[vn-families] Buddhist Leader Returns to Vietnam to Heal War Wounds

[binhp at mylinuxisp.com]

Source: http://www.redbolivia.com/noticias/News%20in%20English/42488.html

Buddhist Leader Returns to Vietnam to Heal War Wounds

VOA
Febrero 22, 2007, 12:35 EST


Ho Chi Minh City --

Hundreds of supporters from Vietnam and overseas were on hand
at the airport in Ho Chi Minh City to greet the arrival of Zen
monk Thich Nhat Hanh.

The Hanh, 80, and his entourage have come to Vietnam to conduct
three large ceremonies, which he calls requiem masses, to honor
the country's war dead. One will be held in each of Vietnam's
major cities of Ho Chi Minh City, Hue, and Hanoi.

Thich Phuoc Chi is a monk at Phap Van pagoda in Ho Chi Minh City,
where Hanh will stay. He explains the goal of the ceremonies.

Chi says the ceremonies are a Vietnamese family ritual, which
Thich Nhat Hanh has carried to a national level. He says they
will honor the soldiers who fell on both sides of the Vietnam
War, to eradicate hatred and to clear the false accusations
against the dead.

Hanh moved to the West after being exiled from South Vietnam
in 1966. He was a leader in the Buddhist Peace Movement that
opposed the Vietnam War. In the United States, he became close
to anti-war religious figures such as civil rights activist
Martin Luther King.

In the West, Hanh developed a large following with an accessible
version of Zen focusing on mindfulness or concentrating thoughts
and actions on the present moment. His monastic group, the
Order of Interbeing, has thousands of members, with centers in
France, Vermont and California, and his books have sold millions
of copies.

His works were banned in Vietnam until two years ago, when
he reached an agreement with the government. He returned for
the first time in February 2005 and lectured to thousands of
curious Vietnamese monks and lay people.

Since then, Hanh's influence among Vietnamese Buddhists has
grown. Thich Huan is another monk at the Phap Van pagoda,
says both clergy and lay people read Hanh's books widely.

Thich Dam Nguyen, a monk at the Yen Tu pagoda in northern
Vietnam, explains that Hanh's form of Zen is something new,
especially in northern Vietnam.

Nguyen says Northerners traditionally practice an intensive
sitting meditation called Tinh Do, whereas Hanh's Zen method
can be practiced while walking around. Nguyen says he used to be
afraid of Zen, but since Hanh's visit, he has begun to enjoy it.

Hanh's returns to Vietnam have provoked some dissension among
Vietnamese Buddhists. Many of the monks Hanh started out with
are now leaders of the Unification Buddhist Church of Vietnam,
which is banned by the government.

The UBCV's leaders, Thich Quang Do and Thich Huyen Quang, have
spent years in prison and under house arrest. Thich Quang Do
refused to meet with Hanh when he returned in 2005, fearing
the Vietnamese government would use Hanh's trip as propaganda.

In Paris, the UBCV spokesman, Vo Van Ai, said he was shocked
that Hanh would visit Vietnam while UBCV leaders are under
house arrest.

"I believe Thich Nhat Hanh's trip is manipulated by the Hanoi
government to hide its repression of the UBCV and create a
false impression of religious freedom in Vietnam," he said.

But the Vietnamese government has raised its own objections to
Hanh's ceremonies, which are normally called "giai oan".

Chi says that the phrase "giai oan" means absolving people of
false charges. But in the case of those who fought for South
Vietnam, the government considers them guilty of betraying the
Vietnamese people for what it calls an U.S. puppet regime.

Due to the sensitivity of the term "giai oan", Thich Nhat Hanh's
deputy, Brother Phap An, says they have decided to call the
rituals "equalization ceremonies".