Hanoi
The Case of Nun Thich Nu Nam Binh
Persecution
against highest religious personalities and the laity of various non-sanctioned
religions and religious groups is common practice. The nuns the State-sponsored
Buddhist Church of Vietnam are not an exception, however. That was the case of Thich Nu Dam Binh, the
superior nun at Vy Trach Pagoda, Ung Hoa District, Ha Tay Province in (North Vietnam).
Although a member of a sanctioned Church, Thich Nu Nam Binh, who had been the
guardian at the pagoda from 1983 to 1993, was forced to leave Vy Trach Pagoda
for unclear reasons. At first, the District Fatherland Front announced its
decision to take back the pagoda. Later, it sought to dispossess it. The
authorities sent hooligans to the pagoda to harass the nun, intending to
dispossess the worship place by force. The nun sent a petition to the State
Institute of Justice which ordered the People’s Council of Phuong Tu to mediate
the situation so that the nun could continue to serve faith at the pagoda. The
council nevertheless resisted the order. The nun then sent petitions to the
Prime Minister, the State Bureau of Religious Affairs, and the leadership of
the Buddhist Church of Vietnam but came to no answer. Still, the District
Section of Religious Affairs did not comply with the order of the State Institute
of Justice, saying that the people in the area wanted to evict her from the
pagoda.
The Case of Nun Thich Nu Dam Nghiem
The illegal dispossession of land without
compensation of the Church of the authorities for various purposes often
results in deploranle instances of injustice. Thich Nu Nun Dam Nghiem o Dau
Pagoda, Cau Giay Precinct, Hanoi,
deplored that the partial dispossession of the pagoda where she served as
guardian had been vilely manipulated for road construction by the Section of
Management of Investment of Cau Giay Precinct. The procedures were inconsistent
with the decisions agreed on by various central State agencies. Worse still, no
agency was made responsible for the management of the physical property of the
pagoda. The nun became the target of harassment from all sides. Even though she
ever tried to manage to keep up the pagoda, but was still under threat from
eviction from her pagoda.
Haiphong
The Case of the Venerable Man Thien
In March 2007, The Venerable Man Thien, a member of
the State-affiliated
Buddhist Church
of Vietnam,
was expelled from An Lac Pagoda, Vinh Bao District, Haiphong, North Vietnam,
where he was the guardian. Built in the 16th century, An Lac Pagoda became
dilapidated and needed to be repaired. The monk made every effort to make the
worship in shaape. Upon completion of the work, he met with difficuly for
unclear reasons.. A monk from South
Vietnam, he was transferred to serve faith in
the North on approvals from the Haiphong
administration and the State Office of Religious Affairs. The monk complained
that this expulsion from the pagoda resulted from discrimination, possibly
because of his link to the outlawed Vietnam Unified Buddhist
Church. Many Buddhists came to the security police office
of Vinh Bao District and the Haiphong People’s Council to reflect the opinion
of the masses on the decision to evict the monk from his worship place, Their
demands came to no answer, however.
Da Nang
Harassment
Prior to and during the Buddhist holiday of July 15
of Lunar Calendar (August
15, 2011), Giac Minh Pagoda in Da Nang was targeted with harassment by the
local security police and people’s street cell. A large group of security
police laid a siege around the pagoda, blocking the followers from entering it
to pay tribute to Buddha. Police checkpoints were posited at the two ends of
the street in front of the pagoda. The followers were warned with threats, They
even maintained that the activities prcoceeded at Giac Minh Pagoda were illegal
and thus unlawful. The main reason was
the Pagoda opposed the State-affiliated
Buddhist Family in the city. Any assembly at the pagoda was illegal. Therefore, the followers were anxious and fearful. The most
daring followers could daringly place their offerings to Buddha in front of the
pagoda’s gate then ran away.
