{"id":57552,"date":"2003-05-06T12:00:00","date_gmt":"2003-05-06T12:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/queme.org\/?p=57552"},"modified":"2026-09-18T22:42:43","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T22:42:43","slug":"thich-huyen-quang-and-thich-quang-do-meet-in-hcmc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/thich-huyen-quang-and-thich-quang-do-meet-in-hcmc\/","title":{"rendered":"For the first time in 21 years, Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang and Venerable Thich Quang Do meet in Ho Chi Minh City"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

PARIS, 6 May 2003 (IBIB) – For the first time since 1982, when he was arrested and placed under detention in Quang Ngai, the Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang,<\/strong> Patriarch of the banned Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) has traveled to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) to meet UBCV Deputy Thich Quang Do.<\/strong> The meeting took place on Monday 5th<\/sup> May at the Thanh Minh Zen Monastery where Thich Quang Do is detained incommunicado. The monks spent the whole afternoon together discussing the future of the banned UBCV. This is also the first time Thich Quang Do has received a visit since he was placed under \u201cadministrative detention\u201d on June 1st<\/sup> 2001. Foreign diplomats, Members of the European Parliament and the US Congress have requested permission to meet him, but the authorities have systematically refused.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The two monks have met briefly twice before over the past two decades, once in March 1999 (after Thich Quang Do, who was released in a government amnesty in September 1998, paid a \u201cTet\u201d Lunar New Year visit to Thich Huyen Quang) and again in February 2001, just before he launched his \u201cAppeal for Democracy in Vietnam\u201d. On both occasions, Security Police arrested, harassed and interrogated the two monks, ransaked Thich Huyen Quang\u2019s small Pagoda and forced Thich Quang Do to return immediately to Saigon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thich Huyen Quang decided to visit Thich Quang Do in Saigon after his meeting with Prime Minister Phan Van Khai on April 2nd<\/sup> 2003. The UBCV Patriarch informed IBIB Director Vo Van Ai that he would travel to Hue for the memorial ceremony of the late UBCV Patriarch Thich Don Hau at Linh Mu Pagoda on April 21st, then take the plane directly to Saigon. However, local Religious Board officials obliged him to leave Hue immediately after the ceremony, which was attended by over 3,000 Buddhist clergy and followers. Only after strong protests from the monks at Linh Mu Pagoda did the authorities finally allow the 86-year-old UBCV Patriarch to rest for the night in Hue, but they escorted him to the Nguyen Thieu Monastery in Binh Dinh the following morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thich Huyen Quang bought train tickets for Saigon on April 26th<\/sup>, but the authorities refused to let him travel until after April 30th<\/sup>, anniversary of the 1975 fall of Saigon (named \u201cBlack April\u201d in the dissident community). He again bought train tickets on May 1st<\/sup>, but Religious Board officials made him return them and insisted on escorting him to Saigon by car. He was not allowed to stay with UBCV monks, but was taken directly to An Quang Pagoda, headquarters of the State-sponsored Vietnam Buddhist Church (VBC) in Saigon where he will stay throughout the visit. Although his arrival was not announced, Thich Huyen Quang was greeted by a crowd of over 1,000 Buddhists when he arrived at the An Quang Pagoda at 7.30 p.m. on May 2nd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That evening, Thich Huyen Quang addressed a gathering of Buddhist clergy and followers at An Quang Pagoda. He encouraged them to think seriously about how to actively study and practice Buddhism, and form a new generation of monks and nuns. Whilst he noted the recent increase in the restoration and construction of Pagodas, he said these were merely superficial improvements, and many obstacles still faced Buddhism in Vietnam. He told Buddhists of his 21 harsh years under house arrest in Quang Ngai, and urged them to be hopeful: \u201cThe international community and world governments support our peaceful efforts. It is time for all Buddhists to unite, and realize Lord Buddha\u2019s teachings to deliver our fellows from suffering and injustice\u201d.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis landmark meeting between the two UBCV leaders has immense significance, not only for UBCV Buddhists but for all dissidents and human rights defenders in Vietnam\u201d<\/em> commented IBIB Director Vo Van Ai. Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang and 2003 Nobel Peace Prize nominee Venerable Thich Quang Do, he said, both of whom have spent over 20 years in detention for their peaceful resistance against government repression, \u201chave become symbols of the nonviolent movement for religious freedom, democracy and human rights in Vietnam\u201d.<\/em> Mr. Ai added that Buddhists and international human rights organizations all over the world were waiting eagerly for Hanoi to take more concrete steps towards religious freedom, such as the full release of Thich Quang Do from \u201cadministrative detention\u201d scheduled for June 1st<\/sup> 2003, and the re-establishment of the right to existence of the banned UBCV.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

PARIS, 6 May 2003 (IBIB) – For the first time since 1982, when he was arrested and placed under detention in Quang Ngai, the Most Venerable Thich Huyen Quang, Patriarch of the banned Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) has traveled to Ho Chi Minh City (Saigon) to meet UBCV Deputy Thich Quang Do. The …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":557,"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],"tags":[286,287,1048,671,288],"class_list":["post-57552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","","category-ibib","tag-forb-2","tag-religious-freedom-2","tag-thich-huyen-quang-2","tag-thich-quang-do-2","tag-ubcv-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57552","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\/557"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57552"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57553,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57552\/revisions\/57553"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/queme.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}