THE UNIFIED BUDDHIST CHURCH OF VIETNAM

The Struggle for Survival

Instances of resistance to repression of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam shrank as the State escalated repression against it. The Church could only operate activities in several large cities, mostly in Saigon and Hue. The authorities restricted even the practice of humanitarian services. The distributions of food to the victims of flood in the in the plains of Bassac River were interrupted by the authorities was a case in point. On the morning of  October 7, 2000, the delegation of Buddhist monks and believers of the Unified Buddhist Church from the province of An Giang that came to rescue the victims of flood was repeatedly stopped and interrogated by the local police. They complicated the situation, impeding the delegation to do their task. They intervened in the distrution of relef aids while Rector of the Institute of the Propagation for the Dharma Thich Quang Do was giving aid items to the flood victims in the commune of Vinh Hoi, district of An Phu. Police stopped the delegation when it was on the way to the destination. All members of the delegation were subjected to an interrogation that lasted from 10 A.M. to 22 P.M. The following day, the Venerable Thich Khong Tanh of Lien Tri Pagoda, Saigon, was repeatedly interrogated. The police blamed the monk, who had been under house surveillance, for having left his residence without permission. The monk was forced to return to Saigon on the morning of October 9. The other members of the group were kept under watch. To such a distress, the Most Venerable Thich Quang Do’s poor health became increasingly deteriorated due to severe weather, the delegation  had to abortrt the  mission. 

        

Under suffocating control of the administration, the Most Venerable Thich Quang Do, on September 28, 2000,  in a letter sent to the Buddhist laity, denouncing the suppression of the State, obstructing the Church from giving relief  aids to flood victims. He informed the believers of the difficulties the Church had met in the service for the helpless. The letter noted that during September 21-22, 2000, three delegations had sent and delivered money and food to the flood victims of the three provinces of the western region of the South. One of them had been forced to stop from entering the  province of An Giang by the police of Long Xuyen Township. Regardless of repression, this delegation finally reached the destination and achieved its mission. In an open letter dated September 24, 2000, he informed the authorities of the Church’s mission and requested them to lift up obstructions of the police and their intervention in the distribution of relief aids to the needed of the Church.

  

Spiritual leaders of the Church challenged the authorities’s repression. On October 6, 2000, three other delegations joined in a journey to deliver reliefs aids to flood victims. One of them was forbidden to leave Saigon, but  the others met with no hindranc. These two delegations were combined into one delegation, consisting of the Most Venerable Thich Quang Do  and twelve monks, nuns, and believers. The delegation arrived in Chau Doc. A number of followers, who had come to the province some time earlier, joined it, raising the number of the delegation to 25. On the way, the group was intercepted by the police when a number of other believers came to join it. The mission was aborted.

     

The Police never ceased causing trouble to the Most Venerable Thich Quang Do thereafter. They kept a close watch on him, especially when he planned to pay a visit to the Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang, who had been placed under residence surveillance in Hoi Nghia Pagoda, Quang Ngai Province. On February 2, 2001, the monk and companions left Saigon in a car. The journey was without nuisance. It was stopped by two police agents for unfounded reason. They intercepted the car, communicated to their superior at the Headquarters and let the delegation to continue the trip. Police chek-points were posited  all along the delegation’s itinerary, in Nha Trang, Binh Dinh, and Quang Ngai.  At some locations, the police executed verification of occupation identity cards of the occupants.

Upon arrival at the destination, the delegation was brought to a blind alley.  The local authorities had already encircled Hoi Nghia Pagoda. The delegation had to stay overnight at Quang Phuoc Pagoda. The Most Venerable Thich Quang Do would only meet the Patriarch there. When the members of the delegation prepared to go to bed, a group of policemen came and proceeded a verification of identity of each of the visitors. They stood guard over the monks closely until they took their journey back to Saigon. Police checkpoints were still posited along the delegation’s itinerary.

