Thích Huyền Quang

Last updated
Thích Huyền Quang
Ht huyenquang A4.jpg
Title
Tăng Thống
(Patriarch)
Personal
Born
Lê Đình Nhàn

(1919-09-19)19 September 1919
Bình Định Province, Vietnam, French Indochina
Died5 July 2008(2008-07-05) (aged 88)
Hồ Chí Minh City, Socialist Republic of Vietnam
Religion Buddhism
NationalityVietnamese
Denomination Thiền (Zen)
School Lâm Tế (Linji Chan School)

Thích Huyền Quang (19 September 1919 – 5 July 2008 [1] ) was a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, dissident and activist. At the time, he was the Patriarch of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, a currently banned organisation in his homeland. He was notable for his activism for human and religious rights in Vietnam.

Vietnam Country in Southeast Asia

Vietnam, officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam, is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula. With an estimated 94.6 million inhabitants as of 2016, it is the 15th most populous country in the world. Vietnam shares its land borders with China to the north, and Laos and Cambodia to the west. It shares its maritime borders with Thailand through the Gulf of Thailand, and the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia through the South China Sea. Its capital city is Hanoi, while its most populous city is Ho Chi Minh City.

Bhikkhu male Buddhist monk

A bhikkhu is an ordained male monastic ("monk") in Buddhism. Male and female monastics are members of the Buddhist community.

Dissident person who actively challenges an established doctrine, policy, or institution

A dissident, broadly defined, is a person who actively challenges an established doctrine, policy, or institution. In a religious context, the word has been used since 18th century, and in the political sense since 1940, coinciding with the rise of totalitarian systems, especially the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany and Saudi Arabia.

Contents

In 1977, Quang wrote a letter to then-Prime Minister Phạm Văn Đồng detailing counts of oppression by the communist regime. For this, he and five other senior monks were arrested and detained. [1] In 1982, he was arrested and put on permanent house arrest for opposition to governmental policy after publicly denouncing the establishment of the state-controlled Vietnam Buddhist Church. [2]

Prime Minister of Vietnam Head of Government of Vietnam

The Prime Minister of Vietnam, officially styled Prime Minister of the Government of the Socialist Republic, is the head of government of Vietnam who presides over the meetings of the Central Government. The prime minister directs the work of government members, and may propose deputy prime ministers to the National Assembly.

Phạm Văn Đồng North Vietnamese prime minister

Phạm Văn Đồng was a Vietnamese politician who served as Prime Minister of North Vietnam from 1955 to 1976 and, following unification, as Prime Minister of Vietnam from 1976 until he retired in 1987 under the rule of Lê Duẩn and Nguyễn Văn Linh. He was considered one of Hồ Chí Minh's closest lieutenants.

In 2002, he was awarded the Homo Homini Award for his human rights activism by the Czech group People in Need, which he shared with Thích Quảng Độ and Father Nguyễn Văn Lý. [3]

The Homo Homini Award is given annually by the Czech human rights organization People in Need to "an individual in recognition of a dedication to the promotion of human rights, democracy and non-violent solutions to political conflicts". The award is presented at the One World Film Festival, the world's largest human rights film festival.

Thích Quảng Độ is a Vietnamese Buddhist monk and patriarch of the Unified Buddhist Sangha of Vietnam, a currently banned religious body in Vietnam. In 2002, he was awarded the Homo Homini Award for human rights activism by the Czech group People In Need, which he shared with Thích Huyền Quang and Thadeus Nguyễn Văn Lý.

Death

Quang died peacefully on Saturday, 5 July 2008, aged 88, at his monastery. [4] [5] [6] [7] His funeral was held on Friday, 11 July 2008, without incident. [8]

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Father Thadeus Nguyễn Văn Lý is a Vietnamese Roman Catholic priest and dissident involved in many pro-democracy movements, for which he was imprisoned for a total of almost 15 years. For his ongoing imprisonment and continuous non-violent protest, Amnesty International adopted Father Lý in December 1983 as a prisoner of conscience. Most recently, his support for the Bloc 8406 manifesto has led to his sentence on 30 March 2007, for an additional eight years in prison, where he was released and then returned in 2011.

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Huế Phật Đản shootings 1963 shootings of Buddhist civilians in South Vietnam

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Vietnamese Thiền

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References

  1. 1 2 Vietnamese Federation For Fatherland's Integrity Archived 2008-08-07 at the Wayback Machine
  2. ↑ International Herald Tribune article: "Dissident patriarch of Vietnam Buddhist group dies"
  3. ↑ "Previous Recipients of the Homo Homini Award". People in Need. Archived from the original on 1 May 2011. Retrieved 17 April 2011.
  4. ↑ Google News via AFP
  5. ↑ Dissident Vietnamese monk dies in Vietnam
  6. ↑ Star Tribune article: "Patriarch of banned Vietnamese Buddhist church dies after years under house arrest"
  7. ↑ BBC News (2008-07-11). "Vietnamese dissident laid to rest" . Retrieved 2008-07-20.
  8. ↑ Sahil Nagpal (2008-07-11). "Banned Vietnamese monk's funeral held without incident" . Retrieved 2008-07-12.
Buddhist titles
Preceded by
Thích Ðôn Hậu 		Patriarch of the UBCV
1992–2008		Succeeded by
Thich Quảng Độ
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