Tensions rise as police question monk's followers
 By BEN STOCKING, Associated Press Writer Ben Stocking, Associated Press Writer – Tue Sep 22, 10:15 am ET

HANOI, Vietnam – Authorities are intensifying their efforts to oust followers of an internationally known Buddhist monk from a monastery in Vietnam's Central Highlands and have 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 books in the West and now lives in southern France.

Conflicts over religion are not unusual in Vietnam, where the government closely monitors religious organizations.

Authorities asked Nhat Hanh's followers to leave Bat Nha earlier this summer, but the monks refused, ignoring a Sept. 2 deadline set by authorities.

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.

The monk's followers have "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 the 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, Nhat Hanh's followers say.

On Monday night, about 20 people, some carrying knives, unsuccessfully 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.

Nhat Hanh has visited Vietnam three times since 2005, but remains based at his Plum Village monastery in southern France.

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

Vietnamese 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, the monastery's abbot, could not be reached for comment.

The tensions at Bat Nha first boiled over in 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.

The dispute at Bat Nha represents a remarkable turnaround from four years ago, when France-based Nhat 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's government give up its control of religion. After that, Nhat Hanh's followers say, tensions began to develop.

Nhat Hanh's followers say they have spent nearly $1 million expanding the property and adding buildings and have no place else to go. The monks say they have no political goals but merely wish to meditate together and do 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."

 

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