How Can I Help?
There are a number of things that you can do to help the monks and nuns of Bat Nha Monastery:
- URGENT: Please sign this petition supporting the right to religious freedom in Vietnam and Southeast Asia.
- Practice: Wherever you are in the world please come together with local Sangha, friends or family.You can arrange peace walks, peace sits and send your energy of support and compassion to all those affected by the events in Bao Loc. Take pictures, write reports and send to: helpbatnha.photos[at]gmail.com, helpbatnha[at]gmail.org resp.
- Connect: If there are NGOs that would be of help and you are in a position to connect with please let us know you are doing so. We already have good communication with Amnesty international and The Human Rights Watch organisation. Connect with friends, sanghas, other support groups, political leaders, news people; direct people to contact us if they can offer special assistance.
- Express Yourself: Send a message of support to the evicted Bat Nha monks and nuns to: we.are.all.here.for.you[at]gmail.com
- Stay up to date. Keep our message simple. There is sometimes confusion about the politics of how we got to where we are at. There should be enough information on this site to explain everything. Please do take the time to understand (Chronology of Events) what has happened but at the same time we want to keep the message simple. Indeed, the situation has become very clear: The Vietnamese central government wishes to disband and prevent monks and nuns from practicing together as a Sangha in the tradition of Thich Nhat Hanh. We are making 3 specific requests:
The Bat Nha monastics are requesting the Government of Vietnam and authorities in Lam Dong Province to:
- Immediately stop the current campaign of persecution and all attempts to intimidate, harass, disrupt and forcefully disperse the community and its individual members
- Officially confirm the Bat Nha monks’ and nuns’ full legal status (guaranteed by the law of Vietnam and international treaties to which Vietnam is party, and already stated in government documents 212/CV/HDTS and 525/TGCP-PG issued in 2006) to practice Buddhism according to the Vietnamese Plum Village tradition, together as a community, in an established location of their own
- Allow the monks and nuns to live and practice peacefully all together at their temporary location, Phuoc Hue Temple, (or another appropriate location the sangha agrees to) until the current situation is resolved
Please share with the community (in the comments) other ideas for ways to support and help.
Suggest that concerned people also contact their own goverment officials to raise this issue. I live in the United States of America, so will contact my members of congress and Senators on this issue. If anyone has organized way to do this or suggestion, please share this.
May the day be well. May all living beings be well.
Thanks,
Jeff
Dear friends,
The Sanga Flor de Mandacaru, from Recife, in the North East of Brazil would like to help with the translations from English into Portuguese of the site helpbatnha. We have already done a few relavant translations as well as the Sangha Plena Consciência from São Paulo. So we could join our efforts and continue.
Would someone well versed in computer be able to help us?
Please let us know asap.
dear friends on the path,
please contact me, I would like to help out a little bit concerning Thay’s and sister Chan Khong letter, the Indonesian version was too many mistakes.
with love and trust from upper hamlet!
Dear All,
I would like to send you an email regarding to Bat Nha. Could you please give me your email address?
Best Regards
Minh-Tri Nguyen
Please protect and support the monks and nuns!
Corinne de Beer, Velserbroek, Netherlands
Dear Staff,
To which address should I send information about activities
(letters to embassies)of German Sanghas to You?
Do you also have a contact address of Matt Steinglass?
a Lotus,Chân Diêu
I am in the US. Could someone provide the sample of letter for us to use to write to our senators, congressmen? Or an option on helpbatnah.org website for us to enter our name, address, email, then just click send button, the letter will be emailed to our representatives.
With Metta,
Last week at the retreat at Stonehill College both a sample letter and information about Congress officials involved in foreign affairs matter that could be of help was presented in paper form.
It would be beneficiary to have them posted here so that we can download them and pass the information along to our individual networks.
Time is of essence since the last communication from the Vietnamese government is that action against Bat Nha is likley on Sep 2nd.
dear staff of this website,
thank you for your hard work. I believe that it is important here in the USA for the 2 videos to be highlighted at the top of site (with footage of the attack and also the beautiful one showing the monastics) we have discovered that most Americans will not read much but they click on videos. I am publicizing the situation to other buddhist groups here , but it is important that a very accessbile clicking area with the videos and also, the addresses be highlighted. And since the president of Vietnam is coming to the UN this Thursday, shouldn’t we being doing peaceful walking meditation with signs there?
Breathing in the Blessings of our monastics…
May they be safe…and free from fear…
Laurel
Here is a letter sample that I sent directly from their web sites, after filling in the forms. I can only give you the links and a sample. You have to cut and paste and fill in your own words a little bit.
