The Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam – a church that is not recognized by the Vietnamese government – has just had a new Council of Elders and Venerable Thich Tue Sy has been honored as Chief Executive Secretary of the Supreme Patriarchate, the highest office of the Church at this time.
According to the announcement of the Central Council of the Clergy of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam published on September 1, a ceremony of vowing and honoring the Central Clergy Council and the nomination of the Chief Secretary of the Standing Committee of the Buddhist Sangha has just been celebrated at Phat An Temple, Long Thanh District, Dong Nai Province.
After the highest leader of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, Most Venerable Thich Quang Do – the fifth Patriarch – passed away on February 22, 2020, the Church still has no new Patriarch. Therefore, the position of Chief Secretary for Executive Affairs of the High House is currently the highest position of the Church.
On November 25, 2018, then Supreme Patriarch Thich Quang Do made a decision to dissolve the Steering Committee of the Institute of Chemistry and suspend the activities of the Standing Committee of the Buddhist Sangha while waiting for the Supreme Patriarchate to convene the General Assembly of the Buddhist Sangha to restore and appoint new personnel.
The new statement of the Central Council of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha acknowledges the difficulties, “disturbing information, and increasingly serious internal divisions” that have led to this decision of the Most Venerable Thich Quang Do.
According to the Will of the Most Venerable Thich Quang Do, the management of the Supreme Patriarchate was entrusted to the Venerable Thich Tue Sy.
“At any time, when meeting favorable conditions Most Venerable Thich Tue Sy, on behalf of the Supreme Patriarchate, convened an extraordinary meeting to elect new personnel for all positions in the Supreme Patriarchate of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam.”
A new statement said that the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam recently established a “Mobilization Committee for the Peace and Sangha, with the task of consulting and proposing to nominate the Elders, Venerables, Venerables, President of the Central Council of Priests, in order to honor the Central Council of Priests of the Patriarchate, the supreme governing body of the Church.”
On August 21, 2022, the ceremony of vowing and honoring the Central Episcopal Council and appointing the Chief Secretary for the High Priestly Office was held.
On August 22, 2022, the official ceremony of handing over the ordination was sawed at Tu Hieu Street, District 8, Ho Chi Minh City.
The Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam is not recognized by the current Vietnamese government. The church’s leadership has been persecuted by the government for many years since the end of the Vietnam War in April 1975.
Most Venerable Thich Tue Sy (born in 1943) is a person who was sent to study and re-education by the Vietnamese government for three years from 1978. In September 1988, Most Venerable Thich Tue Sy was sentenced to death on charges of “Activities to overthrow the people’s administration.” However, due to international advocacy, his death sentence was later reduced to life in prison. On September 1, 1998, he was released. In 2003, Most Venerable Thich Tue Sy was ordered by the government to serve two years of administrative detention.
Most Venerable Thich Tue Sy is an erudite scholar of Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism. He wrote poetry and short stories.
He was awarded the Hellman-Hammet Awards by Human Rights Watch in 1998.
Thoibao.de (Translated)
