Regarding the participation of many foreign monks and Buddhist followers in activities at Ba Vang Pagoda recently, Head of the Department of Inspection and Legal Affairs under the Government Committee for Religious Affairs Nguyen Thi Dinh said the People's Committee of Quang Ninh Province did not receive any document of request for permission from the Executive Board of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha (VBS) of Uong Bi City. Based on Article 48 of the Law on Beliefs and Religions, Ba Vang Pagoda did not comply with the regulations.
According to Ms. Nguyen Thi Dinh, the incident of Venerable Thich Truc Thai Minh, the abbot of the Ba Vang Pagoda in Quang Ninh Province who invited Most Venerable Sayadaw U Wepulla, the head monk of the Parami Monastery in Myanmar, to travel to Vietnam with tourist visa to bring the hair sarira to display in Vietnam and attend a ceremony to commemorate the 765th anniversary of the attainment of Nirvana of King-Monk Tran Nhan Tong, the founder of Vietnam Zen Buddhism is not in accordance with regulations on Beliefs and Religions.
The abbot of Ba Vang Pagoda must be responsible for illegal religious activities at the religious facility. The Vietnam Buddhist Sangha (VBS) has taken disciplinary action against the abbot of the Ba Vang Pagoda in Quang Ninh Province.
In addition, Venerable Thich Truc Thai Minh left the country and went abroad, participating in religious activities abroad without the VBS's request to a competent State agency in accordance with the law is a violation of Article 50 of the Law on Belief and Religion, she emphasized.
The organization of an exhibition “Buddha's hair sarira from Myanmar” violated Decree No. 23/2019/ND-CP dated February 26, 2019, of the Government on exhibition activities, she added.
The incidents of Ba Vang Pagoda and its abbot have affected social order, the Party and State's guidelines and policies on belief and religion, and the reputation of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha.
