Hoa Hao
Encyclopedia
Hòa Hảo is a religious tradition, based on Buddhism
, founded in 1939 by Huỳnh Phú Sổ, a native of the Mekong River Delta region of southern Vietnam
. Adherents consider Sổ to be a prophet
, and Hòa Hảo a continuation of a 19th-century Buddhist ministry known as Bửu Sơn Kỳ Hương
("Strange Perfume from Precious Mountains," referring to the Thất Sơn
range on the Vietnamese-Cambodia
n border). The founders of these traditions are regarded by Hòa Hảo followers as living Buddhas
—destined to save mankind from suffering and to protect the Vietnamese nation.
Hòa Hảo claims approximately two million followers throughout Vietnam; in some provinces near its Delta birthplace, as many as 90 percent of the population practice this tradition. An important characteristic of this movement is its emphasis on peasant
farmers, exemplified by the old slogan, "Practicing Buddhism While Farming Your Land." Farm life is considered to be the most conducive to religious practice and self-improvement. Patriotism and willingness to defend the homeland are valued.
Hòa Hảo also stresses the practice of Buddhism by lay people in the home, rather than focusing primarily on temple worship and ordination
. Aid to the poor is favored over pagoda
-building or expensive rituals; religious and social ceremonies are ideally simple and modest, and are not to include the food offerings, divination
services, and elaborate wedding
and funeral
customs found in some manifestations of Southeast Asia
n life. These are viewed as a waste of money which would be better spent helping the needy.
In Hòa Hảo homes, a plain brown cloth serves as an altar
, at which the family prays morning and night. Separate altars are used to honor ancestors and the sacred directions. Only fresh water, flowers, and incense
are used in worship; no bells or gongs accompany prayers. A believer away from home at prayer times faces west (i.e., toward India
) to pray to the Buddha. Adherents are expected to attend communal services on the 1st and 15th of each lunar month
and on other Buddhist holy days.
During World War II, the Hòa Hảo supported the Japanese occupation and planned for Cường Để to become Emperor of Vietnam. However, this never happened and the Hòa Hảo came into conflict with the communists both because the Việt Minh were anti-Japanese and because of their Marxist opposition to all religion. During the State of Vietnam
(1949–1955), they made arrangements with the Head of State Bảo Đại
, much like those made by the Cao Đài religion and the Bình Xuyên
gang, which were in control of their own affairs in return for their nominal support of the Bảo Đại regime. In fact, the control of this government by France
meant that most Hòa Hảo opposed it.
When America began pushing for Ngô Đình Diệm
to run South Vietnam
, the most powerful groups to concern the Americans were the Cao Đài
, the Bình Xuyên
and the Hòa Hảo, which had formed a small private army under General Ba Cụt
. O.S.S. Colonel Edward Lansdale
used bribery with CIA funds to split the Hòa Hảo and in 1956 General Dương Văn Minh
crushed the Hòa Hảo and General Ba Cụt was captured and beheaded in public. This was the end of the Hòa Hảo as an armed group, some later joining the Việt Cộng in opposition to the Diệm regime. After Diem was deposed and killed, the Hoa Hao changed their emphasis from anti Diem to anti Communist. During the early years of the Vietnam War in the 1960s, An Giang province and its capital Long Xuyen were among the few places in the Mekong Delta where Viet Cong activity was minimal and American and South Vietnamese troops could move without fear of sniper attack. After the war, the Hòa Hảo remained.
in 2005 to protest against religious persecution and more recently, after a wave of arrests of Hòa Hảo Buddhists, nine more were imprisoned in May 2007.
Hòa Hảoists do not believe that their founder died under torture. They surmise that he is still among the living.
In 2007, the Vietnamese government had the printed prophesies of the founder seized and reprinted to a volume slightly more than half the original size. The ceremonies commemorating the birth of this prophet were outlawed. Since that year, Hòa Hảo split in two. A hardline section lives on in the United States, and a reformed section, under control of Vietnamese religious authorities, lives on in Vietnam.
