THE HOA HAO BUDDHISTS IN CHRISTMAS SEASON
During the last three weeks, people in the Mekong Delta has been nervous with tension raised by the incoming celebration of a major anniversary of the Hoa Hao Buddhists. Two weeks ago, the Hoa Hao Buddhist Church Council of the Patriarchies in Vietnam announced the celebration of Prophet Huynh Phu So's 80th Birthday on January 1, 2000.
People expected that large numbers of Hoa Hao worshippers would flock to the Hoa Hao Holy Land at the An Hoa Pagoda to attend the ceremonies and services. The Communist authorities are trying to undermine the anniversary by discouraging and hindering the believers from getting together at the Holy Land.
Sources from Vietnam reported that on December 21, 1999, about 8,000 people from the Mekong Delta provinces gathered at An Hoa Pagoda to listen to the Prophet's teachings, preached by senior Hoa Hao notables. People attending the event rejected a preacher appointed by the state-controlled Fatherland Front and the new Committee of Representatives for the Hoa Hao Buddhists, also a puppet organization of the Communist Party.
On this occasion, a number of Hoa Hao Buddhists put up a board on which was read "To Dinh Phat Giao Hoa Hao" (Hoa Hao Buddhist Temple of the Ancestors) above the front entrance of the temple. Although the board and its content didn't violate any law or regulation, Communist authorities took it down and stepped on it, an act accused by the worshippers as provocation and unforgivable blasphemy.
Many people who aren't familiar with the Communist regime might have been surprised at its leaders' such excessive sensitivity. But to the Vietnamese, it's nothing uncommon. They are not as bold as they are cracked up to be.
In an action that proved how great the Communist leaders' concerns are about the Hoa Hao gathering, a large number of local Public Security agents were sent to the Holy Land. For the last few weeks, hundreds of them were sleeping and eating on the spot to watch the religious activities and would be ready at any sign of disturbance.
A day later, as if to make the situation more critical, local authorities posted notices to prohibit taking pictures at the site. The notices made the people angry and almost led to a bloody fight.
The defiant attitude of the Hoa Hao Buddhists is understandable. In 1947, their great leader, Prophet Huynh Phu So was assassinated, reportedly butchered and dismembered by the Communists in the political cleansing campaign by order of Ho Chi Minh. Ten of thousands of Cao Dai and Hoa Hao followers were massacred. The campaign turned the Hoa Hao and the Cao Dai into the staunchest anti-Communist activists.
As to the Cao Dai worshippers, the Communist authorities are treating them with similar rough hands. Hanoi has incessantly interfered in the internal affairs of the Church since South Vietnam fell. The VCP government, through its local authorities, even took over the power of ordaining the clergy.
The independent Cao Dai leaders in Vietnam and abroad all have repeatedly voiced their protests against the VCP brazen efforts to control their religious activities in several letters sent to the top leaders of the VCP and its government. All have fallen on deaf ears so far.
Most Cao Dai followers are in Tay Ninh province, a smaller number of them are in Danang area.
After the Communists took over South Vietnam, the religions' followers have been living under hard restrictions on their faith. Since three years ago, the religions in Vietnam have increasingly risen against the Communist regime. The four major religions - Buddhist, Catholic, Hoa Hao Buddhist and Cao Dai - are the Communist leaders' arch enemies. Any compromise between the two sides could be respected by the Communist leaders only for the time being.
For more information about Hoa Hao Buddhism, please visit Hoa Hao HomePage
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