Tensions rise as police question monk's followers

[September 22, 2009]  HANOI, Vietnam (AP) -- Followers of an internationally known Buddhist monk say tensions are rising at a monastery in Vietnam's Central Highlands after local officials accused them of trying to "sabotage" Vietnam's communist government.

An angry crowd gathered outside the Bat Nha monastery on Monday and local police conducted late-night searches of the rooms, said Brother Phap Tu, speaking by telephone Tuesday from the compound in Lam Dong province.

The monks and nuns there are followers of Thich Nhat Hanh, an exiled Vietnam-born monk who has sold more than 1 million English-books in the West and is now based at the Plum Village monastery in southern France.

At the Bat Nha monastery, about 20 people, some carrying knives, pressured the monks to leave, ripped their clothing from a line and tossed it into a nearby river, Tu said. A few days before that, the group smashed the windows of the meditation hall, he said.

Late Monday night, police searched the dormitory rooms of the nearly 400 monastery residents and took the identity cards of two monks, ordering them to attend a meeting with local government officials Tuesday morning, Tu said.

Calls to the area's police chief and local officials went unanswered Tuesday.

Nhat Hanh has visited Vietnam three times since 2005, but remains based in southern France and is currently not in Vietnam.

His followers say they are being punished because Nhat Hanh has suggested that Vietnam's communist government should abolish its control of religion.

Authorities describe the conflict as an internal dispute between two factions of monks. They say they are simply acting at the request of the monastery's owner, Duc Nghi, a member of the official Buddhist Church of Vietnam who invited Nhat Hanh's followers to settle at the pagoda in 2005 but changed his mind last year.

Nghi could not be reached for comment.

The tensions first boiled over last June, when a mob descended on the site with sledgehammers, damaged buildings and threatened the monks and nuns who follow Nhat Hanh. Authorities also cut off electricity at the site.

Authorities later decided to allow the monks to stay until Sept. 2, but they declined to leave, saying they have no place to go and have spent nearly $1 million expanding the property and adding buildings.

The deadline passed without incident, but on Sept. 7, local officials drafted a memo accusing the monks of illegally occupying Bat Nha and urged local communist organizations to persuade them to leave.

"Plum Village association has abused the religious policies of the party and state to sabotage the regime and oppose the Buddhist Church of Vietnam," said the memo, a copy of which was leaked to Nhat Hanh's followers, who shared it with The Associated Press.

A local official confirmed authenticity of the memo, which did not elaborate on the "sabotage" accusation.

In the two weeks since the memo was issued, tensions have gradually escalated, said Brother Phap Kham, a Hong Kong-based associate of Nhat Hanh's who communicates regularly with the Bat Nha monks.

The dispute at Bat Nha represents a remarkable turnaround from four years ago, when France-based Hanh returned to his native land after 39 years of exile. His return made the front pages of state-owned newspapers, and authorities originally approved of his group's activities.

But during a subsequent visit in 2007, he suggested to President Nguyen Minh Triet that Vietnam abolish government control of religion. After that, Nhat Hanh's followers say, tensions began to develop.

The government says the monks have not had permission to stay at Bat Nha since July 2008, when Duc Nghi, the Bat Nha abbott, asked them to leave. Since then, they say, Nhat Hanh's followers have taught various courses at the monastery without permission.

Nhat Hanh's followers say they have kept the official Vietnam Buddhist Church fully informed of their activities and have done nothing without approval.

They say that Nghi participated in a sacred "Lamp Transmission" ceremony at Plum Village monastery in France in January 2006, where he accepted Nhat Hanh as his teacher for life and agreed to let his followers settle at Bat Nha, an invitation he first made during Nhat Hanh's 2005 Vietnam visit.

"Duc Nghi is breaking a vow that he made to us," Kham said. "We have videotapes of him inviting us to turn the monastery into a place for worship in the Plum Village tradition, even after he dies -- life after life. Nobody can go against that wish."

Authorities have urged the monks to settle at other pagodas run by the official Buddhist Church of Vietnam.

But the monks say they are committed to staying at Bat Nha, the only place that can accommodate all of them. They say they have no political goals but merely wish to meditate and perform good works.

"Separating would be very difficult for us," Tu said. "It's as though we were studying math, and they put us into a painting class."

[Associated Press; By BEN STOCKING]

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.