{"id":1087,"date":"2008-08-17T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-08-17T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/queme.org\/en\/thich-quang-do-is-appointed-new-leader-of-the-unified-buddhist-church-of-vietnam\/"},"modified":"2020-03-01T17:05:47","modified_gmt":"2020-03-01T17:05:47","slug":"thich-quang-do-is-appointed-new-leader-of-the-unified-buddhist-church-of-vietnam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/thich-quang-do-is-appointed-new-leader-of-the-unified-buddhist-church-of-vietnam\/","title":{"rendered":"Thich Quang Do is appointed new leader of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam"},"content":{"rendered":"\n


HOUSTON, 17th August 2008 (IBIB) \u2013 At a ceremony marking the 49th day of the death of Supreme Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang<\/strong> of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam held in Houston, Texas today, leaders of the Overseas UBCV made public the late Patriarch\u2019s last will and testament in which he appoints the Most Venerable Thich Quang Do<\/strong>, currently UBCV Deputy leader, as the new Head of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The ceremony should have been held at Nguyen Thieu Monastery in Binh Dinh where the late Patriarch is buried, but pressures and travel restrictions on the UBCV leadership made this impossible. The UBCV then planned to hold it in Saigon. However, over the past few days, Security Police have surrounded all key UBCV Pagodas including the Thanh Minh Zen Monastery where Thich Quang Do resides, the UBCV Secretariat at Giac Hoa Pagoda etc. Unable to hold the ceremony in Vietnam, UBCV leaders finally decided to smuggle a copy of the testament to Houston, Texas, where a parallel memorial ceremony is being held by the Overseas UBCV at the Phap Luan Pagoda. The testament was made public today before a gathering of Buddhist monks, nuns and lay-Buddhists from all over the USA, Canada, Europe and Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In his will, written on 17.1.2005 after a long period of illness and hospitalisation, Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang wrote: \u201cDuring my long decades in detention and house arrest, I have experienced loneliness and isolation. But l have faced them with serenity, and never felt discouraged… Long years without medical care have left my body weak, and I now suffer from so many illnesses. But this is the law of impermanence, and as a monk, it does not worry me. What pains me most is that I will not live to see my life-long wish fulfilled \u2013 the re-establishment of the right to existence of the UBCV.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Feeling his health failing, \u201clike a candle in the wind\u201d<\/em>, Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang left his last wishes to members of the Supreme Bicameral Council (the Institute of the Sangha and the Institute for the Dissemination of the Dharma (Vien Hoa Dao)<\/em>, the UBCV\u2019s Executive Institute), exhorting them to complete the following tasks after his death :<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(a)<\/strong> \u201cBy all possible ways and means, you must re-establish the legitimate status of the independent, traditional Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, and achieve the unification of Buddhist schools and sects from all over Vietnam, just as our forefathers did under the Dinh dynasty. Buddhist unification must be undertaken by Buddhist clergy and lay-followers alone \u2013 no one can do it in their place:<\/em> (b)<\/strong> I confer upon Most Venerable Thich Quang Do, currently Head of the Institute for the Dissemination of the Dharma, the title of Supreme Patriarch, with full powers to manage and direct the UBCV\u2019s affairs;<\/em> (c)<\/strong> The Overseas Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam [based in California, with sections all over the world] \u201cshould develop the role of Vietnamese Buddhism in the collective effort to build a peaceful world in face of global terrorism\u201d<\/em>. Also, \u201cthe International Buddhist Information Bureau [the UBCV\u2019s information arm] should maintain and expand its efforts to inform the international community and mobilise support\u201d<\/em> for the repressed UBCV.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mr. Vo Van Ai, the UBCV International spokesman declared: \u201cThe appointment of Most Venerable Thich Quang Do as UBCV leader marks the beginning of a new phase in relations between the government and the UBCV. The death of Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang and the conflict over his funeral underscore the strong international support enjoyed by the UBCV, as well as its capacity, leadership and determination to engage non-violent resistance against government repression\u201d<\/strong><\/em>, he said. \u201cThe UBCV is Vietnam\u2019s largest civil society movement, and it could play a positive role in the country\u2019s spiritual, social, cultural and economic development. Hanoi should cease treating the UBCV as its enemy, and seize this occasion to recognize the leadership of Thich Quang Do and re-establish the legitimate status of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam. At a time when Vietnam\u2019s sovereignty is threatened from the outside, and its economy is in crisis within, this is an opportunity for Vietnam to rally the energies and talents of all its citizens to build a prosperous and democratic Vietnam\u201d.