Thich Huyen Quang

Thích Huyền Quang
Religion Thiền (Zen) Buddhism
School Lâm Tế (Linji Chan School)
Personal
Nationality Vietnamese
Born 19 September 1919(1919-09-19)
Bình Định Province, Vietnam, French Indochina
Died 5 July 2008(2008-07-05) (aged 88)
Hồ Chí Minh City, Republic of Vietnam
Senior posting
Title
Tăng Thống
(Patriarch)

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.

In 1977, Huyền 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]

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]

Death

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

References

  1. ^ a b Vietnamese Federation For Fatherland's Integrity
  2. ^ International Herald Tribune article: "Dissident patriarch of Vietnam Buddhist group dies"
  3. ^ "Previous Recipients of the Homo Homini Award". People in Need. http://www.clovekvtisni.cz/index2en.php?id=549. 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". http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7501092.stm. Retrieved 2008-07-20. 
  8. ^ Sahil Nagpal (2008-07-11). "Banned Vietnamese monk's funeral held without incident". http://www.topnews.in/banned-vietnamese-monks-funeral-held-without-incident-252249. Retrieved 2008-07-12. 

External links

Buddhist titles
Preceded by
Thích Ðôn Hậu		 Patriarch of the UBCV
1992 – 2008		 Succeeded by
Thich Quảng Độ

Sergei Kovalev (1994) • Szeto Wah (1997) • Ibrahim Rugova (1998) • Oswaldo Payá Sardiñas (1999) • Min Ko Naing (2000) • Zackie Achmat (2001) • Thích Huyền Quang (2002) • Thích Quảng Độ (2002) • Nguyễn Văn Lý (2002) • Nataša Kandić (2003) • Gheorghe Briceag (2004) • Ales Bialiatski (2005) • Svetlana Gannushkina (2006) • Su Su Nway (2007) • Phyu Phyu Thin (2007) • Nilar Thein (2007) • Liu Xiaobo (2008) • Majid Tavakoli (2009) • Abdollah Momeni (2009) • Azimzhan Askarov (2010)