Thích Huyền Quang (19 September 1919 – 5 July 2008Vietnamese Federation For Fatherland's Integrity
) was a Vietnamese Buddhist monk,

dissident A dissident is a person who actively challenges an established political or religious system, doctrine, belief, policy, or institution. In a religious context, the word has been used since the 18th century, and in the political sense since the 2 ...

and activist. At the time, he was the Patriarch of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, a currently banned organisation in his homeland. He was notable for his activism for human and religious rights in Vietnam. In 1977, Quang wrote a letter to then-

Prime Minister A prime minister or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. A prime minister is not the head of state, but r ...

Phạm Văn Đồng detailing counts of oppression by the communist regime. For this, he and five other senior monks were arrested and detained. In 1982, he was arrested and put on permanent house arrest for opposition to governmental policy after publicly denouncing the establishment of the state-controlled Vietnam Buddhist Sangha. In 2002, he was awarded the Homo Homini Award for his human rights activism by the Czech group People in Need, which he shared with Thích Quảng Độ and Father Nguyễn Văn Lý.

Death

Quang died peacefully on Saturday, 5 July 2008, aged 88, at his monastery. His funeral was held on Friday, 11 July 2008, without incident.

References

External links

''The Times'' obituary for Thích Huyền Quang
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thich, Huyen Quang 1919 births 2008 deaths Vietnamese Buddhist monks Vietnamese religious leaders Civil rights activists Unified Buddhist Church Buddhists Vietnamese democracy activists Vietnamese human rights activists Vietnamese prisoners and detainees Vietnamese anti-communists Thiền Buddhists Buddhist pacifists People from Bình Định province 20th-century Buddhist monks