Cults vs. Superstition Practices
By Van Nguyen
At the Ninth Party Congress of April 9-12, 2001, Dang Huu, the chief of the Party Commission for Sciences and Education, in his speech, contended that one should not unstop illegal religious practices and tell what should be the attitude of local authorities toward the efflorescence of new cults and religions that are not recognized by the State. However, his analysis was not consistent enough to allow the audience to define clearly the characters of cults of currently legally-recognized religions. This notion of official recognizance was taken into consideration at the end of the year 1999 in the official review Nong Thon Ngay Nay (The Countryside Today). It cited without specifying the religious and moral characters of the six legally-recognized religions, namely, Buddhism, Catholicism, Evangelical Christianity, Islam, Caodaism, and Hoa Hao Buddhism. There was actually neither margin nor differentiation between the legally-recognized religions and illegally non-recognized cults or religious groups. It was not until 2001 that the regime declared that there are only six religions that are officially recognized by the State. Authorities keep a watch on their activities and put them under control.
By Van Nguyen
At the Ninth Party Congress of April 9-12, 2001, Dang Huu, the chief of the Party Commission for Sciences and Education, in his speech, contended that one should not unstop illegal religious practices and tell what should be the attitude of local authorities toward the efflorescence of new cults and religions that are not recognized by the State. However, his analysis was not consistent enough to allow the audience to define clearly the characters of cults of currently legally-recognized religions. This notion of official recognizance was taken into consideration at the end of the year 1999 in the official review Nong Thon Ngay Nay (The Countryside Today). It cited without specifying the religious and moral characters of the six legally-recognized religions, namely, Buddhism, Catholicism, Evangelical Christianity, Islam, Caodaism, and Hoa Hao Buddhism. There was actually neither margin nor differentiation between the legally-recognized religions and illegally non-recognized cults or religious groups. It was not until 2001 that the regime declared that there are only six religions that are officially recognized by the State. Authorities keep a watch on their activities and put them under control.
A declaration of the police of the commune of
ThuyTan in the province of Thai Binh called public attention to a religious
sect that had been in operation in the district of Thai Thuy since 1991. This
sect, officially condemned as illegal, calls itself “Thien Co” (Celeste
Opportunity). It might have attracted members of popular worship in this
province where most inhabitants, estimated at 2, 6000,000, adhere to various
traditional paganism, Taoism and Buddhism, reflecting a multifarious ensemble
of traditional beliefs. The founder, Nguyen Thi Noi, an old health employee,
aged 51, declared herself Bodhisattva. Nguyen Thi Noi circulated writings comprising
texts of some sort of preaching. Her operation of propagation of the cult was viewed
as an act of defiance to the authorities and a content of hostility to the regime’s
Marxist-Leninist ideology. Police reported that several practices by this sect render
it dangerous to the public. It may counsel the sick to take care of themselves
by drinking salted water and reciting prayers and abstaining themselves from
absorbing medicine. These practices might have been the cause of death of at
least three inhabitants of the region; one of them was a young girl of 13 years
old. The warnings by the local police to the founder of the “Thien Co” did not
take effect. The police then asked their superior authority to arrest Nguyen
Thi Noi to prevent social trouble. This
would be a measure in a province where unrest may occur at any time. The
province of Thai Binh, indeed, had been shaken by peasant’s riots at the end of
May 1997. Incidents of violence had
taken place in 128 communes of this province where the population protested
against nefarious peculation by the local administration and serious abuses of
power it had committed.
Occult practices spread in some other provinces. The
administration, for several years, followed the tract of similar practices of
the type. During the row months November
and October 2001, in the Center of Vietnam, police launched a large-scale
operation to sweep away a proliferate sect of Thanh Hai Vo Thuong Su (Thanh Hai
Eminent Master) whose preaching focuses on negating the theory of samasara –the round of
birth-and-death. The sect is said to have links with some religious groups from
Taiwan. According to a report by Reuters on August, 20, 2000, the sect was
pursued and dissolved for superstitious performance and illegal practices of
medicine.
