Hanoi (Fides) - More respect for human rights and more democracy and support for rescue mission of flood victims in Mekong Delta region. This was the call launched by Buddhist leaders on the occasion of the Lunar New Year, January 24, 2001.
Venerable Thich Huyen Quang, Patriarch of the banned Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV) and Venerable Thich Quang Do, Head of the UBCV's Institute for the Propagation of the Dharma (Vien Hoa Dao) have sent messages to Vietnamese followers of Buddha for the Tet, the New Year of the Snake.
Messages, smuggled out of the Pagodas where the two Buddhist leaders are respectively under administrative detention and house arrest, call on Vietnamese Buddhists at home and abroad to actively engage in the combat against poverty, ignorance, and injustice and the non-violent struggle for democracy and human rights.
From the village of Nghia Hanh, in Quang Ngai, where he has been under house arrest since 1982, without any formal charges, 83 year old Thich Huyen Quang said that Vietnamese Buddhism is "deeply impregnated with the spirit of freedom and social justice" and that all Buddhists must aim to become "boddhissatva" one who attains self- enlightenment but remains committed to emancipating his fellows from suffering and injustice. Speaking of the political situation in the country the patriarch stressed the need to guarantee self determination and basic democratic freedoms. "We have endured 35 years of war followed by 25 years under the present regime deprived of human rights and religious freedom" he says. "Today Buddhist monks, nuns and followers live in state of permanent insecurity. They are routinely subject arbitrary arrests and administrative detention. The UBCV is suppressed, banned from exercising any form of activity, not only religious but also cultural educational, humanitarian and social activities". The Venerable calls on Buddhist to unite and "become a living symbol of the people's aspirations for peace'.
Venerable Thich Quang Do, writing from Than Minh Zen monastery in Saigon, thanked Vietnamese Buddhists around the world for supporting the UBCV mission to relieve victims of tragic flooding in the Mekong delta which killed over 400, mostly children, and affected the lives of over 4 million. Despite a government ban (in October 2000 Thich Quang Do was put in prison for leading a humanitarian mission) the monk continues his campaign and has received significant financial support. So far, 760 thousand dollars have been received from Buddhists in the United States, Canada, Norway, Germany and France the UBCV and 536 thousand Dong from Buddhists in Vietnam. Buddhists groups have supplied emergency aid in the provinces of An Giang, Long An, Dong Thap, Tien Giang, Kien Giang, Vinh Long, Tra Vinh and Can Tho, providing rice, noodles, salt, sugar and cash and material to rebuild bridges. (Fides 25/01/2001)