Request for information - Buu Chon delegation
From: Michele Thompson <thompsonc2@southernct.edu>
Date: Oct 7, 2006 8:38 AM
Subject: [Vsg] request for information
Dear VSG Members,
I've had a request for information from one of our colleagues in Cambodian studies.
Does anyone have any information on the event discussed below?
cheers
Michele
Michele Thompson
Dept. of History
Southern Connecticut State University
Begin forwarded message:
From: John Amos Marston <jmars@colmex.mx>
I have recently been researching a September 1979 event in which a delegation of Theravada
monks from Vietnam went to Phnom Penh to re-establish the ordination lineage there.
According to a radio report from Vietnam which is in Summary of World Broadcasts, the
delegation was headed by a monk named Ven. Buu Chan. On impulse I did a web search on his
name and came with a paragraph on a site about Religions in Communist Vietnam written by
Nguyen Quoc Viet and Nguyen Dai Tuong. They write: "The death of His Holiness Buu Chan was
a doubtful question. He was reportedly involved in an automobile accident when he was on
his way to a pilgrimage in Phnom Penh, Kampuchea. he died when he was brought to a
hospital. No one knows what really happened to him." Now, there is no citation of where
this story comes from, and the authors have a clear political agenda, so I am wary of this
story. However, I was told something similar by someone I interviewed in Phnom Penh, who
said that the chief monk who came from Vietnam died under mysterious circumstances -- also
hinting at something sinister. (The interviewee also someone who would have had an ax to
grind.)My purpose in this is not to discredit the ordination which took place, but I would
like to get as complete a sense of what happened as possible. I was wondering how widely
this story is in circulation and whether there is any real documentation of it. Even if
there is no real basis to the story, I would be interested in a clearer explanation of the
logic it has those those who tell it.
Also, if anyone can suggest any Vietnamese-language sources which would document the
September 1979 ordination, I would be interested in knowing about them.
John Marston jmars@colmex.mx
From: T. Nguyen <nguyenthanhbl@yahoo.com>
Date: Oct 7, 2006 9:12 AM
Subject: Re: [Vsg] request for information
There is at least a report written in Vietnamese by Do
Trung Hieu. Hieu was a member in Buu Chon (not Chan)
delegation. Buu Chon's attendant who was with him then
is still in Ho Chi Minh city. From what I know, Buu
Chon passed away due to some problem with his liver.
Cheers,
thanh
From: Michele Thompson <thompsonc2@southernct.edu>
Date: Oct 7, 2006 9:22 AM
Subject: Re: [Vsg] request for information
Dear Thanh,
Thanks!
cheers