Returning to the village of fake monks in Nghe An

Working from a car

In mid-March, after receiving information that the police in Da Nang had just uncovered a group of people from Nghia Dong commune (Tan Ky district) who were impersonating monks to beg for money, we decided to travel to this rural area. For a long time, Nghia Dong has been known as the "village of fake monks," a name the locals aren't particularly proud of. However, after many years, we thought this profession had disappeared.

Nghia Dong is a poor, hilly commune nestled beside the Hieu River, more than 100 km from Vinh City. When we showed the images and names of the three imposters who were recently exposed for soliciting money, the commune's leaders weren't surprised. "They get caught all the time. If they're exposed in one province, they just move on to another to continue their activities. We know about it, but we can't stop them. We've done a lot of public awareness campaigns, but we're helpless," the commune official said with a smile.

The group of three we mentioned all have registered residency in Nghia Dong commune. At the end of February, they shaved their heads and drove from Nghe An to Da Nang. There, the three donned monastic robes, carrying numerous forged documents claiming to be monks, and went around temples and businesses in the area begging for money. “This group of three drove up in a car, presenting forged monk identification papers. They said they lost all their money in Da Nang and needed money for gas to get home,” said the abbot of a temple in Da Nang.

By the morning of February 29th, when the group appeared at Linh Ung Non Nuoc Pagoda (Ngu Hanh Son District), acting on a tip from the public, the police, in coordination with the Buddhist Association of Ngu Hanh Son District, summoned the three individuals to the police station for questioning. They confiscated their robes and forged identification documents. There, the group admitted to impersonating monks to solicit money. Prior to this, the group had traveled to many provinces and cities in Southern Vietnam using the same tactic of impersonating religious figures.

Among them, VDN (42 years old) is said to have "long experience" in the profession. This monk's house is located next to the road at the end of Hamlet 10, looking quite spacious compared to the neighbors. "He's not a monk at all, he's just making a living. Just during Tet, he was gathering to eat, drink, and sing karaoke all day. He's been caught again, huh?" an elderly neighbor said, seemingly unsurprised when we mentioned N.

According to this person, N. has been married for a long time, his wife is now working abroad; and he, with his mysterious whereabouts, is rarely home. His children are usually left with their grandparents. Every time he returns to his hometown, N. never admits to impersonating a monk to beg for money, but everyone in the neighborhood knows. "He's been doing that for a long time. It's just that he's too ashamed to admit it. Every time he comes home, he hides the monk's clothes he uses," the neighbor added.

The "capital" of the fake monk profession.

Leaving N.'s house, we went to Hamlet 5, considered the "capital" of the fake monk profession in Nghia Dong commune. "There used to be many of them, but now, thanks to overseas labor export, fewer people are doing this job," said Mr. Hoang Van Loi, who has been the head of Hamlet 5 for over 20 years.

According to Mr. Loi, in the past, due to extreme poverty, people in the village flocked to the South to work as laborers. There, they learned from each other how to impersonate monks to sell incense, beg for money, and solicit alms. This practice became prevalent about 20 years ago. "In recent years, most people are older and no longer do it. Some have asked their children to go abroad for work, and once they have money, they can stop," Mr. Loi added.

Mr. Loi couldn't estimate how many people in the village had been or were still doing this job. He only knew that occasionally, when he read the newspaper, he would see that someone in the village had been caught. "No one dares to admit to doing this job, so it's all just rumors from the villagers. They just say this person or that person is impersonating a monk. We can't verify it, except for cases where the police discover them," Mr. Loi said.

Not far from Mr. Loi's house is the shop of Mr. TVL (52 years old). Mr. and Mrs. L. are seasoned practitioners of the art of impersonating monks, having only recently retired a few years ago. It took quite a while of persuasion before Mr. L. agreed to tell us about his profession.

“If we hadn’t been caught by the police and reported in the newspapers that time, no one would have known that my wife and I did this kind of work,” Mr. L. said with a laugh. Nearly 20 years ago, Mr. L. and his wife decided to go to the South to work. In a foreign land, he coincidentally met a fellow countryman who was disguised as a monk begging for money. After inquiring and learning that this job was easy to make money from and not very strenuous, Mr. L. and his wife quit their jobs at the company.

For just a few hundred thousand dong, through a fellow villager, the couple easily obtained two sets of monastic robes and forged documents. Mr. L. then went to a barbershop to shave his head bald, while his wife styled her hair into a high bun and covered it with a scarf. Since then, they have traveled throughout the southern provinces to make a living. “We only chose to go to business offices or knock on the doors of large houses to beg. Sometimes we would buy some incense in the city and sell it at a higher price. Other times, we would use the excuse of campaigning to build a temple…,” Mr. L. recounted. Afraid of encountering acquaintances, the couple avoided crowded cities and instead sought out rural areas in the far southwestern region. During Tet (Lunar New Year), Mr. L. would often take time off early, waiting for his hair to grow back well before returning to his hometown to avoid suspicion.

"Everyone thought we were factory workers. So every time we went home, our tools were hidden away," Mr. L. added. "Going out at night too often will eventually lead to trouble," he said. A few years ago, he and his wife were discovered by the police in a southern province and deported. After that, they decided to "retire," using their savings from years of working to return to their hometown and open a business.

According to Mr. L., many people in Nghia Dong still choose this profession to make a living. They are becoming increasingly sophisticated and harder to detect. The problem is that there are no official statistics, and no one admits to impersonating a monk to earn a living.

Identifying signs

Venerable Thich Tho Lac, Head of the Central Culture Committee of the Vietnam Buddhist Association and Deputy Head of the Standing Committee of the Nghe An Provincial Buddhist Association, stated that the rampant activity of impersonating monks has been a persistent and troubling problem for many years, affecting the prestige of the Buddhist association. “To this day, not a single temple has been built in Tan Ky district. Therefore, very few people become monks,” said Venerable Thich Tho Lac.

According to Venerable Thich Tho Lac, identifying a fake monk is actually very easy. In Northern Vietnam in general, and Nghe An in particular, no monks go begging for alms. In Buddhism, only the Theravada school and the mendicant order in the southern provinces used to go begging for alms (wearing robes, yellow or dark yellow); monks and nuns belonging to the Mahayana school do not go begging for alms.

Therefore, any "monks" who beg for alms wearing Northern Buddhist robes, i.e., robes (yellow, blue, or brown), and any female "monks" wearing headscarves are all fake monks. This is not to mention that when the Church officially issues a temporary ban on begging, all those who beg for alms can be considered fake monks. Legitimate begging does not involve accepting money, only enough food for one meal. Therefore, those who beg for alms and accept money are acting unlawfully. This is one of the important factors in identifying fake monks, as they focus more on asking for money than for food and drink.

Furthermore, the proper time for alms-gathering is in the morning and ends before noon. Those who beg for alms beyond noon until evening are acting unlawfully and are false monks. The conduct of a true alms-gatherer is always dignified and adheres to the proper etiquette of a monastic, such as: walking slowly and deliberately; not looking sideways or glancing around, only looking down at the ground; not asking for anything; not ringing bells, striking gongs, or chanting loudly to attract attention; and absolutely not entering the benefactor's house, only standing outside the gate (waiting a moment; if not given alms, immediately moving on to another house)...

"No monks sell incense door-to-door; if they do, they are only allowed to sell it in the cultural goods area within the temple, not roaming the streets," said Venerable Thich Tho Lac, adding that authorities need to step up public awareness campaigns and intensify efforts to strictly address this issue of fake monks.