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a recorded message to the Memorial Service sent via the International Budhist Information Bureau, Thich Quang Do made his first declaration as Head of the UBCV: \u201cThe best way to honour our late Patriarch is by putting his words into practice in our daily lives. The Supreme Bicameral Council pledges to do its utmost to re-establish the legal status of the UBCV and maintain its historic tradition of independence. We pledge to realize Patriarch [Thich Huyen Quang\u2019s] wishes: to promote human rights for the living, sacred rights for the dead, and democracy for society. These are the foundations of our people\u2019s and country\u2019s development. We pledge to work together with all individuals, personalities, intellectuals, groups and movements in peaceful initiatives to protect our territorial sovereignty, our rights and freedom, and to promote happiness and enlightenment for one and all\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

********* <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The International Buddhist Information Bureau<\/strong> presents the following profile of the Most Venerable Thich Quang Do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most Venerable THICH QUANG DO<\/strong>, secular name Dang Phuc Tue, is Vietnam\u2019s most renowned Buddhist leader, and a leading advocate of religious freedom, human rights and democracy. A 2008 Nobel Peace Prize nominee and recipient of the Norwegian 2006 Rafto Prize, he has won worldwide recognition for his non-violent combat for freedom and justice. His refusal to be silenced by intimidation, imprisonment and internal exile for almost three decades has inspired Vietnamese of all generations and helped them to overcome fear. Thich Quang Do is the first person to forge links of solidarity between dissidents from the north and south, thus bridging a decades-long geographical and ideological divide. He is also an eminent scholar, former lecturer in oriental philosophy and Buddhist studies, and well-known writer, with over a dozen published works including novels, poetry, translations and studies of Vietnamese Buddhism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thich Quang Do was born on 27 November 1928 in Thanh Chau village in Thai Binh province (northern Vietnam). He became a monk at the age of 14. In 1945<\/strong>, when he was just 17, he witnessed the summary execution of his religious master, Thich Duc Hai, by a revolutionary People\u2019s Tribunal. His master had simply helped to relieve victims of the grave famine in North Vietnam, but the Communists accused him of using religion as \u201copium of the people\u201d and shot him dead. \u201cAt that precise moment\u201d<\/em>, wrote Thich Quang Do in an Open letter to Communist Party Secretary-general Do Muoi in 1994, \u201cI realized that Communism does not serve mankind. I decided never to accept violence, cruelty, hatred or discrimination. Then and there, I vowed to combat fanaticism and intolerance, and devote my life to the pursuit of justice through the Buddhist teachings of non-violence, tolerance and compassion\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

An outstanding scholar and talented writer, from 1951-1957<\/strong>, Thich Quang Do spent 6 years as a Research Fellow of Buddhist and Indian philosophy at several universities in Sri Lanka and India, including the Vishava Bharati University in Santiniteketan, Bengal. During the 1960-70s<\/strong>, he was Professor of Oriental Philosophy and Buddhist Studies at Van Hanh Buddhist University (Saigon), the Faculty of Letters of Saigon University and the Hoa Hao Buddhist University in Can Tho. In 1971-72<\/strong>, he taught Buddhist studies at the Pontifical College Pius X in Dalat. Despite his exile and banishment by the communist authorities in 1982, his scholarship and vision earned him widespread respect, even in Communist Party circles. In the official magazine Van Hoc (Literary Studies, No 4, Hanoi, July- August 1992), Thich Quang Do is highly praised for his wisdom and extensive knowledge by a communist scholar who visited him during his years in internal exile in Vu Doai.