Buddhism
Buddhism is a religion and philosophy encompassing a variety of traditions, beliefs and practices, largely based on teachings attributed to Siddhartha Gautama, commonly known as the Buddha . The Buddha lived and taught in the northeastern Indian subcontinent some time between the 6th and 4th...
, founded in 1939 by Huỳnh Phú Sổ, a native of the Mekong River Delta region of southern Vietnam
Vietnam
Vietnam – sometimes spelled Viet Nam , officially the Socialist Republic of Vietnam – is the easternmost country on the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia. It is bordered by China to the north, Laos to the northwest, Cambodia to the southwest, and the South China Sea –...
. Adherents consider Sổ to be a prophet
Prophet
In religion, a prophet, from the Greek word προφήτης profitis meaning "foreteller", is an individual who is claimed to have been contacted by the supernatural or the divine, and serves as an intermediary with humanity, delivering this newfound knowledge from the supernatural entity to other people...
, and Hòa Hảo a continuation of a 19th-century Buddhist ministry known as Bửu Sơn Kỳ Hương
Buu Son Ky Huong
Bửu Sơn Kỳ Hương refers to a religious tradition originally practiced by the mystic Đoàn Minh Huyên and continued by Huỳnh Phú Sổ, founder of the Hòa Hảo sect of Buddhism...
("Strange Perfume from Precious Mountains," referring to the Thất Sơn
That Son
Thất Sơn, also known as Bảy Núi or Thiên Cấm Sơn , is a range of small mountains located in the Tri Tôn and Tịnh Biên districts in Vietnam's An Giang province.- Overview :...
range on the Vietnamese-Cambodia
Cambodia
Cambodia , officially known as the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochina Peninsula in Southeast Asia...
n border). The founders of these traditions are regarded by Hòa Hảo followers as living Buddhas
Buddhahood
In Buddhism, buddhahood is the state of perfect enlightenment attained by a buddha .In Buddhism, the term buddha usually refers to one who has become enlightened...
—destined to save mankind from suffering and to protect the Vietnamese nation.
Hòa Hảo claims approximately two million followers throughout Vietnam; in some provinces near its Delta birthplace, as many as 90 percent of the population practice this tradition. An important characteristic of this movement is its emphasis on peasant
Peasant
A peasant is an agricultural worker who generally tend to be poor and homeless-Etymology:The word is derived from 15th century French païsant meaning one from the pays, or countryside, ultimately from the Latin pagus, or outlying administrative district.- Position in society :Peasants typically...
farmers, exemplified by the old slogan, "Practicing Buddhism While Farming Your Land." Farm life is considered to be the most conducive to religious practice and self-improvement. Patriotism and willingness to defend the homeland are valued.
Hòa Hảo also stresses the practice of Buddhism by lay people in the home, rather than focusing primarily on temple worship and ordination
Ordination
In general religious use, ordination is the process by which individuals are consecrated, that is, set apart as clergy to perform various religious rites and ceremonies. The process and ceremonies of ordination itself varies by religion and denomination. One who is in preparation for, or who is...
. Aid to the poor is favored over pagoda
Pagoda
A pagoda is the general term in the English language for a tiered tower with multiple eaves common in Nepal, India, China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam and other parts of Asia. Some pagodas are used as Taoist houses of worship. Most pagodas were built to have a religious function, most commonly Buddhist,...