Based on your state, write to one or more of these senators of Senate Foreign Relations Committee:
http://foreign.senate.gov/about.html
For example, if you are from CA, write to Barbara Boxer, senator, member of Senate Foreign Relations Committee:
https://boxer.senate.gov/contact/email/policy.cfm
Or write to Nancy Pelosi, House Speaker,
http://speaker.house.gov/contact/
Or to senator Diane Feinstein:
http://feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactUS.EmailMe
You can find more senators and congressmen of your state here:
http://www.capwiz.com/politicsol/directory/congdir.tt
Very important, email directly to the executive branch like:
President Barack Obama,
http://www.capwiz.com/politicsol/mail/?id=3181&lvl=F&chamber=P
Vice President, Joe Biden,
http://www.capwiz.com/politicsol/mail/?agencyindid=7581&type=AN
First Lady Michelle Obama,
http://www.capwiz.com/politicsol/mail/?agencyindid=7582&type=AN
Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton
http://www.capwiz.com/politicsol/mail/?agencyindid=117&type=AN
———- Sample letter ———-
Sunday September 27, 2009.
Dear Honorable Senator John Kerry.
I am proud to be a US citizen, a life long Democrat, a computer scientist educated at MIT, and is now working at Hermes Microvision Inc., a semiconductor start up in the Bay Area producing state of the art Scanning Electron Microscope for wafer inspection.
As a concerned citizen, living in the State of Massachusetts for 7 years from 1979-1986, I would like to ask for your intervention to the Vietnamese authorities so they stop beating and evicting the 150 monks and 230 nuns at Bat Nha monastery. This news has been reported by Ben Stocking, Associated Press writer at the link below:
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/A/AS_VIETNAM_BUDDHIST_STANDOFF?SITE=MOJOP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT
I am writing a letter to the President of Vietnam, Mr. Nguyen Minh Triet, calling for his government to let the nuns and monks practice their Buddhist and Zen faith in peace, so they can help the Vietnamese people find happiness. But as a refugee who escaped by boat, I know this letter would be useless. Similar to Communist China suppressing Tiananmen Square and Falun Gong with false accusations, Communist Vietnam is now scared of devoted youths, when hundreds then thousands of young people suddenly followed our Master Thich Nhat Hanh, in his practice of Mindfullness and Compassion, to solve daily life problems.
May I urge that you, as Chairman of the US Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, write a letter of concern to the Vietnamese authority to urge it to honor its commitment to freedom and human rights when it joins WTO and normalizes relations with the US, then benefits so much from the open commerce after that.
Our family has just returned from a 5-day practice at Deer Park monastery with our Master Thich Nhat Hanh. We are amazed at why so many thousands of Americans and Europeans from all over the world adopt the Art of Mindful Living, and millions buy his books.
If all interventions failed, would you please recommend that these 150 monks and 230 nuns be allowed to seek asylum in the US? I am sure they will be able to contribute a lot to the USA, especially helping our returning troops relieve from PTSD, or our disadvantaged youths lead productive life, and our sick elderly live more happily.
Thank you for your dedication to public service.
your name
street address
phone number
email address
I have written Sens. Feinstein and Boxer in California to inform them of the terrible events at Bat Nha Monastery. I have also emailed Amnesty International. I will continue to raise awareness and send energy and money if needed to support your cause.
In Peace,
Michele Ringler
I have written to both Senator Boxer and the Vietnamese embassy in New York, and will invite family members to sit with me on Sunday.
Metta and Hoa Binh,
— W. Pritchard
Since Sunday, these ~380 young monks and nuns are still taking refuge and meditating at a small pagoda in Bao Loc city, waiting for the torrential rain to subside. In the end, I think they will go home and continue their practice peacefully. Just like a big river, narrowing at times, branching to smaller ones, seeping into the ground, but ultimately we will all join together one day at the ocean.
However, we can help all we can by writing to President, First Lady, Secretary of State, Senators and Congressmen in the Foreign Affairs Committee. From the emails I sent, I get many replies, so someone is reading and taking notice. Here is a sample from my daughter Annie. Cut and paste, add your own voice.
September 29, 2009
Dear President Barack Obama,
I live in Pleasanton, California, and I’m 11 years old. My family and I just came back from a Buddhist retreat near San Diego, called Deer Park Monastery. Thich Nhat Hanh is a Zen master, author, poet, and a peace advocate. As a result of his peace activism, Thich Nhat Hanh was exiled from Vietnam for 40 years. Now he lives in exile in a small community called Plum Village in France where he teaches, writes, gardens, and works to help refugees worldwide.
