Let’s say NO to the scheme of the communist regime in VN to manipulate and exploit the VESAK - 2008 which is planned to be celebrated in Hanoi this summer for its political purposes (VESAK is a great festival under the auspice of the U.N., mainly for the celebration of Sakyamuni’s Birthday, but also an event for celebration of Sakyamuni’s Enlightenment and Sakyamuni’s Passing to Nirvana). The communist regime in Hanoi would like to manipulate this event to prove there is freedom of religion in VN. Really it is not, as traditional churches such as the Unified Buddhist Church of VN, Christian churches in the Highlands are still under surveillance and suppression. Such things as lands and properties of the churches which were seized/confiscated from time to time have still not been returned to the owners. The cases of the apostolic nuncio - Hanoi and Thai Ha Parish are the cases in point that the world community is closely watching. The Catholic believers in Hanoi and the suburban areas have performed what is called a "worshipping" protest in thousands of people at the climax, to the degree that the Vatican had to send Archbishop Ngo Quang Kiet of the Archdiocese of Hanoi a letter to request a stop of "worshipping" in front of the apostolic nuncio, waiting for the "good will" of the authorities concerned. Until now, nothing has been resolved! People feel that the church has been cheated by a regime with its famous name of CHEATING in the world!

The communist regime and its lackeys: the state-controlled Buddhist Church of Vietnam, for decades, have performed schemes to attract the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam’s priests in order that one day, they can control the majority of the Church’s members. They do get certain success overseas, as a number of the Church’s priests have turned their back to the Church and leaned to the state-controlled Church and the regime for the physical benefits of expansion and the ease to visit VN and to operate something there like charity [or even to bring members of the state-controlled church -- those priests who are lackeys of the regime -- to various pagodas abroad, for the purpose of rigging the Unified Buddhist Church - 2nd Office (overseas) off with an aim to eliminate or dominate this Church in the future].

Right now, the two following tendencies among Viet Buddhists and priests overseas are clearly:

- A number of pagodas and priests still being loyal to leadership of the Unified Buddhist Church’s Supreme Patriarch Thich Huyen Quang and the Most Ven. Thich Quang Do, plus the Most Ven. Thich Ho Giac overseas.

- A number of pagodas and priests leaning to the reconciliation with the Vietnamese communist regime and the state-controlled church. They have organized such seminars/conference s as "Ve Nguon" (Returning to Source) with an aim of doing "Preaching - Education - Charity" in VN (guidelines of their core organizers called "Hoi Than Huu Gia Lam: www.thanhuugialam. com) which requires the approval of the regime to do so.