Vietnam Buddhist Sangha of Nghe An province deploys work in 2019

Attending the conference were Most Venerable Thich Thanh Nhieu - Permanent Vice President of the Executive Council of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha, Head of the Executive Committee of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha (VBS) in Nghe An province; Most Venerable Thich Tho Lac - Head of the Cultural Committee - Vietnam Buddhist Sangha, Permanent Deputy Head of the Executive Committee of the VBS, Venerable monks and nuns, members of the Executive Committee, representatives of monasteries and pagodas in the province and representatives of the leaders of the Provincial Party Committee's Mass Mobilization Committee, the Religious Affairs Committee - Department of Home Affairs, and Nghe An Provincial Police.

Buddhist monks and nuns chaired the conference. Photo: Hong An

The summary report on Buddhist affairs in 2018 said that by the end of December 2018, the whole province had 77 monks and nuns legally practicing; 58 places of worship, including 57 pagodas and 1 Buddhist prayer hall; restored the operation of 2 pagodas; appointed 3 abbots and transferred 7 Venerable monks to pagodas, appointed 2 more monks to assist the Office of the Provincial Buddhist Sangha; successfully organized the Buddhist Congress of Quynh Luu district, Nam Dan and Vinh city for the term 2018 - 2023...

On this occasion, Most Venerable Thich Thanh Nhieu - Permanent Vice President of the Executive Council of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha, Head of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha Executive Committee in Nghe An province congratulated Most Venerable Thich Tho Lac (left) on being appointed as Head of the Cultural Committee - Vietnam Buddhist Sangha. Photo: Hong An

Over the past year, the Provincial Buddhist Sangha has achieved outstanding achievements in many aspects with many attractive activities, such as: Successfully organizing the An Cu Ket Ha session; organizing a candle lighting ceremony at the Vietnam - Laos Cemetery; collecting the remains of Vietnamese volunteer soldiers and experts who died in Laos; coordinating with the Department of Agriculture and Rural Development and the Provincial Youth Union to organize prayers for the dead and pay tribute to 98 young people who died in 1978 at Hiep Hoa culvert (Do Luong); organizing 9 summer retreats, attracting over 500 participants each; coordinating with the Religious Affairs Committee - Provincial Department of Home Affairs to organize a conference to disseminate policies, laws and regulations of the Sangha to Buddhist monks and nuns... Social charity work continues to receive attention and support from pagodas and Buddhists with an amount of more than 5.3 billion VND.

Delegates attending the conference. Photo: Hong An

On behalf of the Provincial Religious Committee, Mr. Nguyen Van Long - Deputy Head of the Religious Committee - Department of Home Affairs praised the results of Buddhist activities in 2018 and the contributions of the Provincial Buddhist Sangha in all aspects. At the same time, he requested the Provincial Buddhist Sangha Executive Committee to continue to mobilize monks, nuns and Buddhists to comply with the Party and State's guidelines and policies, and build a great national unity bloc.

At the same time, actively participate in production labor; coordinate to solve local problems, enhance the prestige of Buddhism, actively participate in building a cultural lifestyle, protecting the environment and social security activities.

Promoting the results achieved in 2018, the conference proposed the direction of activities in 2019 with main activities such as proposing to organize Buddhist Congresses in qualified districts in the area; maintaining meditation courses, catechism classes and improving preaching skills at pagodas and Buddhist monasteries to repel social evils and superstitions; building operating regulations of the Sangha Council; establishing procedures according to regulations to organize the Nghe Tinh Great Ordination Platform.