Galvanizing monk in South Vietnam was ardent nationalist
Thich Tri Quang, a charismatic Buddhist monk who helped bring down U.S.-backed governments in South Vietnam during the war-torn 1960s and pushed for a democratic nation with freedom of religion, died Nov. 8 in the city of Hue. He was 95.
His death was announced by the Tu Dam Pagoda in Hue, where he had lived quietly for decades after the end of the Vietnam War, occupying himself by translating Buddhist texts into Vietnamese.
Tri Quang was a powerful orator who galvanized Buddhists to demand a greater role in public affairs at a time when Roman Catholics dominated the South Vietnamese government.
“His eyes looked very strong, like the eyes of the tiger,” said Chan Khong, a Buddhist nun and peace activist who knew him well. “He was a powerful voice.”
Tri Quang grew so influential that Time magazine put him on its cover in 1966, calling him
South Vietnam’s “mysterious
High Priest of Disorder” and describing him as having “an unerring instinct for politics, a perfect sense of timing and a control over his followers that borders on the charismatic.”
For decades, Tri Quang was a seen as a threat by whoever held power. He was arrested by the French colonial government in the 1950s and by South Vietnamese governments in the 1960s.
Seen as the mastermind of the Buddhist protest movement, he took refuge for more than two months in the U.S. Embassy in Saigon in 1963 as South Vietnamese forces raided temples and arrested Buddhist leaders.
At times, he was accused of being a spy for the CIA; at other times, he was accused of secretly working for the Communist north. But colleagues and supporters said that neither was true. Rather, they said, he was an ardent nationalist and Buddhist.
“You cannot call him CIA; you cannot call him pro-Communist,” Chan Khong said. “He was a pure humanitarian working for Vietnam, for the reconciliation of both sides.”
Tri Quang condemned communism and advocated democracy, calling for elections to a national assembly that would have given Buddhists a greater say in government affairs.
“I, like all educated Buddhists, do not like communism because it is atheistic,” Tri Quang said in 1963. “But I fear it is coming here because this government is unpopular and always seems to do the wrong thing.”
He was born Pham Quang in 1923. He later adopted the title thich, meaning “the venerable.” After he was ordained as a monk, he was a lecturer at a Buddhist institute in Hanoi, edited a Buddhist magazine and founded a group called the Vietnamese Buddhist Association.
The French colonial government arrested him twice for having been in touch with rebel Viet Minh forces, who were fighting for independence.
In the 1960s, Tri Quang was said to have one brother in the South Vietnamese Army and another in North Vietnam. As U.S. influence grew, he built a following among Buddhists, especially in central Vietnam, who believed they were discriminated against by Catholic-controlled governments in Saigon. Catholic rule represented a holdover from the colonial French era.
One of his last public appearances before the Communist takeover was in 1975 at a protest calling for the ouster of President Nguyen Van Thieu.
Many of his followers were disappointed that he disappeared from public view after the Communists came to power.
Chan Khong called Tri Quang a stubborn advocate for peace, democracy and freedom of religion. “He was very courageous,” she said.