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thich Quang Do\u2019s convictions led him to oppose authoritarian repression under many different political regimes. After Vietnam was partitioned by the 1954<\/strong> Geneva Agreement, he became a prominent figure in the protest movement against the anti-Buddhist policies of the Ngo Dinh Diem regime in the South. On the night of 20 August 1963<\/strong>, he was arrested along with thousands of Buddhists in a massive Police sweep launched by the Diem government in Hue and Saigon. Thich Quang Do was brutally tortured in prison. Despite this, he continued resistance in prison. As one of the rare UBCV monks to speak English, he secretly translated articles from the international press on the Buddhist struggle which were smuggled in by Buddhists with his meals. These articles were reprinted in Buddhist newspapers, and helped to inform Buddhists and boost their morale. Released after the fall of the Diem regime on 1st November<\/strong>, Thich Quang Do\u2019s health was seriously damaged by the brutal torture. He suffered gravely from tuberculosis for three years, and was sent to Japan in 1966 for a lung operation. Before returning to Vietnam, he spent two years travelling and studying in Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand and Burma.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam<\/strong> (UBCV) regained its legitimate status at a nation-wide Congress in Saigon in 1964, Thich Quang Do was appointed UBCV Spokesman and Inspector of the UBCV\u2019s Executive Institute (Vien Hoa Dao, the Institute for the Dissemination of the Dharma) in 1972<\/strong>. He became the Executive Institute\u2019s Secretary-general in 1974. Throughout the Vietnam War, along with other UBCV leaders, Thich Quang Do took an active stance in favour of peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the Communists took power in 1975<\/strong>, a fierce campaign to suppress Buddhism was launched in South Vietnam. UBCV property was confiscated, its institutions dismantled, thousands of monks were arrested or forcibly drafted into the army. As Secretary-general of the UBCV\u2019s Executive Institute, Thich Quang Do sent thousands of letters to the authorities protesting specific cases of religious repression. All copies of the letters were destroyed in July 1982 when Police seized the UBCV\u2019s headquarters at An Quang Pagoda. It took 5 days to burn the UBCV\u2019s documents and files.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tension reached a climax on 3rd March 1977<\/strong>, when Police attacked and seized the Quach Thi Trang orphanage in Saigon and tore down the \u201cUnified Buddhist Church of Vietnam\u201d nameplate. That day, Thich Quang Do signed a Communiqu\u00e9 summoning all Buddhists to prepare for a non-violent struggle to defend the UBCV and protect religious freedom. This led to his arrest in April 1977<\/strong>, along with Thich Huyen Quang and several UBCV leaders on charges of \u201canti-revolutionary activities\u201d<\/em> and \u201cundermining national solidarity\u201d<\/em>. Thich Quang Do was detained in solitary confinement in Phan Dang Luu Prison for 20 months. Following international pressure, he was released after a brief trial on 10th December 1978. The same year, Thich Huyen Quang and Thich Quang Do were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Irish laureates Betty Williams and Mairead Maguire.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 25th February 1982<\/strong>, Thich Quang Do was again arrested for opposing the creation of the State-sponsored \u201cVietnam Buddhist Church\u201d, an organization controlled by the Communist Party\u2019s \u201cVietnam Fatherland Front\u201d, and for resisting efforts to make the UBCV join this State-run body. He was sent into internal exile in the remote village of Vu Doai in Thai Binh Province (northern Vietnam), where he spent 10 years under house arrest. The only reason given for detention was \u201cby carrying out religious activities, you are<\/em> ipso facto engaged in political activities\u201d<\/em>. His 84-year-old mother was exiled with him. She died in 1985 from malnutrition and lack of medical care. In 1990, the Minister of Public Security Mai Chi Tho, one of the regime\u2019s most powerful figures, invited Thich Quang Do to visit him in Hanoi and take up a post in the State-sponsored Vietnam Buddhist Church. Thich Quang Do refused.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1992<\/strong>, Thich Quang Do broke out of internal exile and went back to the Thanh Minh Zen Monastery in Saigon. Shocked by the government\u2019s widespread campaign to suppress the UBCV, notably the systematic destruction of \u201cUBCV\u201d nameplates on all church premises, in August 1994<\/strong>, Thich Quang Do set up a sign on his Monastery inscribed \u201cExiled Secretariat of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam\u201d<\/em> and called on Buddhists all over the country to restore UBCV nameplates. The same year, he sent an Open Letter to VCP Secretary-general Do Muoi along with a 44-page document entitled \u201cObservations on the grave offences committed by the Vietnamese Communist Party