His lifelong efforts to generate peace moved Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to nominate him for the Nobel Peace Prize in 1967. Dr. Martin Luther King ended up saying that he didn’t know anyone more worthy of the Nobel Peace prize other than this calm gentle monk from Vietnam. He conducts mindfulness retreats worldwide, teaches and practices non-violence and compassion. In 2005, he was invited back to Vietnam. In 2007, he traveled the country from South to North, to pray for all the dead souls from all sides in the Vietnam war.
Because of his return, presence, and teachings more than 400 young Vietnamese people became monks and nuns, and they were given permission to settle in the Bat Nha Monastery, where they have expanded the facilities, building meditation halls, living quarters, dining halls and kitchens. Every weekend, hundreds and thousands more people board buses or drive cars to Bat Nha Monastery to practice the Art of Mindful Living, especially the young men and women who want to escape abuse and addiction, or just to seek new happiness for their life.
Now the Vietnamese government sees Thich Nhat Hanh as a threat and wants to banish him again. Electricity and water has been turned off for months. 400+ nuns and monks have now been forced out of the monastery and there was already violence. Nuns and monks were beaten up, forced to sit outside under the cold rain, and feces thrown at them. Police locked up the gates and confiscated all of their belongings. Still 150 monks and 230 nuns returned hoping they would get back in. At this moment, they continue their peaceful sit in and prayer at a small pagoda Phuoc Hue, waiting for the monsoon rain to subside, before leaving, going home as told by their master. But many nuns and monks stay back, because they have no other home to go to.
My family and I are very concerned for their safety. Please help for their ordeal in face of government oppression is so much like the struggle for civil rights of Dr. Martin Luther King and his followers, or the imprisonment of Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
Dear President Obama, you have inspired us through your brave actions and speeches. Please step in to help these 380 young nuns and monks, because their cause and actions deserve your help. We should all speak out against injustice and oppression, so we can all build a better world for tomorrow.
Sincerely,
Annie, 6th grader at Hart Middle School, Pleasanton, CA 94588.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-as-vietnam-buddhist-standoff,0,784535.story
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/09/22/world/AP-AS-Vietnam-Buddhist-Standoff.html?_r=1
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8168200.stm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/6450273.stm
http://www.massagemag.com/News/massage-news.php?id=7843
[...] "How can I help the monastics at Bat Nha Monestary?" http://helpbatnha.org/how-can-i-help/ [...]
October 2, 2009
The Honorable Hillary Rodham Clinton
Secretary of State
U.S. Department of State
2201 C Street NW
Washington, D.C. 20520
Dear Mrs. Clinton,
I love America for its great spiritual heritage and strength. It is a land of churches, synagogues, temples, tabernacles, pulpits and alters. America has on its coinage and currency a national motto saying simply in “In God We Trust.” I believe that this was the foundation on which this great country was established; the unequivocal trust in the power of the Almighty to guide this nation and bless others.
“God Bless America” for I stand on the shoulders of those who preceded me; men and women of courage and conviction, who in the midst of adversity put their trust in faith and hope knowing this great nation was His creation.
America is still strong, but destructive forces are hard at work trying to sap it spiritual strength. Today, we face challenges, and there is serious unsteadiness in our country’s stance, but even with the problems that face us, I am an optimist because I believe there is tremendous residual goodness in its people. Men and women of all denominations have helped settle this land, and they built for us a tremendous inheritance because they too were men and women of great faith and conviction. For the most part, they appreciate that which is good, beautiful, uplifting, and I believe that everyone on planet earth should enjoy freedom of speech and belief, and freedom from fear.
Others are not so fortunate. Lately, the microscopic eye of the media has been Vietnam regarding human rights. The monks and nuns of Bat Nha have been dragged out of their monastery with force by a mob of vandals, policemen, hired troops that use violence and aggression. The monks and nuns have been beaten up and pushed in trucks. They are being threatened to be killed if they do not obey.
In my efforts to try and understand why peace loving citizens aspiring to worship a belief of their choice and subjected to indifference overwhelmed me with information begging for attention. The subject of human rights is vast with many facets that can take one in many directions. There is a learning curve to this journey that opens up a whole new side of the world I did not know existed in respect to human rights. I decided to stay focused by concentrating on areas I felt most familiar with such as Asia.
