{"id":56107,"date":"2025-04-16T15:30:20","date_gmt":"2025-04-16T22:30:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vietvalley.com\/itinerant-vietnamese-monk-meets-opposition-in-sri-lanka-from-a-fellow-monk\/"},"modified":"2025-04-16T15:30:20","modified_gmt":"2025-04-16T22:30:20","slug":"itinerant-vietnamese-monk-meets-opposition-in-sri-lanka-from-a-fellow-monk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vietvalley.com\/en\/itinerant-vietnamese-monk-meets-opposition-in-sri-lanka-from-a-fellow-monk\/","title":{"rendered":"Itinerant Vietnamese monk meets opposition in Sri Lanka – from a fellow monk"},"content":{"rendered":"

A Vietnamese Buddhist monk on a barefoot pilgrimage from his homeland to India ran into some unexpected opposition in Sri Lanka on the latest leg of his circuitous journey around Asia.<\/p>\n

A witness told Radio Free Asia that when the Vietnamese monk Thich Minh Tue and his entourage were about to go to a local Hindu temple to rest, a local monk, claiming to be from the Sri Lankan Buddhist Sangha, came to the temple and asked that he not stay.<\/p>\n

Local Sri Lankans objected, taking sides with their Vietnamese visitor.<\/p>\n

The Sri Lankan monk then took out his phone and read the contents of a letter allegedly sent by Thich Nhat Tu, a representative of the state-backed Vietnam Buddhist Sangha \u2013 or religious association – to the Sri Lankan Sangha, to justify his demand that Thich Minh Tue leave the leafy temple compound in Giriulla, a town about 30 miles northeast of the capital Colombo.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe pointed to the letter and read the content to prove that this group of monks are a fake monks and were violating the law,\u201d said Nguyen Minh Chi, a Vietnamese filmmaker who witnessed the exchange. <\/p>\n

The letter is visible in video and photos of the incident, filmed by YouTubers accompanying Thich Minh Tue. <\/p>\n

RFA has not been able to verify the authenticity of the letter. It bears a signature and the name of Thich Nhat Tu, along with the seal of the International Buddhist Council of the Vietnamese sangha, for which he serves as deputy head.<\/p>\n

Thich Minh Tue was eventually able to enter the temple.<\/p>\n

He became an unlikely internet sensation last year in Vietnam, where his simple lifestyle has struck a chord. His barefoot walks<\/a> went viral and well-wishers came out in droves.<\/p>\n

Last December, he left Vietnam on a journey by foot to India, the birthplace of Buddhism. After crossing Laos, he entered Thailand with a plan to hike across conflict-wracked Myanmar, but ran into logistical and visa problems. He has since traveled to Malaysia, and a week ago arrived in Sri Lanka, a predominantly Buddhist nation. He still hopes to make it to India.<\/p>\n

His expedition is not without controversy. Vietnam\u2019s state-sanctioned Buddhist sangha has not officially recognized him as a monk. At one point, before his international wanderings began, authorities in communist Vietnam, leery of his popularity, announced he had \u201cvoluntarily retired.\u201d<\/p>\n

A statement was posted Wednesday on two Facebook pages linked to Thich Nhat Tu, the representative of the Vietnamese sangha, denying he wrote the letter. <\/p>\n

It includes a section calling for close cooperation between the Vietnamese and Sri Lankan sanghas on the issue of Thich Minh Tue, saying that it is a matter related to \u201cnational order and security.\u201d<\/p>\n

One follower of Thich Minh Tue voiced exasperation about the controversy. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhy do people who practice Buddhism together constantly fight each other?\u201d asked Phuoc Nghiem in a video he posted Wednesday. \u201cWe\u2019re only practicing (religion), but they keep filing complaints.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tin t\u1eeb RFA Read More<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Vietnamese Buddhist monk on a barefoot pilgrimage from his homeland to India ran into some unexpected opposition in Sri Lanka on the latest leg of his circuitous journey around Asia. A witness told Radio Free Asia that when the Vietnamese monk Thich Minh Tue and his entourage were about to go to a local …<\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[239],"tags":[246,251],"class_list":["post-56107","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vietnam","tag-english","tag-rfa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vietvalley.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56107","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vietvalley.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vietvalley.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vietvalley.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vietvalley.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56107"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vietvalley.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56107\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vietvalley.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56107"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vietvalley.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56107"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vietvalley.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56107"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}