[Buddha-l] Obituary on Vietnam UBCV Supreme Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang

[jkirk]

The Supreme Patriarch of the Unified Buddhist church of Vietnam
(an organisation still banned by the VN government), said inter
alia:
"We can see that Vietnam's economic development has brought some
improvements. But at the same time, the poverty gap is rocketing.
This is not just the gap between rich and poor, but the gulf
between the rulers and the ruled."

Doesn't this ring a bell here in the USA?
Joanna
======================================

http://www.queme.net/eng/news_detail.php?numb=1040

"I have lived without a home, will die without a grave,
I walk without a path and am imprisoned without a crime"
(Thich Huyen Quang)

Obituary on UBCV Supreme Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang
2008-07-05 

The 4th Supreme Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang of the Unified
Buddhist Church of Vietnam (UBCV), who passed away on 5th July at
the Nguyen Thieu Monastery in Binh Dinh, was one of Vietnam's
most loved and respected spiritual leaders. He was also a
determined opponent of tyranny in all its forms. For his
uncompromising determination to stand firm, he paid a high price,
spending over half his life in prison, internal exile, or under
house arrest under a succession of political regimes. Together
with the Most Venerable Thich Quang Do, Thich Huyen Quang waged
three decades of peaceful opposition to the Communist regime,
becoming a symbol of the non-violent Buddhist movement for
religious freedom and human rights. But he was also a great
peacemaker and a man of dialogue, seeking every opportunity
towards harmony and the healing of divisions in a Vietnam torn by
war and conflicting ideologies. In April 2003, he was received in
Hanoi by Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai to discuss the
situation of Buddhism. This is the first time a political
prisoner had ever been received by a top government official in
Communist Vietnam.

The International Buddhist Information Bureau wishes to make
public some salient points of his life and work. More information
and translation of his major texts will be posted on the IBIB
website............

...........In his last Message to the Buddhists community, issued
on the Vesak (Buddha's Birth) in May this year, Thich Huyen Quang
stressed Buddhism's firm commitment to freedom and human rights:

"Buddhism does not turn its back on society. On the contrary,
Buddhism boldly confronts society's challenges, restoring peace
to societies where repression rules, false thinking dominates and
people are driven into perpetual conflict".

"We can see that Vietnam's economic development has brought some
improvements. But at the same time, the poverty gap is rocketing.
This is not just the gap between rich and poor, but the gulf
between the rulers and the ruled. Vietnam's policies have
produced a "rich country with poor people", the very contrary of
the prosperity that the government's slogans claim". "In terms of
human freedoms, we have nothing - all basic rights and liberties
are denied. The religious communities cannot act freely, and as a
result, social problems are persistent and increasing. It is
impossible to bring enlightenment where poverty and lack of
freedom prevail".

"We have virtually lost the Spratly and Paracel islands, to the
total indifference of our government. How starkly their attitude
contrasts with that of the Dinh, Le, Ly and later Le, Ly and Tran
dynasties, where the kings, great Zen masters, Buddhists and the
entire population shared a common determination to defend and
preserve the nation. Thanks to their efforts to defend our
country, the Vietnamese people have a land on which to live.
Thanks to their efforts to maintain our independence, the
Vietnamese people have preserved their identity and developed the
spiritual and cultural values that distinguish Vietnamese
civilization today". By developing their spirituality and
fulfilling Buddha's teachings, he wrote, Buddhists could serve
their country and help to "ensure that the Vietnamese people will
never again be slaves".

"Buddha's teachings cannot flourish in a country reduced to
slavery; human beings cannot enjoy happiness if they are poor and
oppressed. The ultimate vow of all Buddhists is to emerge
wherever such suffering exists, and show all beings the Path to
liberation".

[I'm not sure that some of the kings he cited were great Zen
masters.......nevertheless...
Joanna]