THE BUDDHISTS IN SOUTH VIETNAM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP79-00927A004100030002-4
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: S
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: December 19, 2016
• Sequence Number: 2
• Content Type: REPORT

lease 2006/12/16: CIA-RDP79-00927A004100030002-4
28 June 1963
25X1
OCI No. 0286/63A
Copy No. 75
SPECIAL REPORT
OFFICE OF CURRENT INTELLIGENCE
THE BUDDHISTS IN SOUTH VIETNAM
CENTRAL INTELLIGENCE AGENCY
?161/L?GF 1196 Pages 2-
Approved For Release 2006/12/16: CIA-RDP79-OD927A004100030002-4
 Approved For Release 2006/12/16: CIA-RDP79-00927AO04100030002-4
Q
Approved For Release 2006/12/16: CIA-RDP79-00927AO04100030002-4
 Approved For Release 2006/12/16: CIA-RDP79-00927A004100030002-4
THE BUDDHISTS IN SOUTH VIETNAM
The conflict between South Vietnam's Buddhists
and President Diem's authoritarian Catholic-oriented
regime has increased the significance of the Buddhist
community as a factor affecting the country's internal
stability. Because of the passive character of their
religion and the looseness of their organizational
ties the government up to now has not looked upon the
Buddhists either as a force for effective support or
as one whose disaffection might have serious conse-
quences. However, their confrontation with Diem--now
nearly two months old--seems certain to have lasting
political repercussions, possibly affecting the re-
gime's capability to carry on the war against the
Communist Viet Cong. If the Buddhist dispute in-
volves further violence, it could even lead to Diem's
overthrow.
Number of Buddhists
The number of South Viet-
namese who consider themselves
at least nominal Buddhists has
been estimated at between 9 and
11 million, or roughly 70-80
percent of the population. Ngo
Dinh Nhu, President Diem's brother,
recently stated that this es-
timate is derived largely from
the practice of the former French
rulers of identifying as Bud-
dhists all Vietnamese not openly
claiming some other religious
affiliation.
South Vietnamese who ac-
tively practice the Buddhist
religion are estimated to number
no more than 3 million and al-
legedly are preponderantly women.
Many more, however, reportedly
retain some ties with the Buddhist
clergy, or bonzes, particularly
for funeral rites, and recent
events suggest that a fairly high
proportion of purely nominal
Buddhists have some emotional
identification with the religion.
Nature of Buddhism in Vietnam
Buddhism was introduced
into Vietnam principally by
Chinese bonzes during the second
and third centuries, although
it was propagated also by Buddhist
clergy from India. The reli-
gion flourished through the
thirteenth century under the
aegis of successive local rulers,
but began to decline well be-
fore the imposition of French
rule in the nineteenth century
and to depart increasingly from
original Buddhist scriptures.
Thus Buddhism in Vietnam today,
like its Chinese parent, is
highly flavored with ancestor
cults and with Confucionist
and Taoist ethics and beliefs,
and has been further modified
by traditional Vietnamese ani-
mism.
Approved For Release 2006/12/16: CIA-RDP79-00927A004100030002-4
 Approved For Release 2006/12/16: CIA-RDP79-00927A004100030002-4
The major branch of Viet-
namese Buddhism is the Mahayana
school, practiced in China and
other North Asian countries.
This school countenances the
type of self-destruction which
occurred in Saigon on 11 June,
when a bonze set himself afire.
The more orthodox and pacifistic
Theravada school, which prevails
in most of South and Southeast
Asia, has a smaller number of
adherents in Vietnam, largely
among the Khmer people.
Organizations
Buddhist organizations,
not unlike governmental adminis-
tration in Vietnam, have tended
to develop around regional ties.
Mass loyalties often focus even
more narrowly on highly auton-
omous pagodas. Nevertheless,
some Buddhist associations have
a centralized, national frame-
work with parallel clerical
and lay hierarchies.
The most important organiza-
tion, the General Association
of Buddhists (GAB), is of the
Mahayana school; it spearheaded
the current protest over reli-
gious discrimination. Founded
in 1951, it is still a loose
regional confederation, but
maintains a public relations
director and a kind of ministry
for lay activities. Its
northern branches are composed
mainly of refugees from North
Vietnam. Both its northern and
southern branches are now head-
quartered in Saigon, while the
central branch is in Hu?. The
GAB claimed in 1962 to have
some 3,000 monks, 600 nuns,
and up to 3 million lay members,
of whom 70,000-90,000 were in
youth groups.
The president of the GAB
is the octogenarian bonze,
Thich Tinh Khiet, a member of
the central branch and resident
in Hu@. Its leading lay official
is a retired civil servant, Mai
Tho Truyen, who heads the GAB-
affiliated lay organization,
the South Vietnamese Buddhist
Studies Association, with head-
quarters at the Xa Loi Pagoda
in Saigon. Two GAB vice presi-
dents, bonzes Thich Thien Minh
and Thich Thien Hoa, described
as heads of the central and
southern factions respectively,
were leading negotiators along
with Truyen in recent talks
with the government. Thich
Thien Minh and Thich Tri Quang,
head of the clergy in Hu4, seem
to represent the more uncom-
promising Buddhist views. Quang
was active in the Buddhist out-
burst in Hui' which set off the
present conflict.