against the Vietnamese people and against Buddhism\u201d<\/strong><\/em>, detailing persecution against Buddhism since 1945. A copy was smuggled to the UBCV\u2019s International Spokesman in Paris, Vo Van Ai, requesting that he publish it within 6 months if the government made no reply. In 1994<\/strong>, Thich Quang Do also began organizing the UBCV\u2019s activities, mounting a rescue mission for victims of disastrous floods in the Mekong Delta which had left 500,000 people homeless. This was the very first public UBCV mission since the church was banned in 1981. Police intercepted the UBCV convoy as it prepared to leave Saigon on 5 November 1994, confiscated all relief aid and arrested the organizers. Thich Quang Do was arrested on January 4, 1995. He was put on trial as a \u201cVietnamese delinquent\u201d, not as a Buddhist monk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For these \u201ccrimes\u201d, on August 15, 1995<\/strong>, Thich Quang Do was sentenced to 5 years in prison and 5 years house arrest on charges of \u201csabotaging national solidarity\u201d<\/em> and \u201ctaking advantage of democratic freedoms to violate the interests of the State and social organizations\u201d<\/em>. Initially detained in Ba Sao Camp, he was transferred to the notorious B14 Prison near Hanoi, one of Vietnam\u2019s harshest prisons. Thich Quang Do\u2019s health deteriorated due to harsh conditions and lack of medical care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thich Quang Do\u2019s arrest sparked off strong international protests among human rights groups across the globe. Four Nobel Prize Winners (HH the Dalai Lama, Jos\u00e9 Ramos-Horta, Mairead Corrigan Maguire and Fran\u00e7ois Jacob) formed a support committee for his release. The then US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright also demanded his unconditional release.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result, Thich Quang Do was released in a government amnesty on 2nd September 1998<\/strong>. He returned to the Thanh Minh Zen Monastery in Saigon, but was maintained under house arrest and strict Police surveillance, with his phone cut and all visits monitored – \u201cI have left a small prison only to come into a larger one\u201d<\/em>, he said. In October 1998<\/strong>, the UN Special Rapporteur on Religious Intolerance, Abdelfattah Amor was physically impeded from visiting Thich Quang Do by Security Police posted outside his Monastery. Despite these restrictions, Thich Quang Do continued his peaceful combat by writing appeals in a spirit of dialogue to the Vietnamese leadership for the respect of human rights, the release of prisoners of conscience, the abolition of the death penalty, and national reconciliation between Vietnamese of all different opinions. He also pursued his efforts to draw international attention to the human rights situation in Vietnam, writing letters to the European Union with a list of 31 political prisoners in 1999, to the US Congress etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 1999<\/strong>, Thich Quang Do was appointed President of the UBCV\u2019s Institute for the Dissemination of the Dharma (Vien Hoa Dao), thus becoming the second-ranking UBCV dignitary after the Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the following years, Thich Quang Do worked tirelessly to organise UBCV welfare, social and humanitarian programmes to promote social justice and aid people in need. In 2000<\/strong>, he personally led a relief mission to aid flood victims in the Mekong Delta. These efforts brought him renewed arrests, interrogations, harassment and accusations of \u201cviolating national security\u201d<\/em>. He also made frequent attempts to visit the Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang, under house arrest in Quang Ngai and Binh Dinh, but was systematically intercepted. In 2006<\/strong>, he was arrested as he tried to board a train to make a New Year visit to the Patriarch, and released only after 40 UBCV monks staged a hunger strike on the station platform.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On February 21st 2001<\/strong>, confronted with the impossibility of any dialogue with the Vietnamese authorities, Thich Quang Do launched an \u201cAppeal for Democracy in Vietnam\u201d<\/strong>, calling on Vietnamese from all political and religious families to rally together around a radical 8-point transition plan for democratic change. The Appeal received overwhelming support, with endorsements of over 300,000 Vietnamese, and over 200 MEPs, Members of the US Congress and international personalities. The government reacted by sentencing Thich Quang Do (without trial) to two years \u201cadministrative detention\u201d on June 1st 2001<\/strong>. He was detained incommunicado<\/em> at the Thanh Minh Zen Monastery, deprived even of medical treatment for his diabetes and high blood pressure. Euro-MP Olivier Dupuis staged a demonstration outside the Monastery in protest