Abstract
This chapter investigates the Way of Hồ Chí Minh as the Jade Buddha developed by the Peace Society of Heavenly Mediums. This group was formed and developed as the deification of Hồ Chí Minh and belief in his spirit became popular throughout the nation. The chapter briefly explores studies which include the worship of Hồ Chí Minh’s spirit, analyses the Peace Society’s key religious features and discusses its attempts to obtain a permanent place within the host society, and identifies elements that link this group with current and broader religious arguments and orientations in Vietnam. Particularly, this chapter argues that the Society is a channel through which people can not only empower themselves but also seek legitimacy and promote nationalistic aspirations. The emergence of social and religious groups who believe that the Jade Buddha will bring salvation to the nation demonstrates Vietnamese’s on-going millenarian dream of social transformation in the context of challenges of international integration, plus the tension caused by maritime conflicts with China.
Long live President Hồ in our career
(Hồ Chủ tịch sống mãi trong sự nghiệp của chúng ta) -
A Vietnamese Communist Party’s motto
‘The nation of Vietnam will stand forever
with Jade Buddha – Chí Minh – Ái Quốc’
(Nước Việt Nam đời đời vĩnh hằng
Có Ngọc Phật – Chí Minh – Ái Quốc) -
A quote from 2010 spirit writing
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
The term ‘Ngọc Phật’ (Jade Buddha) is not new and appeared in earlier Hòa Hảo Buddhist prophecies (sấm giảng). According to these prophecies, the Jade Emperor commanded that the Jade Buddha be sent down to earth to save good people and punish evil-doers. However, ‘Jade Buddha’ has a different meaning in contemporary religious groups where it is used to mention Hồ Chí Minh’s spirit.
- 2.
In my visit to Madam Xoan in September 2015, I discovered that she began using ‘Đạo Trời nước Việt Nam’ (The Vietnamese Heavenly Way) and avoided directly mentioning the name Hồ Chí Minh throughout her self-published materials.
- 3.
It should be noted that Madam Xoan does not have official permission for these desktop-published soft-cover books, hence they are technically illegal.
- 4.
Most of the Society’s spirit poems are written in thơ lục bát, a popular and much used Vietnamese verse form.
- 5.
This is the indigenous Vietnamese belief in the spirits who reside in four different palaces: Heaven, Earth, Water, and Forest, which typically involves spirit possession.
- 6.
During the 1990s, some emerging religious groups were heavily suppressed or closely watched by the local authorities and negatively reported by the media.
References
Blagov, S. (2001). Caodaism: Vietnamese traditionalism and its leap into modernity. New York: Nova Science.
Chung Van Hoang. (2012). New religious movements in Vietnamese media discourse since 1986: A critical approach. Australian Religion Studies Review, 25(2), 293–315.
Claire Trần Thị Liên. (2013). Communist state and religious policy in Vietnam: A historical perspective. Hague Journal on the Rule of Law, 5, 229–252.
Department for Religious Works (Vụ công tác tôn giáo, Ban dân vận Trung ương). (2007). Q&A of some issues of strange religious pathways in our country at the present (Hỏi đáp một số vấn đề về đạo lạ ở nước ta hiện nay). Hanoi: Religion publishing house (Nhà xuất bản Tôn giáo).
Đỗ Quang Hưng. (2000). Suy nghĩ về Tôn giáo ở Nam Bộ thời cận đại (Thinking about religion in the South in the near modern times). Tạp chí Nghiên cứu Tôn giáo (Religious Studies Review), 3(1), 14–22.
Hue-Tam, H. T. (1983). Millenarianism and peasant politics in Vietnam. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.
Hue-Tam, H. T. (1995). Monumental ambiguity: The state commemoration of Ho Chi Minh. In K. Taylor & J. Withmore (Eds.), Essays into Vietnamese pasts (pp. 272–288). New York: Cornell University/Southeast Asia Program Publications.
Hy Van Luong. (2007). The Reconstructuring of Vietnamese nationalism: 1954–2006. Pacific Affairs, 80(3), 439–453.
Lee, S. T. (1996). Religion and social formation in Korea: Minjung and millenarianism. New York: Mouton de Gruyter.
Mai Thanh Hải. (2001). Nhìn lại tôn giáo, tín ngưỡng Nam Bộ hơn 100 năm qua (revisiting religions and beliefs in the South last 100 years). Tạp chí Nghiên cứu Tôn giáo (Religious Studies Review), 12(6), 44–49.
Malarney, S. K. (1996). The emerging cult of Ho Chi Minh? A report on religious innovation in contemporary Northen Vietnam. Asian Cultural Studies, 22, 121–131.
Malarney, S. K. (1997). Culture, virtue, and political transformation in contemporary Northern Viet Nam. The Journal of Asian Studies, 56(4), 899–920.
Nguyễn Ngọc Phương. (2014). Hiện tượng thờ cúng Hồ Chí Minh: Quá trình hình thành, đặc điểm thờ cúng và bản chất tôn giáo (The cult of Hồ Chí Minh: Formation, features and religious nature). MA. Diss. Hanoi: The College of Social Sciences and Humanities, Hanoi National University.
Norton, B. (2002). The moon remembers Uncle Ho: The politics of music and mediumship in Northern Vietnam. British Journal of Ethnomusicology, 1(11), 71–100.
Pham Quynh Phuong. (2009). Hero and deity: Tran hung Dao and the resurgence of popular religion in Vietnam. Chiang Mai: Mekong Press.
Spohn, W. (2003). Multiple modernity, nationalism and religion: A global perspective. Current Sociology, 51(3/4), 265–286.
Tạ Chí Đại Trường. 1989. Thần, Người và đất Việt.
Tréglodé, Benoit de. (2012). Hero and revolution in Vietnam: 1948–1964 (Claire Duiker, Trans.). Singapore: NUS Press in association with IRASEC.
Veer, P., & Lehmann, H. (1999). Introduction. In P. Veer & H. Lehmann (Eds.), Nation and religion: Perspectives on Europe and Asia (pp. 3–14). New Jersey: Princeton University Press.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2017 Springer International Publishing AG
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hoang, C.V. (2017). A ‘Spiritual Revolution’ for National Salvation: The Way of the Jade Buddha. In: New Religions and State's Response to Religious Diversification in Contemporary Vietnam. Boundaries of Religious Freedom: Regulating Religion in Diverse Societies. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58500-0_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-58500-0_4
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-58499-7
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-58500-0
eBook Packages: Social SciencesSocial Sciences (R0)