 A few kilometers away from the departure, their vehicle was stopped by a group of 20 policemen. Under the pretext of searching for the “materials” that might endanger national security, they proceeded a careful corporal search-through of the monks. The drew minutes of a search-through of the vehicle as well. All the doors and tires of the vehicle were dismantled. Many articles for personal use of the monks were confiscated. The search-through lasted three hours. It was not until three o’clock in the afternoon  that  the delegation could resume their journey. And, only after a halt at another pagoda could the delegation continue their trip without trouble.  At nine o’clock in late evening when the delegation arrived in the vicinity of Nha Trang, the police had been waiting for it. They stopped the car and drove the monks to a police checkpoint for a troublesome search-through. The situation became so tense that it made the blood pressure of the Most Venerable Thich Quang Do malignant. A medical doctor was sent for to verify the state of health of the monk. The search-through resumed and lasted until 1 o’clock in the morning. The delegation could spend the night at a hotel in Nha Trang. They came back to Saigon, entirely exhausted. 

    

In his letter to the four supreme leaders of the Communis Party and State on the occasion of the Lunar New Year, the Most Venerable Thich Quang Do reaffirmed the fulfillment of all duties towards the country of Buddhism since the August 1945 Revolution. Nevertheless, the Communist Party and have never honored the legal legitimacy of the Unified Buddhist Church; nether have they respected the rights to religious freedom of the Buddhist laity. The Church’s faithful had associated with the Fatherland Front and served with loyalty the national cause in the struggle by the people against three enemies; hunger, illiteracy, and foreign invasion. He requested the Communist Party and State to materialize the respect for religious freedom, which obligation they have ever assured to fulfill.

In his open letter to the Buddhist laity of Saigon, he affirmed that Buddhism could bloom veritably only with national independence. Referring to the engagements in the fight against the three enemies by the late leader of the Communist Party, tHo Chi Minh, the dignitary affirmed that one of the three enemies, the invaders, had departed. However, The other two engagements that Ho Chi Minh had committed to fulfill has not been realized. Worse still, by a hostile religious policy, the Communist Party and State have executed repressive measures to eliminate the Unified Buddhist Church.  Instead of promoting the respect for human rights, the Communist Party and State persistently repress it. Ho Chi Minh once addressed to the Buddhists: “If you want to save human beings from misfortunes, you must sacrifice yourselves and fight.” Nevertheless, this forceful statement of “Uncle Ho” has  proven to be an empty rhetoric!

  

 After this introduction destined to call on the Buddhists to remain faithful to their commitments, the dignitary clarified the meaning of the term “Unified.” which is the definite content of the appellation “Unified Buddhist Church.” The term is destined, in his view, to remind the faithful of the commitments that traditional Vietnamese Buddhism had translated into practice in the 1960’s. For the first time in history, together with world Buddhists, the Vietnamese Buddhist community undertook the unification of the Buddhist Small and Great Vehicles, incorporating them into a unified organization.  The term also designates the elimination of all erroneous and discriminatory aspects of separation between the Shanga and the laity, thus filling up the gap separating  the sacred  and the profane.

    

In his letter to the government on the celebration of the Lunar year Canh Thin (2001), the Most Venerable Thich Quang Do presented problematic issues that entangled the State and the Church in a riddle without an answer. Evoking the traditional religious tenets observed by previous ancient dynasties, the dignitary, mentioned, first of all, the State.s abuse of power and requested the Communist rule to release prisoners of conscience incarcerated for their ideas of dissidence, of faith, or of religion. He asked for the levy of residence surveillance imposed on the Patriarch of the Unified Buddhist Church, the Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang, who had been under administrative detention for 18 years. The amnesty should necessarily be accompanied by a reduction of taxes for the peasants that constitute 80% of the population.

   

The dignitary further stressed that the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam should be given back all its rights, including the rights to free conduct its normal religious services and activities. Of equal importance, the Church must be entitled to legal rights to function as a religious institution. The letter put forward  the responsibilities of the Unified Buddhism in its divine mission to redeem people and brave social plague and moral decadence that devastate miserably the country nowadays. Finally, the dignitary requested the abolishment of death penalty. 

