International Buddhist Information Bureau
Director : Mr. Vo Van Ai
25 rue Jaffeux, 92230 Gennevilliers, France
tel. (33 1) 47 93 10 81 - fax. (33 1) 47 91 41 38
E-mail : 100302.3100@compuserve.com
Press Release
29th November 1996
Paris - According to a report received today from the Buddhist Sangha for the Protection of the Faith (an underground movement of Buddhist monks and nuns in Hue attached to the banned Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam), 200 Security Police launched a security sweep on Linh Mu Pagoda in Hue on November 22 1996 and arrested UBCV monks Thich Hai Thinh and Thich Hai Chanh. The Pagoda was totally surrounded as Police in motor-boats blocked the entry from the Perfume River, and fire-engines and Police vehicles barred the road-approach from National highway No. 1.
The raid was part of a Government plan to take control of Linh Mu Pagoda, one of the most treasured monuments of Vietnamese Buddhism (built in 1601) and also one of the most active centres of Buddhist dissent. In October 1996, the Pagoda was classed as a "historical monument" by the Government, and since then the Thua Thien-Hue Municipal People's Committee has been preparing to evict the UBCV monks and put the Pagoda under the charge of monks from the State-sponsored Vietnam Buddhist Church. This plan has sparked off strong protests from Buddhists in Hue who see it as a step in the Government's campaign to suppress the independent UBCV and silence the movement for religious freedom and human rights.
This is the second time Thich Hai Thinh and Thich Hai Chanh have been arrested for their support of the UBCV. On 5.6.1993 they were arrested for taking part in a demonstration of 40,000 Buddhists for religious freedom in Hue on May 24 1993 and sentenced to three years imprisonment at a closed trial in Hue on 15.11.1993 along with Thich Tri Tuu, Superior monk of Linh Mu Pagoda, and Thich Hai Tang, who both received four-year sentences. Thich Hai Thinh and Thich Hai Chanh were released in 1995.
In Dalat, Thich Minh Dao, Superior monk of Long Tho Pagoda, a Zen Meditation Centre in Khe Sanh Street, 10th Ward, Dalat was arrested on 30th October 1996. The authorities evicted the 34 resident monks and nuns, and the pagoda was subsequently completely destroyed by Security forces.
Thich Minh Dao (secular name Truong Thanh Tam, born 13.4.1941), became a monk at the age of 18. After the State-sponsored Vietnam Buddhist Church of Vietnam (VBC) was set up in 1981, the local Religious Board in Lam Dong Province continually pressed Thich Minh Dao to join, but he refused any contact with the VBC, advocating his support to the UBCV. As a result, he became the target of continual harassment. He was arrested twice, in June 1975 and August 1980 on charges of "illegally spreading religion". He continued to refuse adherence to the VBC.
A smear campaign was then launched against Thich Minh Dao in the official press. In mid-October 1996 he sent a petition to the authorities denouncing the accusations of misconduct laid against him in official newspapers such as Lao Dong, Cong An Nhan Dan, Tuoi Tre, Dai Doan Ket, Thanh Nien etc...
The authorities reacted with an official statement (No 59/BC-BTS, 24.10.1996) issued by the State-sponsored VBC Lam Dong Provincial Executive Committee which declared that Thich Minh Dao was not recognized as a monk by the VBC and that Long Tho Pagoda had "never taken any part in any of the (VBC) Church's local activities whatsoever". They demanded that "the State must punish him by means of the law". Thich Minh Dao is detained on charges of "pursuing superstitious practices that entail serious consquences" (Article 199 of the SRV Criminal Code).
One of the UBCV's highest dignitaries, Venerable Thich Phap Tri, Deputy Head of the UBCV Institute for the Propagation of the Faith (Vien Hoa Dao) died on 25th November 1996 at Xa Loi Phat Dai Pagoda, Ho Chi Minh City. The cause of his death is not yet known.
Thich Phap Tri had been under close Police surveillance since the death of former UBCV Patriarch Thich Don Hau in 1992. In his testament, Thich Don Hau appointed three prominent monks to take up the leadership of the UBCV : Thich Huyen Quang as Patriarch, Thich Phap Tri as Deputy and Thich Quang Do as UBCV Secretary General. The late Patriarch mandated his succesors to "brave all hardships" and continue "whatever the circumstances may be" to advocate freedom of religion and the right to existence of the UBCV.