Lam Dong
Repression
at Bat Nha Monastery
Bat Nha Monastery in Lam Dong Province, Central Highlands, was founded
by the Venerable Thich Duc Nghi in
1995 In 2007, based on the agreement
between Monk Duc Nghi and Zen Master Nhat Hanh and the monks from Mai Village
in Paris, France, the monastery became a
center for Buddhist studies and retreats and religious practices. The monastery
sheltered approximately 400 monks, nuns, and student monks. Controversy
nevertheless complicated the situation. By June 2009, electricity and water in
the monastery were all of a sudden cut after the Venerable Duc Nghi stopped to sponsor the monks from Mai Village
and student monks to reside at the monastery to pursue their studies and
perform religious practices. Unidentified outsiders came to the monastery and
interfered in the religious practices of the monks, nuns, and students who had
been granted residency. They took away food and utensils. In September, a clash occurred when a crowd
of hooligans and plainclothes security police agents stormed the worship place
and destroyed the furniture. They beat the student-monks and chased them away.
The security police arrested two monks, the Venerable Phap Si and the Venerable
Phap Hoi who were then abducted to unknown whereabouts. On Sptember 27, more
than 200 student-monks, half of whom are female, had to flee from the monastery
and took refuge in Phuoc Hue Monastery which is located in a nearby commune. About
50 of them returned to the monastery after that, hoping to get permission to
stay inside the monastery, Thirty of them got inside the monastery gate, but
were surrounded by the police.
Authorities blamed the Buddhist congregation from
Mai Village for having ignored the rules and regulations as requested by Monk
Duc Nghi' s abbey. The stand off, according to sources, resulted from an
internal contradiction. The abbot was a member of the Buddhist Church of
Vietnam, who himself voluntarily had asked Zen Master Mhat Hanh' s followers to
come to the monastery to practice faith, but later changed his mind. Monk Thich
Thnh Tan, who is also a dignitary of Buddhist Church of Vietnam in Lam Dong, maintained that there was something unusual and that Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh’s
followers had done nothing wrong.
On October 8,
the spokeswoman of the Foreign Affairs Ministry of Vietnam Nguyen Phuong Nga
affirmed in a press conference that there was no such thing as repression of
400 Buddhist students of the Mai
Village and a clash
between the police and the monks and nuns at Bat Nha Monastery. The State
official also stressed that the studies courses organized by the Buddhist sect
of Mai Village at Bat Nha were performed
without authorization from the official Buddhist Church of Vietnam. The
participants had not registered for temporary residence status as required by
the law, and were thus in violation of the rules and regulations of Vietnam and the
constitution of the official Buddhist Church as well.
During December 9, 10, and 11, the Venerable Thich
Thai Thuan, the guardian monk of Phuoc Hue Monastery, had to sign under
pressure a report in which he affirmed he himself had not allowed student monks
to stay at his monastery, and they had to leave the worship place by the end of
the month. On December 29, almost all student monks, one by one, left Phuoc Hue
Monastery ahead of the deadline. Some sought to come back home; others took refuge
in a pagoda of their acquaintances. Without means and money, they were truly
miserable in face of unforeseen difficulties.
International Amnesty called for urgent protection
for the victims of repression at Bat Nha. Human Rights Watch appealed to the Hanoi administration to
stop repression. The Venerable Thich Trung Hai, a resident monk at Mai Village
in France, presented the case beside E U Parliament and
besought the international organ for help. Two hundred student-monks and nuns
sought political asylum in France for fear
that they would no longer be safe if they continued to live in Vietnam. The
spokesman of the Foreign Affairs Ministry of France Bernard Valero, on December
29, said that France
and the Europen Union were deeply concerned with the case and took it into consideration.
Sources said that one of the causes that triggered
the repression might originate from the 10-point proposal to the Chairman of
State Nguyen Minh Triet by Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh during his visit to Vietnam in 2007.
The main point of the proposal called for the abolition of the State of Religious Affairs Office
and respect for freedom of religion, which provision the Communist State
would never accept. Zen Master Nhat Hanh, in his letter to his followers in
late December, mentioned among other things that "The Buddhist Church is
helpless, uaable to protect its own children. Everyone can see this truth
clearly. In the case of Bat Nha and Phuoc Hue, the authorities hired thugs and
worked together with them."
Repression was then self-evident.
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