Repression rolled on, and the Buddhist leadership was subject to stricter control. The Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang was not an exception.  On July 6, 2000, two cadres of the section of religious affairs and the police of Quang Ngai came to see and “work with” the Patriarch at Hoi Nghia Pagoda. The ailing monk was interrogated on the letter he had issued on the occasion of the anniversary of April 30.  He was questioned about who was the true author of the letter and who signed it under his name. The Patriarch said that the opinions expressed in it were his, and they reflected the aspirations of his Church. The interlocutor blamed him for his pessimism about the Vietnamese society. The Patriarch said that his views were only based on information from governmental sources. A policeman who, without courtesy, treated him as a criminal. He asked him, if this was such a case, why had the police have to come to subject him to an interrogation.

   

Instances of harassment occurred elsewhere in the country. In July 2000, the pagodas in Saigon that sheltered members of the Institute of the Propagation for the Buddhist Faith were besieged by the police. In Da Lat in the highlands, in Quang Nam, and Quang Ngai in Central Vietnam, dignitaries and prestigious members of the Buddhist Family were subjected to interrogation. Eventually, two Buddhist monks in Fourth District, Saigon, the Venerable Thich Quang Hue and the Venerable Thich Tam Minh, the superiors of the pagodas Thanh Tuyen and Linh Son, respectively, were convoked for interrogation, In August 2000. The Venerable Thich Quang Hue, who was the responsible for the Commission of Social Welfare of the Vietnam Unified Buddhist Church, was interrogated on his journey for charitable  works he had accomplished in various regions in Central Vietnam damaged by flood. The Venerable Thich Tam Minh was interrogated on the reasons for which he had disengaged from the official Church. In his answer, the monk presented his case: “The Buddhist Church of Vietnam is a member of the Fatherland Front and an instrument in the hand of the Vietnamese Communist Party.” He added that, had religious freedom existed in Vietnam, the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam would not have the need to organize its Eighth Congress in the United States. He equally ascertained that the movement of unification of the Buddhist Churches was purely religious and did not bear any political ambition. It did not seek to overthrow the actual political regime.

Abuse of Authority

Merciless repression practices are applied even for teen novices who are educated to practice a religious life. The Hoa Hao religious Nguyen The Truyen grieved over the situation and demanded the administration to carry out religious regulations as inscribed in the Constitution properly. The authorities disregarded the law, infringing on the rights to religious worship deliberately. Local security police came at will and inspected the Center for Religious Education at My Hoa Ward, Long Xuyen City, complicating the situation. They expelled the two female religious Nguyen Thi Thu Hang and Tran Thi Dan Trang, who were in charge of care for and education of teen novices. Consequently, the center operated under threat, for fear of being dissolved any time. Other instances of oppression happened. Preaching halls throughout the western provinces of the South, such as the one at Phuoc Hung Commune, An Phu District, An Giang Province, operated by the venerable Bui Van Trung, facd the same difficulty. The security police in association with elements of the underworld targeted the believers who frequented Bui Van Trung’s preaching hall with threats and violence. About 20 of them had been ferociously beaten; some with internal injuries, others with serious wounds.

Repression against members of pure Hoa Hao Buddhism has become a common practice. The religious Vo Van Thanh Liem, the former guardian at Quang Minh Tu, suffered isolation from relatives and fellow Hoa Hao believers,. The religious had served an enduring 7-year prison term on false charge. Still, security police agents disguised as hooligans blocked visitors to his home. They even beat and injured them. In another instance, Nguyen Thanh Phong and his wife Nguyen Ngoc Ha, also former prisoners of conscience, were the victims of brazen oppression. On February 5, 2012, a large group of security police of My Hoa Commune, Cho Moi District, An Giang Province, found fault with the couple. They shouted filth at them and brutally assaulted them in the open market place. They only stopped when a crowd of bystanders gathered and intervened.  

     

The Hoa Hao religious Hue Tho in charge at the Preaching Hall Minh Thien Hue Tho, O Mon District, Can Tho Province, deplored and condemned “acts of atrocity the administration has committed against the Church. Ever since after 1975, the so-called liberators have treated Hoa Hao Buddhism with bitter rancor. Cadres openly declare that if they fail to eliminate pure Hoa Hao Buddhists, they will resign from service. They have ruthlessly repressed even those who duly observe the code of virtues of Hoa Hao Buddhism such as to wear long hair and Hoa Hao tunic and chant sutras. Why on earth, have they had the heart to destroy houses of worship and rituals of cult of Hoa Hao Buddhism?”