on June 6th 2001<\/strong>. He was arrested and expelled from Vietnam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Released on June 27th 2003<\/strong> as a result of concerted international pressure, Thich Quang Do was arrested again along with Thich Huyen Quang and several other UBCV leaders on October 8th 2003<\/strong> after he participated in the UBCV Assembly convened by Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang to elect a new UBCV leadership. Thich Quang Do and Thich Huyen Quang were never formally charged, but were accused of \u201cpossessing state secrets\u201d \u2013 an offence which carries the death penalty in Vietnam \u2013 and placed under strict surveillance at their respective monasteries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2005<\/strong>, marking the 30th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War and the 30 years of the UBCV\u2019s movement for religious freedom, democracy and human rights, Thich Quang Do launched two vibrant appeals to the international community and the people of Vietnam. In a video message<\/strong> addressed to the United Nations<\/strong> in April 2005, he argued that even economic development was untenable without democracy and freedom:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat can we do to bring stability, well-being and development to the people of Vietnam? During my long years in detention, I have thought deeply, and I have come to the conclusion that there is only one way \u2013 we must have true freedom and democracy in Vietnam. We must have pluralism, the right to hold free elections, to chose our own political system, to enjoy democratic freedoms \u2013 in brief, the right to shape our own future, and the destiny of our nation. Without democracy and pluralism, we cannot combat poverty and injustice, nor bring true development and progress to our people. Without democracy and pluralism, we cannot guarantee human rights, for human rights cannot be protected without the safeguards of democratic institutions and the rule of law\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Police seized the video and arrested the young monk who filmed it. However, the UBCV network managed to smuggle out an audio version, which was shown by Vo Van Ai at the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva in April 2005.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thich Quang Do\u2019s \u201cNew Year\u2019s Letter for Pluralism and Democracy\u201d<\/strong> (February 2005) was an unprecedented call for unity, and it represented a turning point in Vietnam\u2019s democracy movement. Addressed to Vietnamese Communist Party (VCP) and military veterans, academics close to the VCP, human rights defenders, cyber-dissidents and democracy activists from all walks of life, this was the first time a UBCV leader had reached out to citizens outside the Buddhists community, and it had a resounding impact, especially on the dissident community in Hanoi. Leading VCP veteran and dissident Hoang Minh Chinh was particularly inspired by Thich Quang Do\u2019s proposals. Indeed, just before his death in 2008 of prostate cancer, this life-long atheist asked Thich Quang Do to convert him to Buddhism and be his master. At Hoang Minh Chinh\u2019s funeral in Hanoi in February 2008, monks from the banned UBCV led the funeral rites, and situation unheard of in Communist Vietnam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2006<\/strong>, the Rafto Foundation in Norway awarded Thich Quang Do the prestigious \u201cThorolf Rafto Memorial Prize\u201d<\/strong>, honouring him for \u201chis personal courage and perseverance through three
decades of peaceful opposition against the communist regime in Vietnam, and as a symbol for the growing democracy movement\u201d<\/em>. Vietnam refused to let Thich Quang Do travel to Norway to receive the Prize, despite repeated requests from the Norwegian government. Hanoi also turned down the request by Rafto Chairman, Arne Lynng\u00e5rd to meet Thich Quang Do, and in March 2007 Security Police arrested and interrogated Rafto\u2019s Therese Jebsen as she came to Thanh Minh Zen Monastery to hand Thich Quang Do the Award Diploma. In April 2006<\/strong>, Thich Quang Do was awarded the \u201cDemocracy Courage Tribute\u201d<\/strong><\/em> by the World Movement for Democracy at their 4th Assembly in Istanbul. In an interview on Radio Free Asia, speaking on the eve of the Communist Party\u2019s 10th Congress, Thich Quang Do made the following comments:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere will come a time when the authorities will be unable to silence all of the people all of the time. The moment will come when the people will rise up, like water bursting its banks. Together, 80 million Vietnamese will speak with one voice to demand democracy and human rights. The government will be unable to ignore their demands, and will have to face up to this reality. Then, the situation in Vietnam will be forced