One of the reasons why Buddhist followers in Vietnam have recently turned their backs on temples is the appearance of “new-style monks” replacing traditional monks in large temples.
Monks like Thich Thanh Quyet, Thich Nhat Tu, Thich Truc Thai Minh, or Thich Chan Quang, etc. are of state-owned Buddhism, manipulated by the Vietnamese Police, and are deforming Buddhism.
In recent days, social networks have been arguing about some lecture videos of monk Thich Chan Quang about things that are considered nonsense and misleading about Buddhism.
In a lecture, Quang cited an example of a disciple who, when he was young, often went on vacations for pleasure, but later became bedridden, and called this the law of “cause and effect.” Because this person has traveled too much and exhausted all his blessings, he must lie down in one place.
Monk Quang also advises people to combine tourism with charity work, making offerings for pagodas, or enlightenment spiritual tourism. He said “If you go out, enjoy, travel and eat seafood, you will lose all your blessings” and “the travel business will go bankrupt.”
What has just been said shows that monk Thich Chan Quang went against the teachings of Buddhism, that is “in order to direct people to perceive the world as it really is in order to live compassionately.”
A question arises: Who is Venerable Thich Chan Quang?
Using the Google search engine, it is easy to find information, accordingly:
“Venerable Thich Chan Quang, whose real name is Vuong Tan Viet, is the great-grandson of Ho Si Tao and the grandson of Vuong Sinh Huy, the son of Vuong Chi Nghia – that is, the biological nephew of late President Ho Chi Minh.”
Venerable Thich Chan Quang is currently the abbot of Phat Quang Pagoda, Ba Ria – Vung Tau province. In addition, he is also Deputy Head of the Central Economic and Financial Department of the Vietnam Buddhist Sangha. etc…
Vietnam Times on March 5, had an article “If you have praised Thich Chan Quang, why are you afraid to remove the article?” by author Pham Le Doan. The article said “VTV Cab’s post ‘praising’ Vietnamese talent Thich Chan Quang was taken down after a few hours of posting…”.
Accordingly, after a series of reactions on the Facebook community about nonsense Dharma talks, currently, Phat Quang Zen Buddhism is “running a media crisis management campaign” to support monk Thich Chan Quang.
Public opinion sees that, along with Thich Truc Thai Minh, Thich Nhat Tu…, Thich Chan Quang is openly propagating superstition, misleading beliefs, and deluded a part of the population, rather than practicing Buddhism.
These people are destroying Buddhism from its ideological foundation to its specific actions. Calling them “ghost monks” is completely accurate!
Facebooker Ha Than, in the status “Government responsibility!” posted on his personal Facebook, saying:
“If I did not watch the entire clip of the monk claiming to be Thich Chan Quang, I would have considered the quotes to be putting words into his mouth! But after watching it, I was shocked by this guy’s level of nonsense!”
At the same time, Ha Than also raised the question, why in today’s society are there so many fake temples and monks hiding behind the scenes to make money?
Journalist Chu Vinh Hai, in the status “Realizing the truth” posted on his personal page, recalled an event that took place in 2009, which the author and two close friends witnessed directly. That was the event of “breaking the merit safe at Phat Quang Pagoda.”
According to journalist Chu Vinh Hai, in 2009, when he was still a state journalist, he received news that there were changes at Phat Quang pagoda, monk Thich Chan Quang returned to his ancestral hometown in Nghe An to build a family temple. The teacher was away, so the monk called a locksmith to break into the temple’s merit safe.
At around 10 p.m., a group of journalists arrived at the temple and saw the monks and nuns of Phat Quang Pagoda openly counted the money and assets in the safe.
Buddhists in the pagoda told the journalist that the nuns at Phat Quang pagoda are close disciples of Master Thich Chan Quang. But later, they were dissatisfied with Master Thich Chan Quang’s way of practicing. He neglected his practice, focused too much on his family name and background, focused too much on making money…
Furthermore, he was not transparent about the amount of donations, and even brought a woman from Saigon to the temple to manage the donation money.
That’s why, when he was away, the monks and nuns called workers to break into the merit safe to take the money, property and red books from the safe.
The results of checking the safe showed that in 2009, Vietnamese currency alone was VND5.7 billion, and a red book of 7,000 square meters of land in Toc Tien commune. As for some foreign currencies and precious metals, the value had not been determined at that time. With this amount of property, Thich Chan Quang’s disciples left him, and built a new temple in Toc Tien commune, Phu My town, Ba Ria – Vung Tau, on an area of 10,000 m2, to practice in the true sense of the Buddhist practice.
Author Chu Vinh Hai recalled this story, aiming to help readers know the truth of Thich Chan Quang./.
Tra My – Thoibao.de