   

In an instance of brutal oppression, police pressure drives a pure Hoa Hao Buddhist to decide to commit self-immolation by fire. On February 21, 2012, the patrol police of Chau Doc Township in cooperation with the security police of Vinh Chau Commune used electric rods to disperse a group 13 Hoa Hao Buddhist religious and believers when they on their way home. The group  had just visited the Buddhist preaching hall in the residence of the religious Nguyen Van Teo in Bay Phu Hamlet, Vinh Chau Commune. Without a reason, the srcurityforces assaulted the believers who could only resisted in submission. Being so utterly oppressed, Pham Huu Tam instantly soaked himself with gasoline, attempting to immolate himself by fire in  protest against the brutal act of  of oppression. The police gave in and let the group go by. The venerable Nguyen Van Teo and believers vowed to sacrifice themselves for their faith, regardless of merciless repression.    

Dim Perspectives

Escalating repression, the authorities sought to materialize harsher repression on all pure Hoa Hao Buddhists, definitely negating their religious services and activities. One of their means to an end is using the “Black Society” --thugs of the underworld-- as an instrument, eliminating the leadership of the Church and paralyzing religious services. This operation of vile scheme has become a common practice, especially in localities where the leadership and laity resiliently keep their faith, preaching the principles of the national cause and moral tenets of Buu Son Ky Huong Buddhism and the  the Holy Master’s teachings.     

On the commemoration day of March 17, 2012, when the Church proceeded the ceremony to honor the  Holy Master Huynh, who fell to the fatal trap of the Communist Viet Minh at Doc Vang Ha, Dong Thap Province, in 1946, hundreds of local security policemen including elements of the “Black Society” laid siege on Quang Minh Tu Temple at Cho Moi District, An Giang Province. They intimidated the religious and laity with threats and beatings to prevent pilgrims from coming to the Holy Site to attend the ceremony. A  group  of about 100 bad elements including women, war invalids, hooligans and  security policemen of Cho Moi District, An Giang Province armed with electric rods encircled the temple and blocked the entrance to temple. The believer made every effort in vain to get into the site of ceremony. Thereligious was hand up. The religious Vo Van Thanh Liem had foreseen the situation. The Church would inevitably face harsh difficulties. As long as this regime exists, misfortunes will ever surface, even more.

     

On April 12, a group of about 100 security policemen encircled the preaching hall of the religious Bui Van Trung in Phuoc Hung Commune, An Phu District, and Am Giang Province. They blockaded the entrance to it as the religious prepared for the anniversary of death of his mother. Along the road to the hall, 4 checkpoints were posited, and sentries were stationed around his residence. Fire-trucks stood nearby, and firemen were ready to act in case a self-immolation by fire happened. Visitors were strictly prohibited to enter the place. In face of such a tension, Bui Van Trung gave in, and the ceremony was involuntarily canceled, lest misfortunes would happen to his fellow believers. Misfortune never comes singly. At midnight, electricity in the residence was cut. Rocks and filth were thrown over and into the preaching hall while water was pumped into it, creating a big mess inside the worship place and injuring two teen-agers who were in attendance in the hall. At daybreak, a hundred of security policemen broke into the residence, Chaos was everywhere in the residence. Officials of the enforcement of the law insulted and seriously injured two visitors to the worship place.

Incidents of repression happened again and again. During the two consecutive days of July 5-6, 2012, the annual anniversary of death of the founder of Hoa Hao Buddhism was held at various worship places. As always, pure Hoa Hao Buddhism was targeted with police raid, harassment, threat, and assault. On July 5, visitors and pilgrims were barred from coming to pay respects to the Holy Master.at Quang Minh Temple, where the religious Vo Van Thanh Liem practices worship services. Police armed with electric rods barred visitors from entering the temple. The following day, July 6, they assaulted away a group of 30 Hoa Hao believers, who attempted to come to the temple. Vo Van Thanh Liem, who had suffered 5 years in prison for ungrounded charges, pleaded justice and called for international intervention. He believed that only with this intervention could he and fellow Hoa Hao believers continue to serve their faith.

