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Vietnamese monk faces suspension for profiting from karma rituals

Sources say he is actually a member of the Communist Party of Vietnam and secretly a security officer
Vietnamese monk faces suspension for profiting from karma rituals

An image of Venerable Thich Truc Thai Minh as seen on the website of phatgiao.org.vn. (ucanews.com photo)

Published: March 28, 2019 03:48 AM GMT
Updated: March 28, 2019 04:52 AM GMT

A famed monk faces suspension from Vietnam’s central Buddhist body for promoting money-making money rituals aimed at removing bad karma.

Venerable Thich Truc Thai Minh, the head monk of Ba Vang pagoda in Uong Bi City of Quang Ninh province, faces suspension from the government-sanctioned Vietnam Buddhist Sangha over the controversial rituals.

Most Venerable Thich Gia Quang, deputy of the sangha’s executive council, said Venerable Minh, 52, violated the sangha’s constitution and damaged the reputation of the organization and of monks in general.

He said that Venerable Minh offered soul-summoning and bad karma-removing ceremonies to heal worshipers of illness and demanded money or payment of voluntary labor for such rituals.

The practices “are not accurate to Buddhist traditional rituals,” Venerable Quang told a Hanoi press conference.

Venerable Quang put forward the idea that the council’s head — the Most Venerable Thich Thien Nhon — temporarily suspend Venerable Minh from all of his positions in the sangha until the council decides to dismiss him as per the sangha's constitution.

Venerable Minh currently holds several sangha positions. He is deputy of the information and communication committee, deputy of the Economic and Environmental Association and deputy of the standing committee of Buddhism in Lai Chau province.

The state-sanctioned Vietnam Buddhist Sangha is the country’s largest Buddhist organization. It was established in 1981 and has as its motto: “Buddhist teaching, Nation and Socialism.”

Bank transfers

Venerable Minh still leads the pagoda where monks had held regular two-day ceremonies to “summon wandering souls” and “remove bad karma.”

Those rituals have been going on for years, but the practice has drawn adverse attention as the amounts allegedly demanded by monks reached the point where they have been taking payments via bank transfers and in instalments.

Sources have told ucanews.com that Venerable Minh did not graduate from any local Buddhist institutions and is actually a member of the Communist Party of Vietnam and secretly a security officer.

The same sources said that many Buddhist leaders in Vietnam are party members and secret spies. These leaders lead large pagodas and control all religious activities, the sources said.

Many prominent pagodas built in recent years are allegedly supported by government officials and used as channels of making money, the sources said.

Local media reported that the Ba Vang pagoda receives 100 billion dong (US$4.3 million) per year from worshipers’ donations. Local media also reported that construction of the pagoda cost 500 billion dong (US$21.6 million) in 2014. Statues of Ho Chi Minh and other communist leaders are also standing in the pagoda.

Many high-ranking officials including Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc and late president Tran Dai Quang have visited and offered incense at the pagoda.

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