Thích Huyền Quang
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Thích Huyền Quang (19 September 1919 – 5 July 2008[1]) was a Vietnamese Buddhist monk, dissident and activist. At the time, he was the Patriarch of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, a currently banned organisation in his homeland. He was notable for his activism for human and religious rights in Vietnam.
Thích Huyền Quang | |
---|---|
Title | Tăng thống (Patriarch) |
Personal | |
Born | Lê Đình Nhàn (1919-09-19)19 September 1919 Bình Định Province, Vietnam, French Indochina |
Died | 5 July 2008(2008-07-05) (aged 88) Hồ Chí Minh City, Socialist Republic of Vietnam |
Religion | Buddhism |
Nationality | Vietnamese |
Denomination | Thiền |
School | Lâm Tế (Linji Chan School) |
In 1977, Quang wrote a letter to then-Prime Minister Phạm Văn Đồng detailing counts of oppression by the communist regime. For this, he and five other senior monks were arrested and detained.[1] In 1982, he was arrested and put on permanent house arrest for opposition to governmental policy after publicly denouncing the establishment of the state-controlled Vietnam Buddhist Sangha.[2]
In 2002, he was awarded the Homo Homini Award for his human rights activism by the Czech group People in Need, which he shared with Thích Quảng Độ and Father Nguyễn Văn Lý.[3]