of Patriarch Thich Don Hau.
Family members of the monks
Thich Tri Tuu, Thich Hai Tang, Thich Hai Thinh, Thich Hai Chanh, and the
representatives of the Sangha of Linh Mu Pagoda sent petitions to 11 central
government agencies, denouncing the arbitrary decisions and capricious
judgments by the Hue People's Court. The petitions came to the deaf ears,
nevertheless.
Repression in the Cehter
In the months that followed
the Hue incident, the Communist administration launched
large-scale search-and-destroy operations to sweep out the opposition of the Unified Buddhist Church . One of its schemes was to
lend the state-sponsored monks a helping hand to mete out the Unified Buddhist Church . To begin with, it stroke
hard at the Church’s leadership of the old Capital. It charged the Unified Buddhist Church organizations in Hue with crimes such as having
actuated sabotage aiming to divide the Buddhist Churches of Vietnam . In his circular to the
Party and the administration of Thua hien - Hue Province , Monk Thich Thien Hao, the
president of the State-sponsored Vietnam Buddhist Church , specifically requested the
Communist administration to execute appropriate measures against certain
Buddhist monks of the Unified Buddhist Church and their associates. Monk
Thich Thien Hao ' s request gave a pretext for the security police’s
repression to flatten out with reasons
the opposition of the Vietnam Unified Buddhist Church . Taking the opportunity,
the administration pushed forward its furtive plan to eliminate the Church’s
prestigious monks, first, by isolating them from the faithful, and then some
administrative measures to disband the Church’s clergy.
By the decision 1180
TB/UBND, Pham Ba Dien, Chairman of the Thua Thien - Hue People's Council,
dissolved the Federation of Sangha and Lay Buddhists in Hue . The Venerable Thich Thien
Hanh, the leader of the federation, was ordered to dissolve his organization
and end forthwith its activities. The order aroused discontent among the
Shanga. In an announcement to the public, the Venerable Thich Hanh Dao, in the
name of the federation, declared that "...
[the order by the administration] is a rude action that aims at destroying the
Sangha whose religious role and function have been preserved for 2537 years.
Such an act of rudeness proves that the administration has interfered with the
internal affairs of the Church. It has repressed Buddhism." The monk also
stressed that “Pham Ba Dien, in fact, twisted his words to defame the Sangha.
Like the French colonialists, the Communists showed disrespect towards
Buddhism. When Vietnam was under French
domination, the colonialist administration promulgated Decree 10 forbidding
Buddhism to use the term “Church.” Under
the current Communist law, the Church is recognized as an association, and the Sangha is outlawed, although it is the
body and soul of Buddhism and an institution for the propagation for the
Buddhist faith throughout thousands of years."
Quang Tri
The State also executed
repressive measures against the Unified Buddhist Church ’s clergy at all levels in
other provinces in Central Vietnam . On January 18, 1994 , the Venerable Hai Tang,
the monk in residence at Long An Pagoda, Quang Tri Province sent a petition to the
local authorities. In it, he complained that he had constantly been living in
shaken insecurity. He had continually been summoned to "work with" the police. He had been followed day and
night, and his pagoda had been under strict control. At one time, his father
visited him and spent overnight at the pagoda. Nevertheless, he was summoned to
the police department and interrogated. He was blamed for not having reported his
father's visit to the police. He asked
the administration for intervention in such an incident. His petition came to the deaf ears.
On May 20, 1993, the
Venerable Thich Hai Tang and Monk Thich Giac Ly were arrested in Da Nang when
they were about to wire the Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang' s two letters.
one destined to send to Australia 's Prime Minister Paul
Keating and, the other to Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet, who was at that time on a
visit to Australia . Da Nang post officials held the
letters at the post office and delayed their service. The monks nevertheless
reported the matter to the police. The letter was considered as a proof of
antigovernment material and was confiscated. The monks were then released, but
Monk Thich Hai Tang decided to stay. He protested against the police
authorities' unlawful confiscation of his personal property. He insisted that
the letter be given back to him.
On June
5, 1993 , the Venerable Thich Hai Tang
was arrested, sentenced, and imprisoned. He was given 4 years in prison. He was
then detained in Ba Sao reeducation camp, Nam Ha Province, North Vietnam. In
its statements to the press on March 31 and April 12,
1996 ,
the International Buddhist Bureau of
Information in Paris particularly stressed the
fact that the Communist administration had inflicted false charge and
ill-treatment on Monk Thich Hai Tang. While in prison, the monk suffered
maltreatment. In August 1995, he was transferred to and interned in camp P.14 near Hanoi . The monk was isolated in a
hermetically sealed cell when enduring acute stomach pain. Moreover, by means
of constant interrogation, the security police
intimidated the monk, forcing him to withdraw his support for the
Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam. The monk was later transferred from Ba Sao
Camp, Ha Nam Ninh Province to B4 Camp in Hanoi and was, again, placed
under solitary confinement. Forced labor
was used as a means of repression He and the Hoa Hao Buddhist dignitary Tran
Huu Duyen, and sick Catholic priests were treated without medical care.