   

On July 18, a security police lieutenant-colonel in the western province declared that the “Vietnamese have all rights to religious freedom and are protected by the law. No one can infringe on these rights.”  However, the religious Bui Van Trung, a Hoa Hao religious serving faith at the Hoa Hao Center for Religious Preaching in Phuoc Hung Commune, An Giang Province, maintained that “the religious and believers of pure Hoa Hao Buddhism are frequently harassed by plainclothes police agents. They are the victims of hatred. He himself was arrested without ground while he was having meal at his daughter’s home. A few days later, news aired on the radio with an inventing story, accusing him of opposing the law enforcers. and, he was placed under strict isolation after that.”

Other Hoa Hao religious were targeted with constant repression. During October 2012, the security police frequented their houses for inspection, oftentimes night; The religious Nguyen The Troyon’s preaching hall at My Hoa Ward, Long Xuyen Province, was subject to control. Volunteers for humanitarian service such as the female religious Nguyen Thi Thu Hang and Tran Thi Dan Trang were frequently interrogated for ungrounded reasons. The religious reported that police raids with a large group  happened every time he and his fellow Hoa Hao believers celebrated an anniversary. The last time, thugs were hired to intimidate Hoa Hao attendants at the anniversary ceremony.  

Hoa Hao Buddhists in the western provinces deplore that they continually face difficulties. While they only apply themselves to religious services and cultivate moral and religious virtues, the administration seeks to repress them, alleging that believers of pure Hoa Hao Buddhism tend to cause social disorder. This accusation is totally contrary to fact. Hoa Hao believers are mostly bovine cultivators of the land. They only practice religious services at home. The religious Tran Van Kiem in Dong Thap Province deplored that “anyone who goes in the direction set by the State could be free, if not; he is given a dressing-down or jailed, again and again.” Fhe case is self-evident. In January 2003, commitment to Hoa Hao Buddhist cause made him an opponent to the regime, and thus was targeted with harassment., violence, or imprisonment’

Bui Van Tham of Phuoc Hung Commune, An Giang Province was another victim of false accusation. He was charged with violation of the law without any proof or evidence. He was sentenced to two years and a half in prison.  His father, the venerable Bui Van Trung, also a victim of false accusation, was sentenced to two years in prison on the same charge. The charges on Bui Van Trung and his son were  baseless, They were invited to pay respects to the ancestors at the anniversary celebration in a relative’s residence. The authorities surrounded, stormed the place, and disbanded the assembly. Bui Van Tham and Bui Van Trung were arrested on their way home.

On June 25, 2013, Vo Van Thanh Liem, the preacher at Quang Minh Tu Temple in Cho Noi Destrict, An Giang Province, out of indignation, slid his stomach as an act of protest against the police attack on his fellow Hoa Hao Buddhists. The reason was the police posited checkpoints along the road to Quang Minh Tu. More than a hundred agents assaulted and threw sprayed filth water on the followers while they were gathering to celebrate the anniversary of the Church’s Foundation Day. They only left at the sight of the self-inflicted protest. Vo Van Thanh Liem and those worshipers who were injured in the attack were carried to his mother’s home for treatment. The police insisted that they had told the worshippers to go to a pagoda belonging to the State-affiliated Hoa Hao branch, but the group refused comply with the order. Sources said authorities in the western provinces of An Giang, Dong Thap, Vinh Long, and Can Tho have routinely targeted believers of pure Hoa Hao Buddhism with violence. They prohibit the preaching of the faith and discourage the followers from visiting pagodas or attending celebrations organized by leaders of the independent Hoa Hao Buddhist Church. Beiwers of independent Hoa Hao branches have faced harassment, violence, and imprisonment due to their religious faith. Authorities in An Giang and Dong Thap provinces regularly targeted followers of this legitimate Hoa Hao Buddhism with harsh control, prohibiting them from attending public preaching and reading of the Church Founder Huynh’s  oracles. Due to devotion to faith, Vo Van Thanh Lien, as a case in evidence, had been in jail 34 times.