A report in the official journal Cong an Nhan Dan (People’s Security Police) described a
state of intervention of the forces of order against an illegal religious sect
in the province of Quang Binh, Central Vietnam, without specifying the date. According
to the journal, the sect is called “Tam Giao Tuyen Duong.” The presence of Tam Giao
as indicated by the appellation seems to mean that this group assigns itself to
local traditional religious worship and has its source from Chinese inspiration. Tam Giao designates, in effect, a religious
practice incorporating into itself the doctrinal tenets of Confucianism,
Buddhism, and Taoism which is the veritable traditional compound of religious
beliefs of Vietnam, as elsewhere in old-time Vietnam and China. This sect is
accused by the local civil authorities for practicing illegal medicine and
promoting superstition, which is forbidden by the Vietnamese Constitution and is
in contradiction with most directives concerning religious activities. The
report did not specify what type of superstition the sect practiced and
affirmed that Nguyen Trung Thanh is considered to be the responsible for the
activities of the group. He was fined an amend equivalent to 14 dollars for
practicing illegal medicine. The medical treatment as was described in the
report of the police is of great simplicity. The healing of sickness was
administered by absorption of water gushing from a sanctuary and recitation of
prayers. The authorities tried to precede the dissolution of the group. More
than ten illegal “religious boos” were confiscated and the adepts of the sect
were forced to destroy the altar and sign a declaration in which they pledged
to abandon this religion.
Still, the declarations of the police revealed that
many new sects tend to spread activities in the region regardless of the
measures the police had taken to make them disappear. According to the police,
only by improving popular education and reducing poverty and campaigning
against these illegal sects could the authorities put an end to such a move. According
to other sources, for many years, other religious sects of diverse origins had
operated in the rural regions of Vietnam, particularly in the Center. They came
from the Occident, and mammy of them found inspiration tromps Christianity.
Still, others came from Asian countries near Vietnam.
In November 10, 2011, the
Supreme Court of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam sentenced two Fa lun Cong
adherents, Le Van Thanh and Vu Duc Trung to two and three years in prison, respectively.
They were charged with conducting "illegal transmission of information on
a telecommunications network into China.”
They were detained on June 11, 2011 for having broadcast the "Sound
of Hope Programs" highlighting human rights abuses, corruption, and the repression
of religious groups in China Any
religious sect or faith that the administration views as challenging its
authority is targeted with suppression. In May 2013, two ethnic Khmer
monksThach Thuoi and Lieu Ny of the Ta Set Pagoda in Vinh Chau, Soc Trang
Province, South Vietnam evaded arrest under protection of hundreds of followers
successfully blocked police from detaining them. Monks Thach Thoui and Lieu Ny
sought refuge and lived in hiding in Cambodia afterwards. The State-affiliated
Patriotic Unified Buddhist Association charged them with "having used the
internet to transmit fabricated news accusing the State’s harsh policy toward the
ethnic Khmer Krom.” The local Party organ had even decided to defrost the two
monks, which act they considered malicious and unduly. Monks can only be
defrocked if they violate the rules of Buddhism. "Those monks have rights
as citizens, and they have done nothing wrong."
While occult
cults and illegal religious groups are banned from operations, the non-official
phenomenal cult of Ho Chi Minh is highly observed in the population. It is
particularly thriving in many circles of Communist believers. Ho is not only
“the Father of the Nation,” but also a Saint of Saints. His statues are constructed at city and
township parks and historic sites. His busts are placed side by side those of
Buddha and KwanYin in pagodas or above or alongside those of the Jade Emperor,
national heroes or heroines and deities in temples. He is most reverentially honored
by quite a few powerful officials in the administration. It is no surprise if
an opportunist is seen imploring a sorcerer
to go into a trance to call up Ho’s spirit at Tran Vo Temple in Hanoi for him to
supplicate for a counsel, a favor, or profitable accesses to wealth and power.