Visits of Buddhist and Catholic Leaders Generate life Dialogue
This is a old news (1999), but It manifested the friendship between Buddhist and Catholic leaders in Saigon...
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A recent exchange of visits by Buddhist and Catholic leaders here has generated a new link in religious and national unity, a local Buddhist monthly reported.
"We hope that through this link religious leaders will encounter each other in Buddha´s purifying light as well as in God´s charity, a kind of miraculous light of self-effacement and self-sacrifice that brings happiness and peace to humankind," Thanh Muc wrote in the June issue of "Giac Ngo" (enlightenment).
Muc referred to recent visits between Archbishop Jean Baptiste Pham Minh Man of Ho Chi Minh City and Venerable Thich Tri Quang, head of the city´s Buddhist community, in his report for the city-based Buddhist monthly, a supplement to a Buddhist weekly of the same name.
On May 24 Venerable Quang visited Archbishop Man on the occasion of the latter´s 35th priesthood anniversary at Hien Linh Church in District 6, where the archdiocese has a sport center for priests and Religious.
When the monk arrived at 11 a.m. he was received by some priests who showed him the center´s different facilities and introduced him to clergy, Religious and the archbishop, the Buddhist reporter wrote.
While sharing a vegetarian lunch, Archbishop Man and Venerable Quang discussed philosophy, daily life and their experience as religious leaders.
Referring to clergy engaging in sports after their pastoral work, Archbishop Man was quoted as saying that "sport is also a means to train oneself religiously and help us give up greed, hatred and lust."
"We do not adopt a win-lose approach," he added.
According to the Buddhist reporter, the archbishop also told his Buddhist guest that he was interested in Buddhist meditation and disclosed that he was editing a translation of a book on Zen and human life.
Archbishop Man also visited Venerable Quang at Hue Nghiem temple in District 11 to attend the commemoration of Buddha´s birthday, marked May 28 this year in Vietnam.
The archbishop was accompanied by Vicar General Father Jean Baptiste Huynh Cong Minh and Father Pierre Nguyen Cong Danh, chairman of the government-sanctioned Catholic Committee for Solidarity.
The Buddhist journalist reported that Archbishop Man took up the issue of meditation and told his host that he had asked some Catholic nuns how they felt about the Zen meditation they often practice at Truc Lam temple.
"They replied that the tranquil and peaceful state of mind they achieved with Zen-style meditation was more complete than with (Catholic) prayer," the archbishop said, adding that Catholic Religious should learn more about Buddhist meditation to invigorate their spiritual life.
Venerable Quang responded that Buddhists should also learn from Catholics in the field of organizational matters.
"This mutual exchange and understanding is necessary in our service to religion, the nation and humankind in the religious context of our era," Venerable Quang was quoted as saying.
Some Buddhists and Catholics in southern Vietnam are still haunted by the painful experience of the politicized bloody conflict between factions from both religious communities during the political turmoil of the early 1960s.
Two rare pictures depicting interreligious amity appeared separately in the two most recent issues of both the Buddhist monthly and weekly.
The first photograph showed Archbishop Man sitting on the floor of a room in Hue Nghiem temple and conversing with his Buddhist host, Venerable Quang.
The other showed Venerable Thich Thanh Tu and Cardinal Paul Joseph Pham Dinh Tung of Ha Noi holding a flower basket as a Buddhist delegation from the Central Board of the government-sanctioned Vietnam Buddhist Sangha paid a visit June 7 to the cardinal on the occasion of his golden priesthood jubilee.
Source: ucanews.com (July 5, 1999)