The Theravada organization
--officially the Vietnamese
Buddhist Theravada Sangka--is
believed to include about 350,-
000-400,000 members and to have
close hierarchical ties with
Cambodian Buddhists. Its clerical
leader is a Vietnamese named
Pham Van Tong who calls himself
Naga Thera; its lay affiliate,
the Association of Original
Buddhists, is headed by~Nguyen
Van Hieu.
Approved For Release 2006/12/16: CIA-RDP79-0'p927A004100030002-4
 Approved Forelease 2006/12/16: CIA-RDP79-0092004100030002-4
BUDDHIST MASS DEMONSTRATIONS IN VIETNAM.. .
... AT HUE, 10 MAY 1963.
... BEFORE THE NATIONAL ASSEMBLY BUILDING IN SAIGON, 30 MAY 1963.
Approved For Release 2006/12/16: CIA-RDP79-00927AO04100030002-4
 Approved For Release 2006/12/16: CIA-RDP79-00927AO04100030002-4
Noel, *40
Despite some competition
between the Theravada and Ma-
hagana organizations' for inter-
national prominence, and some
personal rivalry between Naga
Thera and Mai Tho Truyen, now
an official of the World Fellow-
ship of Buddhists, there has
been evidence of Theravada
support for the GAB leaders in
the present confrontation with
the government.
There are several smaller
Buddhist organizations in South
Vietnam. One is the Co Son
Mon, which claims a following
in the Mekong delta provinces.
It is reported to be govern-
ment-subsidized and government-
manipulated. Another, the Hoa
Hao, ostensibly a "reform"
Buddhist sect founded in South
Vietnam in 1939, retains a
loose following in the south-
west provinces. In the past,
it has had considerable impor-
tance as a disaffected politico-
military sect, but its political
threat was largely eliminated
by Diem in 1956.
The most recent round of
troubles erupted on 8 May in
the city of Hue' over government
regulations restricting the
display of religious flags dur-
ing the commemoration of
Buddha's birthday. The Bud-
dhists were particularly upset
because Catholics in Hue had
been permitted to violate the
regulations only a few days
earlier. Although the issue
might otherwise have been short-
lived and localized, it took
on new importance when several
persons were killed during ef-
forts by security forces to
disperse a crowd--deaths which
the government tried to blame
on Viet Cong terrorists.
The Hud incidents apparently
unleashed long-simmering Bud-
dhist resentment over the priv-
ileged status of Christians,
particularly of South Vietnam's
1.5 to 2 million Roman Catholics.
Lack of Buddhist unity and the
long Vietnamese tradition of
religious freedom probably tended
to avert serious open hostility
in the past, although Christianity
was identified as a product of
foreign presence, and local dis-
putes have occurred between
Buddhists and Catholics over
the disposition of communal
lands and the prerogatives of
village notables. Strictly
speaking, Diem has not violated
either the traditional or con-
stitutional principle of reli-
gious freedom, but the Buddhists
clearly feel that his family
bias has perpetuated the priv-
ileged status Catholics enjoyed
under the French.
The series of Buddhist
demonstrations since mid-May
have been designed to honor
recent "martyrs" and to attain
five demands levied on the
government. The demands con-
cerned measures to rectify
abuses relating to the Hue'inci-
dents, and legal restrictions
on the status and property
rights of Buddhist associations.
The restrictions stem from a
decree issued in 1950 under Bao
Dai, from which Catholics were
Approved For Release 2006/12/16: CIA-RDP79-0 927AO04100030002-4
 Approved For Release 2006/12/16: CIA-RDP79-00927AO04100030002-4
V
specifically exempted. Buddhist
leaders claim their protests
against this decree date back
to 1951, even before Diem came
to power.
A compromise agreement on
the demands was reached by
Diem and Buddhist leaders on
16 June, but even if it is im-
plemented, Buddhist irritations
over other government practices
which reflect the Diem family
prejudice are likely to persist.
The regime's official philosophy,
which Diem and his brother-ad-
viser Nhu are trying to make
the basis of a grass-roots rev-
olution, is essentially Catholic
in origin as are many of its
policies and laws affecting
education and public morals.
Many Vietnamese Catholics
as well as Buddhists have de-
plored the Diem family tend-
ency, to place greater trust in
Catholics in the civil bureauc-
racy and the military--which
has led to many "rice-bowl"
conversions--and to lend of-
ficial sanction to Catholic
religious holidays and proces-
sions. It is perhaps signifi-
cant that trouble broke out in
the city of Hud, where Buddhist
organization is strong, but
also where the government is
under the tight control of
Diem's brother Ngo Dinh Can.
