Vietnam threatens to suppress UBCV Vesak Celebrations at the Giac Minh Pagoda in Danang – Thich Quang Do issues Vesak Message

PARIS, 15 May 2011 (IBIB) – The Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) Provincial Committee in the central province of Quang Nam-Danang has sent an urgent appeal to the International Buddhist Information Bureau calling on the international community to monitor the situation of Giac Minh Pagoda in Danang during the Celebrations of Vesak, the Anniversary of the Birth of Buddha on 17 May 2011, following threats of repression by the local authorities.

Venerable Thich Thanh Quang, head of the UBCV’s provincial Committee in Danang and the UBCV Commissioner for Youth received a “Notification” this week from the local People’s Committee (Ref. 46/TB-UBND) signed by Do Dinh Phuc, Vice-Chairman of the Binh Hien District People’s Committee on 14 May 2011. Whilst the Notification does not prohibit the Vesak celebration, it imposes restrictions that are inacceptable to the UBCV, said Venerable Thich Thanh Quang. They are:

“1. The celebrations of the 2,555 Vesak Festival at the Giac Minh Pagoda must be of a strictly religious nature, in conformity with the provisions of the law. The situation of political security and public order must be strictly guaranteed.

“2. It is strictly prohibited to display posters or images mentioning the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam. It is strictly prohibited to read out the Vesak Message by Thich Quang Do or any other documents that contravene the law”.

2.Không ???c treo b?ng rôn, bi?u t??ng có n?i dung Giáo h?i Ph?t giáo Vi?t Nam Th?ng nh?t. Không ???c ??c Thông b?ch, thông ?i?p c?a Thích Qu?ng ?? và các tài li?u khác trái v?i pháp lu?t Vi?t Nam.

“Notification” the local People’s Committee (Ref. 46/TB-UBND) signed by Do Dinh Phuc, Vice-Chairman of the Binh Hien District People’s Committee on 14 May 2011

These conditions are clearly a warning to the UBCV, which has been effectively outlawed by the Vietnamese government since the creation of the State-sponsored Vietnam Buddhist Church in 1981. Since then, UBCV leaders have been arrested, followers threatened and harassed, and UBCV property confiscated. Police routinely prevent or disband gatherings in UBCV Pagodas all over the country, especially during the Vesak, the most important event in the Buddhist calendar. The injunction that the celebrations must be “strictly religious” and ensure “political security” is a veiled threat against the UBCV, which is routinely accused of being “political” because of its activities for human rights.

The Giac Minh Pagoda is especially targeted because it is also the headquarters of the Buddhist Youth Movement, an unofficial educational movement affiliated to the UBCV which has over 500,000 members in Vietnam. During the Vesak celebrations last year, Security Police surrounded Giac Minh Pagoda and forcibly pushed back Buddhists who attempted to enter. Several members of the Buddhist Youth Movement were wounded, including Buddhist nun Thich Nu Dong Tam, who was taken to hospital with head wounds.

Venerable Thich Thanh Quang states that he will continue the celebrations as planned. The UBCV is Vietnam’s oldest and largest religious community, and although it is not recognized by the government, it has never been officially banned. UBCV Buddhists therefore continue their activities, despite threats, repression and constant harassments by the Police. It is inconceivable that the Vesak be celebrated without banners mentioning the UBCV, and especially without reading the traditional Vesak Message by UBCV leader Thich Quang Do, which gives direction and inspiration to UBCV members at home and abroad. Thich Quang Do, a 2011 Nobel Peace Prize nominee who is currently under house arrest at the Thanh Minh Zen Monastery in Saigon, is a not only a revered figure in the Buddhist community. His actions and appeals for human rights and religious freedom have made him a symbol of the nonviolent movement for democracy for all Vietnamese.

The International Buddhist Information Bureau calls upon the diplomatic community and international media based in Vietnam to closely monitor the situation of Giac Minh Pagoda on Vesak Day on Tuesday 17th May 2011. We also call upon the United Nations Human Rights Council, concerned governments and international human rights institutions to denounce any eventual Police repression and strongly urge Vietnam to respect religious freedom as guaranteed in its own Constitution and in the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to which it acceeded in 1982.

The UBCV Supreme Patriarch Thich Quand Do issued a Message to Buddhists in Vietnam and around the world on the 2,555 Anniversary of the Birth of Buddha. The message was sent clandestinely to the International Buddhist Information Bureau in Paris from the Thanh Minh Zen Monastery in Saigon, where the 83-year old UBCV leader and dissident is under de facto house arrest.

In his Message, Thich Quang Do underscored two significant meanings emerging from this year’s Vesak. Firstly, he cited United Nations’ Secretary-general Ban Ki Moon in his adress to the celebrations of UN Vesak Day, who said: “Your chosen theme of socio-economic development may sound modern, but its core is the very problem of human ruffering that Siddhartha Gautama sought to address more than 2,500 years ago”. This statement is deeply significant for all Buddhists, said Thich Quang Do, for it shows that “in the midst of the ideological and political crisis that is shaking our world, manifested by an escalation of dictatorship and terrorism, the United Nation has recognized the Buddhist teachings of compassion, tolerance and peace as a lifeline that can help solve the problems of human suffering”.

Secondly, he noted that the UN celebrates this year the 30th Anniversary of the Declaration on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination based on Religion and Belief”. “More than anyone in Vietnam”, he said, “Buddhists are the foremost victims of religious discrimination and violations of human rights that have continued unabated over the past 36 years” since the Communist regime took power in 1975.

He also stressed the commitment to freedom and social justice inherent in Vietnamese Buddhism which had led Buddhists to engage actively in the struggle for freedoms and rights over the past 2,000 years. In the past, Buddhists “worked in harmony with ruling dynasties that truly cared the people. But today, this harmony has been lost, perverted by the conflict of alien ideologies that have invaded our people’s minds”. Recalling the Buddhist struggle during the 1960s against the anti-Buddhist policies of the Ngo Dinh Diem regime, Thich Quand Do explained that this was the reason why, “for the very first time in our history, Buddhists took to the streets in the 1960s to defend the values and ethics inherent in Eastern thinking from the aggressive invasion of a foreign doctrine that had was alienating our people and society”.

“This struggle against alien ideologies continues today”, he said. “As we embark upon the 21st Century, Vietnam lives under a regime guided by an imposed, alien ideology that has driven our people to fratricidal war, crippled our economy and ruined our society. Our aim as Buddhists, is to oppose this by pressing the government to make concrete reforms. The leadership must cease arbitrary practices and put an end to policies which exist only on paper, but do nothing to bring prosperity, happiness and freedom to the people of Vietnam”.

He exhorted Buddhists at home and abroad to stand firmly in the quest for democracy and human rights: “Vietnam has suffered from one hundred years of colonization, sixty five years of fratricidal war and authoritarian rule. It is time for Buddhists to take their destiny in hand. We can no longer stand idle, blame our sufferings on destiny or put things off until the next life. We must follow the example of Emperor Asoka by transcending violence, nurturing compassion and developing wisdom. In this way, we can follow the Path that Lord Buddha walked upon 2,555 years ago. This is the most meaningful way to remember Lord Buddha and pay our debt of gratitude to him on this sacred Vesak Day”.