Venerable Thich Truc Thai Minh apologizes to Buddhists nationwide

On the afternoon of March 29, the Executive Committee of the Buddhist Sangha of Quang Ninh province held an extraordinary meeting to resolve the incident at Ba Vang Pagoda (Uong Bi City).

Venerable Thich Dao Hien, Deputy Head of the Executive Committee and Chief Secretary of the Quang Ninh Provincial Buddhist Sangha, said the meeting was attended by Venerable Thich Thanh Quyet, Venerable Thich Truc Thai Minh, and monks and nuns from Ba Vang Pagoda.

"Venerable Thich Truc Thai Minh admitted that the incident at Ba Vang Pagoda had seriously affected Buddhism. He sent his most sincere apologies to the people, monks, nuns, Buddhists, and followers across the country; apologized to leaders at all levels and the press for working hard because of this incident," said Venerable Thich Dao Hien.

Venerable Thich Truc Thai Minh and the monks and nuns of Ba Vang Pagoda repented to the Executive Committee of the Quang Ninh Provincial Buddhist Sangha. Venerable Minh vowed to perform a 49-day repentance ceremony at Ba Vang Pagoda, following the teachings of Venerable Thich Thanh Quyet (Vice President of the Executive Council of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha, Head of the Central Buddhist Education Committee, Head of the Executive Committee of the Quang Ninh Provincial Buddhist Sangha).

Master Minh proposed that the Quang Ninh Provincial Buddhist Sangha monitor the repentance process and report once a week. He also suggested that the Central Committee of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha arrange for a Great Monk repentance ceremony with the Sangha leaders, representing monks and nuns nationwide.

At the end of the meeting, Venerable Thich Thanh Quyet gave instructions to Venerable Thich Truc Thai Minh. The Executive Committee of the Quang Ninh Provincial Buddhist Sangha witnessed Venerable Thich Truc Thai Minh's repentance ritual.

Previously, on the afternoon of March 26, the Central Committee of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha met and concluded that Ba Vang Pagoda's organization of a ceremony to "resolve debts of creditors", cure illnesses by inviting spirits, and "pay debts to spirits" with money or unpaid labor was not in accordance with traditional Buddhist rituals.

The Sangha concluded that Venerable Thich Truc Thai Minh and Ba Vang Pagoda had violated the Sangha Charter, "damaging the reputation of the Sangha and the Sangha". Therefore, the Standing Committee of the Northern Region Executive Council proposed that the President of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha Executive Council immediately suspend Venerable Thai Minh from all positions in the Sangha.

The Church also asked monk Thai Minh to repent to the Great Monk and assigned Venerable Thich Thanh Quyet as the preceptor.

According to Buddhist regulations, the Great Repentance is a severe form of discipline, second only to the expulsion of monks and nuns from the Church. Every morning, the repentant person must kneel before many monks in the Buddhist Church, listen to the mistakes he has made to repent, and is almost not allowed to say anything.

On March 20, the press reported that Ba Vang Pagoda (Uong Bi City, Quang Ninh Province), headed by monk Thich Truc Thai Minh, organizes "summoning the dead and praying to the creditors" to earn hundreds of billions of dong each year. On March 21, the Ministry of Culture requested the locality to clarify the matter; the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha requested the locality to rectify the preaching of "dead souls taking revenge" at this facility.

On the evening of March 21, Venerable Thich Truc Thai Minh held a talk in front of hundreds of Buddhists, broadcast live on Facebook. He said that "ghosts follow people to take revenge, causing people to get sick, discord between husband and wife, conflicts..., so there needs to be a method to invite the creditors to invite them out". Buddhists participating voluntarily, paying for the ceremony is not required by the temple but "at the request of the ghost".

However, later, Uong Bi City requested the abbot of Ba Vang Pagoda to stop the activities of "summoning the dead" and praying to "karmic creditors".