Abstract
Hòa Hảo Buddhism belongs to that traditional lay and frugal buddhism encouraging practicing at home (tu tại gia) while being engaged with the world (nhập thế). It appeared in Southern Vietnam at the end of the 1930’s. Obviously, colonial contest and economic depression have played the part of a powerful catalyst in the spread by a young charismatic and reformist character of this millenarianism. Then, during three decades of postcolonial and cold wars (1945–1975), this New Religious movement hardly expressed its Buddhist ethic of social statements in order to lend moral support and material protection to the local peasantry. Eventually, at the end of the war, this autonomous Buddhist community finally tried to morph again into a legal religion at a time when the Vietnamese Communist Party had to urgently impose a new sovereign socialist republic (1976). In other words, the new regime had to reunify the Nation and build a new secular state. In the southern part of the country, the replacement of a former liberal regime (Republic of Vietnam) by a socialist republic (called formerly a Democratic Republic in Northern Vietnam) completely changed the nature of the State-Church relations. Therefore, many religious groups’ agencies suffered a drastic blow as these groups were subordinated to the Patriotic Front and its mass organizations. Nevertheless, in 1991, the reorientation of the religious policy officially reaffirmed the religions’ social utility. Since then, new debates emerged to define the nature of the social actions of religious groups and then to delineate the legal sphere of their activities in this secular state. This essay intends to question how the two notions of being engaged with the world (nhập thế) and that of the secular state (nhà nước trung lập thế tục) interacted during these last decades. To tackle this pivotal issue, we focused on the specific implementation of Hòa Hảo social activism, from 1940’s until now, to underline how this activism evolved under different political regimes and how a new culture of social service has been promoted since the Hòa Hảo official church was recognized in 1999 and achieved years later. It questions more generally how religious groups can negotiate with the state for the emergence of a civil society or, at least, for the acceptance of their own tribute to the prosperity of the Nation.
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Notes
Note that in addition to this slogan, another one, “đoàn kết tôn giáo, đoàn kết lương giáo”, detailed the call for a global religious solidarity between Catholics on the one hand and the other religions on the other hand.
Since the birth of the Socialist Republic in 1976, Vietnamese identity cards indicate both ethnicity and religious affiliation. Many practitioners prefer not to mention any religious affiliation, making unclear general religious statistics (see appendix).
Caodaism (Đai đạo tam kỳ phổ độ, Great Faith for the third Universal Redemption) appeared in Southern Vietnam in 1926. It emerged from the Sino-Vietnamese sectarian tradition and established an original Holy See, numerous temples, and a hierarchical church-type organization. Some of their leaders were involved in politics before 1975. Most followers are still now based in the southern part of the country and overseas, and have been since the 1980’s (Jammes 2011, Hoskins 2015).
List of registered religious organizations allowed to practice from December 2020 [http://btgcp.gov.vn/tin-hoat-dong-cua-ban-ton-giao-chinh-phu/danh-muc-cac-to-chuc-ton-giao-to-chuc-duoc-cap-chung-nhan-dang-ky-hoat-dong-ton-giao-postX4wdJ9p9.html].
In comparison, a publication listed 12 religions and 33 registered religious organizations in 2014 (Đỗ, 2014, pp. 482–488).
This former unification process only concerned the Buddhists living under the 17th parallel. Following the reunification, the Vietnamese Buddhist Sangha was lately unified in 1981 under the name of Buddhist Church of Vietnam (Giáo hội phật giáo Việt Nam).
To sum up the Vietnamese States’ legal constitutions: The Democratic Republic of Vietnam (september 1945) on one side; on the other side, the gradual emancipation of autonomous Republic of Cochinchina (1946) into south-Vietnam provisional Government (1947), then Associated State of Vietnam (1948), State of Vietnam (1949) really independent and sovereign from the end of 1953. In 1956, this State was replaced by the Republic of Vietnam (1956–1975). Finally, the Socialist Republic of Vietnam reunified the country in 1976, one year after the end of the war.
For more details, see Chap. 7 (Guerre et paix Hòa Hảo) of the forthcoming book (1st semester 2022): Pascal Bourdeaux, Bouddhisme Hòa Hảo, d’un royaume l’autre. Religion et révolution au Sud Viêt Nam (1935–1955), Paris, Les Indes Savantes).
For further details, see the official review of the Hòa Hảo Buddhist Church, Đuốc từ bi (The torch of compassion) published from 1965 onwards.
See also the official websites of the Government Committee for Religious Affairs (http://btgcp.gov.vn) and the Hòa Hảo Buddhist Church (http://phatgiaohoahao.org.vn).
Pascal Bourdeaux, 2022 (forthcoming), “States, Religions and Modernities for one Nation: historicizing a converging secularization in 20th Century Vietnam” in: Pascal Bourdeaux, Eddy Dufourmond, André Laliberté, Rémy Madinier (eds.): Asia and the Secular, Francophone perspectives in a global age, Boston/Berlin, De Gruyter.
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Appendix
Appendix
Appendix: Comparison of official statistics published by the Government Committee for Religious Affairs in 1998 and 2016 (Nguyễn Minh Quang, 2001, pp. 141; http://btgcp.gov.vn). Results of the National census in 2019 (General Statistics Office: https://www.gso.gov.vn/du-lieu-va-so-lieu-thong-ke/2020/11/ket-qua-toan-bo-tong-dieu-tra-dan-so-va-nha-o-nam-2019/)
Religions | 1998 | 2016 | 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|
Buddhism | 7,62 million | 12 million | 4.606.543 |
Catholicism | 5,02 million | 6.7 million | 5.866.169 |
Protestantism | 412.000 | 1.5 million | 960.558 |
Islam | 93.000 | 800.000 | 70.394 |
Caodaism | 1,14 million | 2.5 million | 556.234 |
Hoa Hao Buddhism | 1,30 million | 1,3 million | 983.079 |
Pure land Buddhist Home Association | - | 1.5 million | 2.306 |
Four debts of Gratitude Religion | - | 71.000 | 30.416 |
Hinduism | - | 57.000 | 64.547 |
Strange Perfume from Precious Mountains Religion | - | 15.000 | 2.975 |
Minh Sư Faith | - | 1.000 | 260 |
Minh Lý Faith | - | 1.100 | 193 |
Dutiful and loyal Buddhist of Ta Lon | - | 6.500 | 401 |
Baha’i faith of Vietnam organization | - | 7.000 | 2.153 |
Vietnamese Mormon church | - | 1.000 | 4.281 |
Seventh day Adventist church | - | - | 11.830 |
Total | 15,6 millions | 24 millions | 13.162.339 |
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Bourdeaux, P. Being engaged in the World (nhập thế) and the secular state in 20th century Vietnam. Approaching two notions through Hòa Hảo Buddhism history. Theor Soc 51, 871–892 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11186-022-09488-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11186-022-09488-y