President Tran Dai Quang hails Buddhist congress success
VGP – President Tran Dai Quang has affirmed that the success of the freshly-ended eighth National Congress of the Viet Nam Buddhist Sangha (VBS) demonstrates the robust growth and unity of Viet Nam Buddhism.
November 24, 2017 9:43 AM GMT+7
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Listening to the outcomes of the congress, he expressed his hope that the Patronage Council and the Executive Council in the 2017-2022 term will work to encourage monks, nuns and followers to join in soundly implementing Party guidelines and policies and State law while performing their citizen duties and responsibilities.
They should also work to promote unity and harmony between Buddhism and other religions and people of all walks of life, he added.
He noted that the Party, State and people have always treasured and highly valued concrete contributions of the VBS and its monks, nuns and followers to the national great unity bloc and the nation-building effort.
The Party and State have over the past years consistently pursued the policy of respecting and safeguarding the right to belief and religion of people while creating conditions for religions to exercise their faith practices in compliance with law and preserve and promote their good values.
The success of the eighth National Congress of the VBS reflected the care of the Party, State, relevant ministries and localities to Viet Nam Buddhism, he said.
The VBS’s eighth congress concluded in Ha Noi on November 22, with Most Venerable Thich Pho Tue re-honoured as Supreme Patriarch of the VBS.
The event was attended by 1,250 Buddhist dignitaries, monks, nuns and followers both at home and abroad.
The congress also elected 96 members of the Patronage Council with Most Venerable Thich Pho Tue as the Patriarch of the council’s standing board, along with 225 official members and 45 alternate members of the Executive Council headed by Most Venerable Thich Thien Nhon for the 2017-2022 tenure.
The VBS has chapters in all 63 cities and provinces, and Associations of Vietnamese Buddhists in 11 countries worldwide. There are four Buddhism universities, eight college-level training programmes and 34 primary Buddhism schools. -VNA