Quang Nam
Opposition to the Communist
administration spread to other provinces in Central Vietnam . In a concerted effort, the
Buddhist laity initiated campaigns of protest and demonstration. In Quang Nam
Province, in June 1893, the police stormed Giac Vien Pagoda, Hoi An Township
and quenched an assembly of hundreds of Buddhist who ere in attendance for a commemorative ceremony for Pham Cam Binh,
who had made himself a torch for religious freedom.
Quang Ngai
On April
30, 1993 , a Buddhist nun immolated themselves by fire as acts of protest
against the Communist rule's repressive measures against Buddhism. The Buddhist
nun, whose name was not disclosed, died at a pagoda near Quang Ngai Township . The local police confiscated
the letters left by the deceased, and her dead body was taken away to an
unknown place.
Repression in the South
The
Venerable Thich Khong Tanh
The movement of protest in
the Center spread southward and reached the capital city of the South, Ho Chi Minh City , formerly Saigon . The Monk Thich Khong Tanh
(Phan Tan Dat), the Secretary-general of the Central Finance Committee of the Vietnam Unified Buddhist Church and the representative of
the Church at Thu Duc District, Ho Chi Minh City met with harsh difficulty.
For the past 18 years following the Communist takeover of South Vietnam , he had struggled for the rights to freedom of
religion and civil rights by peaceful means. On July
20, 1992 , he sent a letter of protest to the Communist administration demanding
practical realization of freedom, democracy, and human rights for Vietnam . He was an active supporter
of the Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang' s nine-point claim.
On August
20, 1992 , he sent a petition to Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet and the Vietnamese
Communist Party leadership, protesting against the repressive measures against
the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam. by the local Communist administration
in Saigon . The petition specified
such cases of oppression as the summons on ungrounded reasons to the police
headquarters of the monk himself and other Buddhist monks and followers. Among
them were Monks Thich Long Tri, Thich Tri Giac, Thich Minh Tam, Thich Quang
Hue, Thich Duc Thang, Thich Giac Nguyen, Thich Tri Tuu, Thich Hai Tang, Thich
Toan Chau, Thich Tri Tuc, and prominent lay Buddhists Nhat Thuong and Dong
Ngoc. They were subject to various police interrogations on unfounded reasons.
The petition also specified
that the local police in Thu Duc had closed schools and markets on the Buddhist
Annual Ceremony Day of July 15 of the Lunar Calendar (August 13, 1992) and that
they maneuvered state-affiliated Church organizations to abort religious
ceremonies on this occasion at pagodas. It also cited cases of harassment
toward and threats against the Buddhist monks and followers who had attended
the funeral ceremony for the Most Venerable Thich Don Hau. It denounced the
oppressive policies the Communist administration that had continuously executed
plans to annihilate the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam in the last 17
years. The Church endured sufferings. High dignitaries of the Buddhist clergy
were arrested and imprisoned; some died in dark cells, and others were to join
the State-created Vietnam Buddhist Church out of fear; still, others
sought to escape the country and lived in exile.
The petition warned the
Communist rule of the disastrous consequences resulting from the hostile policy
it had exercised against the religion and the class struggle it had waged amid
the various Vietnamese social strata. Those political schemes were only
detrimental to the future of the country and entailed calamity to the people.
The petition demanded the Vietnamese Communist rule to end its oppressive and repressive measures against
the Vietnam Unified Buddhist Church, its monks and followers, to release
forthwith the Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang and the Most Venerable Thich
Quang Do, to return to the Church all its cultural institutions and charitable
establishments, to respect human rights, and to establish the Church’s religious legal status, which act is just, humane,
free, and truly democratic."
On October 2, 1992 , the Ho Chi Minh security police arrested the
Venerable Thich Khong Tanh on charge of
"propagating anti-socialist propaganda and undermining the policy
of national union of the State.” The monk was imprisoned without a trial for a
year and was released in October 1993. On October 2,
1992 ,
he was, again, arrested for “leaving his pagoda without a permit.” The arrest
took place after he circulated a text in which he protested against the
authorities’ suppression against the Vietnam Unified Buddhist Church and demanded the release
from prison of the Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang and the Most Venerable
Thich Quang Do. He was brought to stand trial and charged with the crime of
“diffusion anti socialist propaganda and a saboteur of the policy of national
union.” He was released in October 1993.
On February
18, 1994 , the Venerable Thich Khong Tanh was re-arrested on the ground of
"movement outside the pagoda without permission." He was also accused
of carrying materials whose contents were "detrimental to the revolution
and the State." The report by the Ho Chi Minh City security police said
that they found at Lien Tri Pagoda antigovernment materials that were, in
reality, the records and letters of the Unified Buddhist Church’s internal affairs. On November
5, 1994 , he was re-arrested in Ho Chi Minh City for having participated in
a flood relief delegation to the Mekong delta. He was tried in a People's court and
sentenced to 5 years in prison. He appealed to a higher court. On October
26, 1995 , the People's Court of Ho Chi Minh City rejected his appeal, however.