Cults versus Superstition Practices

                                                                                                                                                                

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.

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.