October 2, 2009
Buddhist monks: Vietnam police still harassing us
by Ben Stocking
Associated Press
HANOI, Vietnam – Followers of a world-famous Buddhist teacher who were forced out of a Vietnamese monastery over the weekend have taken refuge at a nearby pagoda, but they say they have once again been surrounded by police.
The monks' ongoing standoff with Vietnamese authorities has tested the communist country's sometimes edgy relationship with religion, which the government views as a potential rival power structure. The government closely monitors all churches in the country.
The Buddhists say the police are now pressuring them to leave the Phuoc Hue pagoda in Lam Dong province, even though local officials of the state-sanctioned Buddhist Church of Vietnam have welcomed them to stay.
The 376 monks and nuns are followers of Thich Nhat Hanh, a Vietnamese-born monk who helped popularize Buddhism in the West, has sold millions of books worldwide and now lives in France. He was once nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Martin Luther King.
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