“Wholly Unjust” To Call Monk Impostor”

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31225, 24 November 1966, Page 23

“Wholly Unjust” To Call Monk Impostor”

It was “wholly unjust” of the Minister of Finance (Mr Lake) to accuse Thich Nhat Hanh, the Buddist monk who recently visited New Zealand of being an impostor, said the general secretary of the National Council of Churches (the Rev. D. M. Taylor) in a statement. “I hoped that my friend Mr Lake had been misreported as calling Thich Nhat Hanh an impostor, but now he has repeated his attack, and I must protest. An impostor is one 1 who pretends to be someone other than he really is. The Buddhist monk who recently visited New Zealand made no pretence whatever to be anyone but himself, and to accuse him of this is wholly unjust. “For a senior minister of the Crown to level such an accusation outrages my sense of fair play,” said Mr Taylor. “The fact that Marshal Ky denounces the monk is only to be expected. No-one in South Vietnam is allowed to be in favour of negotiation for peace. Such a person is in immediate danger of arrest. Thich Nhat Hanh knows only too well that his life is in danger now. “Mr Lake says that ‘under close questioning Thich Nhat Hanh addmitted that Communism and Buddhism are incompatible.’ Why on earth should Mr Lake mention i.is, as if the monk was . el actant to say such a thing? Its perfectly obvious, and no secret, that Marxism being atheistic is incompatible with any religion, in the sense that no person can believe in God and at the same time be an atheist. But it does not follow that all Buddhists ought to join a napalm war against Communists. “If Mr Lake had taken trouble to listen to Thich Nhat Hanh, he would have learned how it is possible to be a Buddhist, and yet at the same regard the American armed forces as a threat to Vietnam itself. “Mr Lake speaks of the

‘election’ in South Vietnam as if the only persons who can rightly speak for the Vietnamese people are the ‘elected’ politicians. Surely there couldn’t be a weaker argument than this! How can a democratic people like ourselves keep up any pretence of respect for an ‘election’ from which all who disagree are excluded in advance? “Mr Lake speaks of ‘ a few apparently well-intentioned people in our community,’ and says ‘we hear very little from well-intentioned pressure groups about the plight of Buddhist refugees in India’ etc. In this comment Mr Lake is exaggerating the smallness of the groups he is referring to,” said Mr Taylor. “The Methodist Conference, attended by 400 elected delegates from all parts of New Zealand, was one of bodies that welcomed Thich Nhat Hanh and really listened to what he had to say. I, though not a Methodist, was present, and I vouch for this. The Methodist Church is a member church of the National Council of Churches, and I feel obliged to defend it against Mr Lake's belittling, if not contemptuous, remark. “Mr Lake says ‘I commend the espousal of these causes to those who are so ready to attack me in the newspapers.' He has no need to do this. The Methodist Church in New Zealand (along with other churches) has been active for many years in helping the victims of Communism in many parts of the world. I myself have a daughter at this moment in the Himalayas helping Buddhist refugees from Tibet. “These ‘well-intentioned pressure groups,’ such as the Methodist Church of New Zealand, have sent thousands -of pounds in practical relief to the victims of Communist tactics in South Vietnam. This month we sent an Anglican nurse. “I hope Thich Nhat Hanh is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize,” Mr Taylor said.