Catholic influence there is
particularly manifest in in-
creasing homage paid to still
another brother, Ngo Dinh Thuc,
the archbishop of Hue, who is
leading a highly "visible"
program of Church renovation
and construction.
Political Influences
Among 'the Buddhists
There seems to be little
doubt that the intensity of
the Buddhist protests reflected
general discontent over the en-
trenched, autocratic rule of
the Diems as well as specific
grievances against their reli-
gious biases. There have been
persistent reports that some
extremist Buddhist leaders have
been determined to keep up the
momentum of demonstrations,
not just to secure satisfaction
of demands, but in hopes of
bringing about the government's
overthrow. Available informa-
tion, however, indicates that
most Buddhist leaders hoped
to keep the religious issues
isolated from broader political
discontent and avoided collab-
oration with political op-
ponents of Diem seeking to use
the Buddhist issue to bring
down his government.
Some government officials,
particularly Ngo Dinji,Nhu and the
influential Madame Nhu, have
sought to discredit the Buddhists
as representing neutralist or
pro-Communist sentiment in
foreign Buddhist circles, or
subversive elements in South
Vietnam. The lay leader, Mai,
Tho Truyen, has been mentioned
by some local oppositionists
in the past as an acceptable
25X1
Approved For Release 2006/12/16: CIA-RDP79-O 927AO04100030002-4
 Approved For Release 2006/12/16: CIA-RDP79-00927A004100030002-4
replacement for Diem, but he
is not known to have ties with
any opposition group.
Communist Influence
And Exploitation
There has been no evidence
that the Communists instigated
or influenced the Buddhist dem-
onstrations or demands. However,
propaganda from Hanoi and from
the Viet Cong has played up
the issue as an example of the
Diem government's repressive
tactics and has portrayed the
dispute as a movement by all
religious faiths as well as by
youth and students. There has
been some evidence of covert
Viet Cong efforts to intensify
and drag out the crisis. Pro-
longed demonstrations clearly
offer the Communists opportu=
nities'to incite disorders.
Little is known concerning
the extent of Communist pene-
tration of organized Buddhism
in South Vietnam generally.
One alleged Viet Cong document
which contained directives for
cultivating the Buddhist hier-
archy, particularly lay leaders,
would suggest that Viet Cong
influence to date is minimal..
Some government officials, how-
ever, insist that they have
evidence that high clerical
leaders collaborated with the
Viet Cong resistance against
the French until as late as
1951, and that a leading Bud-
dhist visited Communist China
in 1957. Another official has
stated that there is deep pene-
tration of the middle-level Bud-
dhist clergy, and that many Viet
Cong prisoners enter monasteries
when they are released.
The National Front for
the Liberation of South Vietnam,
the political arm of the Viet
Cong, listed an elderly bonze
as one of its vice presidents
until his alleged. death a few
months ago, and still lists on
its central committee Thich Thien
Hao, purported chairman of a
Vietnamese Buddhist Association;
no information is available on
Hao's stature. The clearest
clue to some Communist inroads
into Buddhist circles perhaps
lies in the strong Communist
propaganda protest over the
repression of four "patriotic"
bonzes, who were sentenced for
subversion last March by the
Diem government.
Repercussions
The greatest opportunities
for Communist exploitation of
Approved For Release 2006/12/16: CIA-RDP79-0, 927A004100030002-4
 Approved For Release 2006/12/16: CIA-RDP79-00927AO04100030002-4
the present Buddhist crisis
appear to lie in its effect
on popular and government morale.
Diem's dispute with the Bud-
dhists seems to have'increased
antagonism toward him in the
larger cities and towns, al-
though the extent to which the
feeling has spread to rural
areas is not yet known. While
there is so far little visible
effect on the conduct of mili-
tary operations, considerable
governmental attention has al-
ready been diverted from the
counterinsurgency problem.
The conflict also re-
portedly has created some
schism along religious lines
inside the government. Al-
though a large number of high
officials are Catholic, Vice
President Tho and at least
three cabinet officers are Bud-
dhists, as are several top
generals and an estimated 80
to 90 percent of the rank-and-
file military. There have been
reports of serious concern by
officials with the government's
handling of.the entire affair.
Buddhist protest activity
throughout South Vietnam has
revealed that the Buddhist leader-
ship is capable of mobilizing
popular action and of disciplin-
ing its followers. Moreover,
the confrontation with the govern-
ment has tended on the whole
to unite the previously diffuse
Buddhist community although it
has revealed clear differences
in the outlook of various top
leaders. There are some in-
dications that the effect of
Diem's 16 June agreement with
the Buddhisis'has been to drive
a wedge between the more ex-
treme and more moderate leaders.
In the prevailing atmosphere,
the Buddhist movement may
increasingly solidify around
extremist elements, F_
Approved For Release 2006/12/16: CIA-RDP79-O 927AO04100030002-4
 Approved For ease 2006/12('R 9-0092704100030002-4
SECRET
Approved For Release 2006/12/16: CIA-RDP79-00927AO04100030002-4