-building or expensive rituals; religious and social ceremonies are ideally simple and modest, and are not to include the food offerings, divination
Divination
Divination is the attempt to gain insight into a question or situation by way of an occultic standardized process or ritual...
services, and elaborate wedding
Wedding
A wedding is the ceremony in which two people are united in marriage or a similar institution. Wedding traditions and customs vary greatly between cultures, ethnic groups, religions, countries, and social classes...
and funeral
Funeral
A funeral is a ceremony for celebrating, sanctifying, or remembering the life of a person who has died. Funerary customs comprise the complex of beliefs and practices used by a culture to remember the dead, from interment itself, to various monuments, prayers, and rituals undertaken in their honor...
customs found in some manifestations of Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia
Southeast Asia, South-East Asia, South East Asia or Southeastern Asia is a subregion of Asia, consisting of the countries that are geographically south of China, east of India, west of New Guinea and north of Australia. The region lies on the intersection of geological plates, with heavy seismic...
n life. These are viewed as a waste of money which would be better spent helping the needy.
In Hòa Hảo homes, a plain brown cloth serves as an altar
Altar
An altar is any structure upon which offerings such as sacrifices are made for religious purposes. Altars are usually found at shrines, and they can be located in temples, churches and other places of worship...
, at which the family prays morning and night. Separate altars are used to honor ancestors and the sacred directions. Only fresh water, flowers, and incense
Incense
Incense is composed of aromatic biotic materials, which release fragrant smoke when burned. The term "incense" refers to the substance itself, rather than to the odor that it produces. It is used in religious ceremonies, ritual purification, aromatherapy, meditation, for creating a mood, and for...
are used in worship; no bells or gongs accompany prayers. A believer away from home at prayer times faces west (i.e., toward India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
) to pray to the Buddha. Adherents are expected to attend communal services on the 1st and 15th of each lunar month
Lunar calendar
A lunar calendar is a calendar that is based on cycles of the lunar phase. A common purely lunar calendar is the Islamic calendar or Hijri calendar. A feature of the Islamic calendar is that a year is always 12 months, so the months are not linked with the seasons and drift each solar year by 11 to...
and on other Buddhist holy days.
History
Huỳnh Phú Sổ faced a great deal of trouble when he began to spread the ideas of his religion, a large part of which was Vietnamese nationalism, a dangerous idea in that time of French colonial rule. He was famously put in a lunatic asylum because of his preaching, but supposedly converted his doctor to the Hòa Hảo belief. As the popularity of Hòa Hảo grew, Huỳnh Phú Sổ made a series of prophecies about the political future of Vietnam. He said that the "true king" would return to lead Vietnam to freedom and prosperity, which caused most Hòa Hảo to support the Nguyễn pretender: Marquis Cường Để, living abroad in Japan.During World War II, the Hòa Hảo supported the Japanese occupation and planned for Cường Để to become Emperor of Vietnam. However, this never happened and the Hòa Hảo came into conflict with the communists both because the Việt Minh were anti-Japanese and because of their Marxist opposition to all religion. During the State of Vietnam
State of Vietnam
The State of Vietnam was a state that claimed authority over all of Vietnam during the First Indochina War, and replaced the Provisional Central Government of Vietnam . The provisional government was a brief transitional administration between colonial Cochinchina and an independent state...
(1949–1955), they made arrangements with the Head of State Bảo Đại
Bảo Đài
Bảo Đài is a commune and village in Lục Nam District, Bac Giang Province, in northeastern Vietnam.-References:...
, much like those made by the Cao Đài religion and the Bình Xuyên
Binh Xuyen
Bình Xuyên, often linked to its infamous leader, General Le van "Bay" Vien, was an independent military force within the Vietnamese National Army whose leaders once had lived outside the law and had sided with the Viet Minh...
gang, which were in control of their own affairs in return for their nominal support of the Bảo Đại regime. In fact, the control of this government by France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
meant that most Hòa Hảo opposed it.
When America began pushing for Ngô Đình Diệm
Ngo Dinh Diem
Ngô Đình Diệm was the first president of South Vietnam . In the wake of the French withdrawal from Indochina as a result of the 1954 Geneva Accords, Diệm led the effort to create the Republic of Vietnam. Accruing considerable U.S. support due to his staunch anti-Communism, he achieved victory in a...
to run South Vietnam
South Vietnam
South Vietnam was a state which governed southern Vietnam until 1975. It received international recognition in 1950 as the "State of Vietnam" and later as the "Republic of Vietnam" . Its capital was Saigon...
