For Immediate Release
September 8, 1998

- Thich Quang Do thanks international community for release of UBCV Buddhists.
- Thich Tue Sy staged 10-day hunger strike in Ba Sao prison & refused to sign clemency plea for National Day Amnesty.
- Thich Tri Sieu prepares book on the history of Vietnamese Buddhism

Speaking on the telephone with the International Buddhist Information Bureau (IBIB) in Paris after their release from prison on Vietnam's National Day Amnesty, Dr Thich Quang Do, Prof. Thich Tue Sy and Dr Thich Tri Sieu (Le Manh That), three prominent dignitaries from the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) said they would not leave home and would continue working for Buddhism in Viet Nam.

In a phone conversation shortly after his arrival at Thanh Minh Zen Monastery (Ho Chi Minh City) on 2.9.1998, Dr Thich Quang Do asked the IBIB to transmit a special message of thanks on his behalf to all Governments, to the United Nations, international human rights organizations, labour movements, concerned people around the world and all UBCV clergy and followers overseas who campaigned for his release. "I was deeply moved every time I heard news of international support campaigns. I wish to extend my heartfelt thanks to you all for supporting me, Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang and all other prisoners of conscience in Viet Nam. Thanks to this international pressure, the Vietnamese authorities were obliged to treat us relatively well, much better than they did in 1977 [i.e. when Thich Quang Do was first imprisoned and tortured for 20 months]. The wardens dared not ill-treat us too harshly for they knew they were under international scrutiny."

Asked if conditions had been attached to his release, Thich Quang Do replied : "None at all. The authorities knew my position well enough - if they had imposed conditions, I would have refused them, and I would certainly not have accepted to leave the country. I would rather stay in prison than leave my home. This is my birthplace, the land of my ancestors, why should I leave it now? Just as fishes live in water, Buddhist monks must live among the people, in their own homeland, and should never be separated from them. "

Thich Quang Do said his health had deteriorated significantly in prison because of "lack of care". He suffers from high blood pressure, migraines, respiratory and stomach disorders and severe arthritis. He lost almost all his teeth in prison. However, he remains morally unscathed by his confinement, and told IBIB that he has just finished compiling an 18,000-page "Great Buddhist Dictionary". Two thirds of this monumental manuscript were written in prison or under house arrest. "I was not allowed to bring reference books into prison and lacked sufficient writing paper, so I must now review the whole manuscript before I begin to look for a publisher" he said.

Prof. Thich Tue Sy, speaking to the IBIB from Nhatrang on Saturday 4th September, said he was in extremely poor health after a 10-day hunger strike and a 36-hour train journey from Hanoi to Nhatrang. He suffered seriously from malnutrition in the prison, and has lost almost all his teeth.

Released from Ba Sao Prison, Nam Ha Province (Northern Viet Nam) on September 1st, Thich Tue Sy, told IBIB that he was summoned by the prison authorities on 21 August 1998 and told to write an appeal for clemency to SRV President Tran Duc Luong and request an amnesty. Thich Tue Sy refused : "I told the prison authorities : I will not accept your clemency and I will not ask for an amnesty. You had no right to arbitrarily arrest and imprison me, so you have no right to grant me an amnesty today. Then I went on hunger strike, even though I knew that I was completely alone, with no-one to support me, no journalist to write about my act, and no-one on the outside knowing what I had decided to do. I carried out my solitary struggle, in spite of my loneliness and despair. It was the only way I had to affirm my dignity as a human being".

Thich Tue Sy then refused all food and water for 10 days. His condition became so alarming that the prison authorities had him intravenously fed. After being fed seven drip-bottles, he began to recover. On 30th August, he was fed two more bottles, and on September 1st, he began to drink water and was able to walk. The Director of Ba Sao Prison then announced that he was released. On 2.9.1998, Thich Tue Sy was put unaccompanied on the train at Phy Ly station. He sat on the train for 36 hours, unable to lie down or take any rest. Too weak to continue the journey to Ho Chi Minh City, he left the train when it reached Nhatrang at 19h.30. Thich Tue Sy is now at the Hai Duc Buddhist Institute in Nhatrang.

Similar pressure was used to make another UBCV monk, Thich Nhat Ban (secular name Ho Buu Hoa) write an appeal for amnesty this year. However, Thich Nhat Ban also refused, saying: "I didn't have to sign an appeal to be arrested, so I don't see why I should sign an appeal to be released". The prison wardens offered to write the appeal if he would only sign, but the monk declined. He is still detained in Z30A Reeduaction Camp, Xuan Loc, Dong Nai, serving a 4-year sentence for participating in the UBCV Rescue Mission for flood victims in 1994.

According to Thich Tue Sy, two other prisoners were released from Ba Sao Camp on the National Day Amnesty : Catholic priest Dinh Viet Hieu and Pham Anh Dung. Pham Anh Dung, a French citizen, resident of Paris, was arrested in 1992 with a group of overseas Vietnamese from Canada, the US and France in an operation called the "Spring Offensive" aimed at overthrowing the Vietnamese government by violence. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison.

Released from Z30A Reeducation Camp, Xuan Loc (Dong Nai Province) on August 31st, Dr Thich Tri Sieu (Le Manh That), arrived in Saigon on September 1st 1998 and is now in Van Hanh Zen Center, Ho Chi Minh City. Despite 14 years in prison, many of which were spent in solitary confinement, Thich Tri Sieu sounded serene and in good spirits. In a phone conversation to IBIB immediately after his arrival in Saigon, he spoke passionately of his reflections on Vietnamese Buddhism during his years in prison. "In the New Economic Zone near my prison, on a stretch of desolate waste-land, the local people set up a make-shift Pagoda commonly known as the "Tin-roof Pagoda" so they could study and practice Buddhism. This is a simple act, but it shows how deeply Buddhism has impregnated the common people in Viet Nam... Before I was arrested, I was writing a book on the history of Vietnamese Buddhism from its origins until today. I had written up to the rule of King Ly Nam De (IV Century AD). Then I was arrested, so I had to stop. But I am ready to finish it now. In prison I read many of the classical studies on Vietnamese Buddhism and found so many interesting details that today's scholars have never bothered to explore. For example, the first person to introduce Buddhism to Viet Nam was Zen Master Phat Quang, and the first Buddhists were Chu Dong Tu and Tien Dung in the III century BC. There are traces of this on "Cua Sot" Arch in Ha Tinh province. We should organize teams of archaeologists and get to work on this... There is so much to be done..."

Thich Tri Sieu told IBIB that he hoped very soon to publish his new discoveries and devote himself to the research and promotion of Buddhism in Viet Nam.