to change, and a democratic process will emerge\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thich Quang Do pledged the UBCV\u2019s support to all peaceful movements for social justice and reform. In July 2007<\/strong>, he broke out of house arrest to speak at a demonstration of \u201cVictims of Injustice\u201d<\/em>, a movement of farmers and peasants protesting official corruption and State confiscation of lands. This was the first time in 26 years he had addressed a crowd in public. It was also the first time in Communist Vietnam that such a prominent dissident had spoken out publicly for democracy and human rights. His words at the demonstration, surrounded by Security Police, were truly courageous:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOne single party cannot possibly represent more that 80 million Vietnamese people. We must have a multi-party system that gives the people wide representation. To solve all these problems and injustices, we must work together for pluralism, democracy and human rights. Freedom of expression is especially important, for without this freedom, how can people voice their grievances and express their opinions to their rulers?<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSo first of all, we must immediately settle the pressing questions of demanding justice, land rights and compensation for farmers. But after that, we must all work together for human rights, democracy and freedom. Everyone must do his part. We must work together until we succeed in winning pluralism and human rights for all the Vietnamese people. There can be no justice under a one-Party State\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The State-controlled media launched a vicious campaign against Thich Quang Do after this, accusing him of \u201cinciting people to oppose the government\u201d<\/em>, being a \u201cgang leader with wicked designs\u201d<\/em>, seeking to \u201cdisturb public order\u201d<\/em> and oppose the Communist Party. He did not step down on his principles however, and launched a fund raising campaign to support the \u201cVictims of Injustice\u201d<\/em>, sending UBCV monk Thich Khong Tanh to distribute aid to demonstrators in Hanoi in August 2007. Thich Khong Tanh was arrested and his funds seized, but Thich Quang Do continued the movement, and today the UBCV is still providing funds for dispossessed peasants and farmers, despite government repression. Furthermore, in 2007<\/strong>, Thich Quang Do initiated a kind of \u201cGrameen Bank\u201d, providing micro-credit loans to the families of activists who had lost their means of subsistence because of their pro-democracy activities. These underground programmes are administered by more than 20 UBCV Provincial Representative Boards set up by Thich Quang Do since 2005 all over central and southern Vietnam to provide spiritual and material aid to the poor. The members of these UBCV Boards suffer persistent harassment, threats and interrogations, but are nevertheless realizing in concrete ways the UBCV\u2019s ideals of compassion and salvation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thich Quang Do\u2019s vision of democracy, articulated in his appeals and Open Letters for democracy, extends far beyond Vietnam\u2019s frontiers. He believes in a peaceful and democratic Vietnam that will help engender peace and stability in Asia and the world, which can be achieved through solidarity and cooperation. In September 2007<\/strong>, during the brutal crackdown on Buddhist monks and civilians in Burma, Thich Quang Do wrote to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon calling for emergency UN action to stop the violence, and addressed a message of solidarity to the Burmese people. In March 2008<\/strong>, following the violent repression of demonstrations in Tibet, he sent a letter of solidarity to His Holiness the Dalai Lama, calling on China to open talks with the Tibetan leader, stressing that \u201conly dialogue, never destruction, can open the way to a lasting solution in Tibet\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In December 2007<\/strong>, in the wake of widespread demonstrations staged by students and young people in Vietnam protesting China\u2019s claims of sovereignty on the disputed Spratly and Paracel archipelagos, Thich Quang Do issued a statement on behalf of the UBCV stating that the best way to safeguard Vietnam\u2019s sovereignty and territorial integrity was for Hanoi to \u201cpass the reins of power to the people in a society based on the separation of the three powers, multi-party democracy and the rule of law\u201d. Because \u201cthree million Communist Party members and a 500,000-strong army have neither the authority nor the power to defend the homeland by military means, nor sufficient prestige and courage to expand political and diplomatic efforts to mobilize international support in our defence\u2026 they need the full participation of the 85 million Vietnamese population