I asked myself, then why all the abuse that is being reported? This led me to understand more about the United Nations and its makeup. American government is a piece of cake compared to learning about the hierarchy and structure of the United Nations, a much needed complex system to oversee world events.
I discovered that we are not independent on this planet anymore and that we continue to enjoy freedom that is taken away from others abroad. This could happen to anyone in any country. Other countries have been blessed with freedom because of this great nation of ours; therefore, those countries will be subject to the first attempt and attack to strip them of those rights outlined in the International Declaration of Human Rights.
I discovered the International Bill of Human Rights which consists of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which was drafted in 1948 containing 30 human right articles. Article 18 for example reads: Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion; this right includes freedom to change his religion or belief, and freedom, either alone or in community with others and in public or private, to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.
I realized that each country outside our great nation suffers different dilemmas that infringe on people’s rights. The dilemmas encompass every one the feng shui areas of life in the Bagua; health, wealth, fame (reputation), relationships, children, mentors, careers, knowledge (information), and family. The United States of America continues to enjoy the balance and harmony of all these areas, albeit some people would not think so, in comparison to many other nations cluttered in chaos. It all boils down to fairness; fairness for others to live their lives as we would want to live ours.
The war on human rights can be fought with a few clicks of a keyboard; a simple email, a typed letter, or an electronic petition. No need to send our children abroad to fight this war. No costly campaigns and excess spending. It is our freedom too; and our duty to others. As feng shui practitioners, it means we too are mentors, and helpful people to the others.
There is a global sense of urgency to speak up against the continuing violence and for the protection of the lives of 400 monks and nuns. Emails and letters have been sent to global leaders and organizations to step in to help end the abuse. Anyone can petition against violence in the Bat Nha Monastery website: http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/help-Bat-Nha
The Bat Nha Monastery has been completely destroyed. Alarming details and updates can be read at: http://helpbatnha.org
I would like to close with the following quote by a Pastor, Martin Niemoller, from a German Evangelical (Lutheran) Church during the Hitler era:
“In Germany, the Nazis first came for the communists, and I did not speak up, because I was not a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak up, because I was not a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak up, because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics, and I did not speak up, because I was not a Catholic. Then they came for me… and by that time, there was no one to speak up for anyone. “
Thank you & God Bless,
Mike Coronado
6046 Cornerstone Ct # 223
San Diego, CA 92121
858 456 9443
Fax: 858 764 2863
Email: m…@fengshuisandiego.com
http://www.FengShuiSanDiego.Com
I’m not sure who to pass this information to. I am so concerned about the monks and nuns and Bat Nha Monastery. I asked my friend in DC who has worked in in congress and in the executive branch for 36 years for his thoughts on how to take action and he had many ideas. I have been a student of Thay’s for over 20 years, my friend is not involved with Thay but is trying to help me/us. Who shall I contact and preferably speak with vs write to.
Thank you, Kathryn
I wrote last week a letter to Mrs Deanna Horton, the Ambassador of Canada to Vietnam (in Hanoi), telling her about what happened at Bat Nha and ask her to act in her power to remind the Vietnamese Government about their responsibility and engagement (as Vietnam has signed the United Nations’ Covenant on Human Rights and Religious Freedom)…
Thanks to publication of ASIA MEDIA, INC. to “Speak up against injustice… our duty to help BAT NHA.
You can view the article in this link:
http://content.yudu.com/Library/A1gu4x/Moon/resources/index.htm?referrerUrl=http%3A%…2F%2Fwww.yudu.com%2Fitem%2Fdetails%2F90639%2FMoon
Type in GWEN CORONADO in the Search bar to go directly to the BAT NHA article.
I called the consulate in San Francisco and was told that their official position is that nothing happened at Bat Nha. I also called Sen. Barbara Boxer’s office. Is there a way to get donations to the displaced nuns and monks?
am in nottingham and i will copy and change you template letter and send it to number 10 gordon brown i hope to get others in uk to do the same much love
in uk and would like to help not good at letter any 1 got a template please i will send to number10 gordon brown with any up to date info please thank you and much love
Dear Sangha,
I would like to share an “out of the box” idea with you. My thoughts have been focused on how to get the monastics out of Vietnam so they can practice in other monasteries. Since most of the Bat Nha monastics are young people. Is there a way to legally adopt a monastic? Can there be a foundation set up to help with the adoption process? Perhaps the Vietnamese government will allow this because they may charge an adoption fee. I would be interested in assisting such a foundation and supporting the adoption of Bat Nha monastics.
In sangha, ~Chris