, the most powerful groups to concern the Americans were the Cao Đài
Cao Dai
Cao Đài is a syncretistic, monotheistic religion, officially established in the city of Tay Ninh, southern Vietnam, in 1926. Đạo Cao Đài is the religion's shortened name, the full name is Đại Đạo Tam Kỳ Phổ Độ...
, the Bình Xuyên
Binh Xuyen
Bình Xuyên, often linked to its infamous leader, General Le van "Bay" Vien, was an independent military force within the Vietnamese National Army whose leaders once had lived outside the law and had sided with the Viet Minh...
and the Hòa Hảo, which had formed a small private army under General Ba Cụt
Ba Cut
Lê Quang Vinh , popularly known as Ba Cụt , was a military commander of the Hòa Hảo religious sect, which operated from the Mekong Delta and controlled various parts of southern Vietnam during the 1940s and early 1950s.Ba Cụt and his forces fought the Vietnamese National Army , the...
. O.S.S. Colonel Edward Lansdale
Edward Lansdale
Edward Geary Lansdale was a United States Air Force officer who served in the Office of Strategic Services and the Central Intelligence Agency. He rose to the rank of Major General and was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal in 1963. He was an early proponent of more aggressive US actions in...
used bribery with CIA funds to split the Hòa Hảo and in 1956 General Dương Văn Minh
Duong Van Minh
Minh was born on 16 February 1916 in Mỹ Tho Province in the Mekong Delta, the son of a wealthy landowner who served in a prominent position in the Finance Ministry of the French colonial administration...
crushed the Hòa Hảo and General Ba Cụt was captured and beheaded in public. This was the end of the Hòa Hảo as an armed group, some later joining the Việt Cộng in opposition to the Diệm regime. After Diem was deposed and killed, the Hoa Hao changed their emphasis from anti Diem to anti Communist. During the early years of the Vietnam War in the 1960s, An Giang province and its capital Long Xuyen were among the few places in the Mekong Delta where Viet Cong activity was minimal and American and South Vietnamese troops could move without fear of sniper attack. After the war, the Hòa Hảo remained.
Persecution
Although Hòa Hảo Buddhism is an officially recognized religion in Vietnam, many members refuse the forceful governmental affiliation which is entailed by official recognition and an unknown number of religious leaders have been detained for this reason. Two Hòa Hảo Buddhists self-immolatedSelf-immolation
Self-immolation refers to setting oneself on fire, often as a form of protest or for the purposes of martyrdom or suicide. It has centuries-long traditions in some cultures, while in modern times it has become a type of radical political protest...
in 2005 to protest against religious persecution and more recently, after a wave of arrests of Hòa Hảo Buddhists, nine more were imprisoned in May 2007.
Hòa Hảoists do not believe that their founder died under torture. They surmise that he is still among the living.
In 2007, the Vietnamese government had the printed prophesies of the founder seized and reprinted to a volume slightly more than half the original size. The ceremonies commemorating the birth of this prophet were outlawed. Since that year, Hòa Hảo split in two. A hardline section lives on in the United States, and a reformed section, under control of Vietnamese religious authorities, lives on in Vietnam.
Scholarly works
- Ho Tai, Hue-Tam. Millenarianism and Peasant Politics in Vietnam. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1983.
- Taylor, Philip. "Apocalypse Now? Hòa Hảo Buddhism Emerging from the Shadows of War", The Australian Journal of Anthropology, Vol. 12, No. 3 (2001): 339-354.
- Nguyễn Long Thành Nam. Hòa Hảo Buddhism in the Course of Việtnam’s History. NY: Nova Science Publishing, 2004.
- Phạm Bích Hợp. Làng Hòa Hảo Xưa và Này (Hòa Hảo Village Past and Present) Ho Chi Minh City: Nha Xuat Ban Thanh Pho Ho Chi Minh, 1999.