and the support of the Vietnamese Diaspora worldwide\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 29th April 2008<\/strong>, as the Olympic Torch relay arrived in Saigon, Thich Quang Do attempted to join a demonstration of young Vietnamese in protest. However, Police blocked all demonstrations. Thich Quang Do expressed his deception in an interview for Radio Free Asia:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIn Vietnam today, young Chinese can proudly parade their flag. Whereas young Vietnamese, the children of this land, whose ancestors shed their blood to preserve our territory, civilisation and identity, are forbidden by their own government, on their own soil, from expressing their national pride and protesting this indignity\u201d\u2026 \u201cWe must reclaim our sovereignty on the Spratly and Paracel Islands. If 85 million Vietnamese remain silent and submissive, we will lose everything. Before we realize it, it will be too late. Vietnam has already lost part of the Nam Quan Border Pass to China and much more. If we do not resist, we could lose our sovereignty once again. Not just for a few decades. Remember, in our history, we were under Chinese domination for 1,000 years\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like the late Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang, Thich Quang Do has paid a high price for his ideals. After spending over 26 years in prison, exile and under house arrest, he is still subjected to restrictions at the Thanh Minh Zen Monastery in Saigon, although he has not been formally convicted of any crime. Ten years after he was \u201camnestied\u201d of his crimes, Thich Quang Do has still not been issued with the obligatory \u201cho khau\u201d, or residence permit, without which he is an illegal citizen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other international awards:<\/strong><\/em> Thich Quang Do has been nominated 9 times for the Nobel Peace Prize. In 2008, he was proposed for the Nobel Peace Prize by 60 Members of the European Parliament, 67 Italian MPs, members of the US Congress and academics. In 2003<\/strong>, Thich Quang Do was honoured by the Czech \u201cPeople in Need Foundation\u201d under the auspices of former President Vaclav Havel with the Homo Homini Award<\/strong> in recognition of his \u201coutstanding merits in promoting human rights, democracy, and the non-violent resolution of political conflicts\u201d<\/em>. In 2001<\/strong>, he received the Hellman-Hammet Award<\/strong> for persecuted writers. Thich Quang Do is adopted by Amnesty International<\/strong> as a prisoner of conscience, and is an honorary member of PEN Clubs<\/strong> in Germany, France and Sweden. He was declared a victim of arbitrary detention by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (Opinion 21, 2.12.1997 and Opinion 18\/2005).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thich Quang Do\u2019s written works include : Before 1975:<\/strong> Deliverance from bondage (novel) – Under the eaves of the derelict pagoda (novel) – Buddhist legends (3 volumes); Translation of the \u201cDai Phuong Tien Phat Bao An\u201d Sutra (7 volumes) – The essence of Primitive Buddhist thought : The Essence of Hinayana thought : The essence of Mahayana thought (a trilogy) – War and Non-violence (translation into Vietnamese of the book by Radhakrishnan, former President of India): After 1975:<\/strong><\/em> – Observations on the grave offences committed by the Vietnamese Communist Party against the Vietnamese people and against Buddhism<\/strong><\/em> (published by the International Buddhist Information Bureau, Paris, 1995); \u201cGreat Dictionary of Buddhist terminology\u201d<\/strong><\/em>, a 6-volume, 8,000-page encyclopaedia of contemporary Buddhist terms containing 22,608 entries and 7 million words, written during his years in internal exile and prison. The manuscript was smuggled out and printed overseas in 2000, since even Thich Quang Do\u2019s religious works are banned in Vietnam; Prison Poems<\/strong><\/em> (published by the International Buddhist Information Bureau, Paris, 2007), a selection of some 400 poems written in exile and prison (without pen and paper, recorded by memory).

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HOUSTON, 17th August 2008 (IBIB) \u2013 At a ceremony marking the 49th day of the death of Supreme Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam held in Houston, Texas today, leaders of the Overseas UBCV made public the late Patriarch\u2019s last will and testament in which he appoints the Most Venerable …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":375,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[97,113,98],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","","category-ibib","category-news","category-press-release"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/375"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1087\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}