The Survival of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam

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The conflict between the State and the Unified Buddhist Church grew increasingly tense. The State-affiliated Buddhist Church entered the fight. The State-instituted Executive Council of Buddhism in a session of work attributed to the activities of the dissident Church as dangerous.  Many monks of the outlawed Church were accused of “having sabotaged the solidarity among the Buddhists as well as national union.” (AFP, Feb. 8, 1995). The remark was reportedly pronounced by the Venerable Kim Cuong Tu, Vice-president of the Council and aimed at the leaders of the Vietnam Unified Buddhist Church as well as the members of the State-created Church who supported the demands for independence from the State. The State, on its part, showed vigilance and determination.

The persecution of the Unified Buddhist Church was in full swing. On November 22, 1996, approximately 200 security police raided the 500-year-old Linh Mu Pagoda and arrested several prominent Buddhist monks, among whom were the Venerable Thich Hai Thinh and the Venerable Thich Hai Chanh who had served terms in jail for taking part in the 1993 event, protesting against the Communist rule's religious repression. The local Communist rule took control of the pagoda under the pretext that it was a center for anti-Communist activities. The police also razed to the ground the Long Tho Pagoda near the resort township of Da Lat, 110 miles north of Saigon.  On October 30, 1996, the Venerable Thich Minh Dao, the senior monk at Long Tho Pagoda, Da Lat Township, was arrested, and 34 other Buddhist monks and nuns were chased out of the pagoda before it was destroyed.

    Repression

   

The Puebla Institute, a human right organization that defends religion worldwide reported that repression against all Vietnam’s religions continued. Vietnam, it noted, demonstrates that the repressive apparatus against all religions remains widespread and resilient despite the market reforms. A number of religious prisoners were among five thousand and two hundred (5,200) prisoners released from prison by the chief of the State on the National Day, September 2, 1998. Until then, 75 Buddhist monks and followers were still detained or placed under house arrest. Three Buddhist monks benefited from this annual amnesty. They were the Venerable  Thich Tri Sieu, who was freed from prison on August 31, 1998 and the Venerable Thich Tue Sy and the Most Venerable Thich Quang Do. who were liberated the next day, September 1, 1998.  The Most Venerable Thich Quang Do, the Secretary-general of the Vietnam Unified Buddhist Church, was freed from the Ba Sao camp, Nam Ha Province, North Vietnam, September 2, 1998. Arrested in 1977 and detained for 20 months, he was apprehended again in 1982 and exiled to the province of Thai Binh, North Vietnam. In 1992, the monk, on his own initiatives, left the place of exile. He came back and lived in Saigon.

He was restricted on January 4, 1995 after having written to the Communist authorities an open letter of three pages entitled “Remarks on the Ill-conceived  Errors Committed by Communism against Buddhism.” On August 15, 1995, the People’s Court imposed on him five years in prison for “having committed acts of sabotage against the politics of union of religions and utilized liberty and democracy to make an attempt of sabotage against the interests of the State.” He refused to make an appeal. He was then transferred from Saigon to North Vietnam and detained in the Ba Sao  camp. Released from prison, he was welcomed at the Tan Son Nhat Airport by five hundred Buddhist followers. The Most Venerable Thich Quang Do has been closely watched over by the State authorities.

       

     The Measures

The common repressive measure applied to returnees from prisons and camps are administrative surveillance and harassment. The decree on administrative detention (1977), on the other hand, allows the Communist administration to lengthen the term of detention to two years without trial. It aims to prevent, threaten, compel, and repress dissidents from advocating democracy and human rights. This form of arrest was executed against the Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang. 

Requests and demands from the Church nevertheless fell to deaf ears. The authorities mounted repression on it, instead. A string of instances of repression came in succession, aggravating the situation. In addition, the State failed to integrate the Vietnam Unified Church into the State-sponsored Vietnam Buddhist Church. Like a thorn in its side, the Unified Buddhist Church always proved to be a legal and independent Church and not an association.  In this regard, it resolutely refuted the legitimacy of the Buddhist Church of Vietnam as a rightful entity as it is only an instrument of the Vietnamese Communist Party-- a member of the Fatherland Front-  a creation of the Vietnamese Communist Party itself.

Due to the failure to subordinate the Vietnam Unified Buddhist Church under State control, the Vietnamese Communist Party and State isolate it from the people’s life. Cornered to dead end, the Church survives in extreme conditions, although it continuously receives strong support from international public opinion, human rights organizations, world prestigious personalities and politicians, and Vietnamese religious organizations and communities overseas

The Eighth congress of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam Overseas, Office II, in California in May 1999 proceeded with determination to consolidate its body of leadership overseas, to and foster its activities in support for the struggle for religious freedom and Buddhist Faith in the country. Nominations to highest positions in the hierarchy and adjustments in the administration of the Church in the country were then revived (EDA 288). Humanitarian services and activities were organized and performed, although in harsh conditions of severe weather and impediment from the government. The delegations of aids to the regions devastated by flood of the Unified Church nevertheless gathered remarkable success.

    

The Vietnam Unified Buddhist Church has still proven to be worthy of a religious institution that not only dedicates itself to the noble ideals of clemency of the Buddhist Faith but also commits acts of tangible fearlessness when it comes to salvage human beings. In his letter sent to the government, the Patriarch Huyen Quang on the occasion of the commemoration of April 30 --the day when the Communists took over Saigon-- proposed, among other things, to the government  to  clarify that the anniversary of the liberation of Saigon is a day for penitence and mourning (EDA 308). 

The  State Bureau of Religious Affairs nonetheless mounted pressure on the Church, suggesting to the Church  to encourage its monks and adepts to rejoin the ranks of the “official” Church.  However, many religious personalities of Buddhism felt reluctant to the State hypocritical mannerism; others showed indignation over the State persecution of the Church.  Frequent visits of the police who came to interrogate them on diverse hot subjects remained a nightmare. Reports and interviews on these incidents were transmitted to humanitarian agencies in the Occident (communiques of the Bureau of Buddhist International Information from July 18, 2000 and August 10, 2000).