Vietnamese monk heads to Malaysia after Myanmar proves an insurmountable obstacle

A Vietnamese Buddhist monk on a barefoot pilgrimage from his homeland to India has given up on his attempt to walk across Myanmar and is heading to Malaysia for the next leg of his journey, a fellow monk said.

Thich Minh Tue and a group of companions are on a 2,700-kilometer (1,600 mile) trip to the place where Buddhism began 2,500 years ago but they have run into some very modern problems, including visa regulations and civil war in Myanmar.

Minh Tue – “Thich” signifies that he’s a monk – became an internet celebrity in Vietnam last year as he walked across the country, carrying a rice cooker pot to collect alms.

Late last year, he left Vietnam to embark on a journey on foot to India, the birthplace of Buddhism. After crossing Laos, he entered Thailand about two months ago and has been walking about 20 kilometers (12 miles) a day, often on scorching asphalt, through the countryside.

But with Thai visas running out and worries about the safety of trying to cross war-torn Myanmar, Minh Tue and his entourage debated what to do while in northern Thailand this week, said one of the monks in his party, Phuc Giac, who had emerged as a spokesman for the pilgrims.

With crossing into Myanmar not possible, the party had then considered crossing northern Thailand’s border with Laos, with the idea of then returning to Thailand with new Thai visas. But they soon ruled that out too.

“We were afraid that if we went to Laos, we would not be able to re-enter Thailand. Therefore, everyone agreed,” Phuc Giac said, referring to a new plan, to head all the way south through Thailand to Malaysia.

The party set off in a bus on Wednesday bound for Thailand’s southern border.

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State media report

From Malaysia, they can try and find a boat to India or Sri Lanka, although there are no ferry services from Malaysia or Singapore across the Bay of Bengal. Or they can fly.

Minh Tue’s party includes five monks practicing the 13 ascetic Buddhist disciplines who have been accompanying him since the beginning of the pilgrimage, and various supporters, some of them chronicling the journey on social media.

Minh Tue and his simple lifestyle struck a chord in Vietnam last year, where social media posts of his barefoot walks went viral and well-wishers came out in droves.

Vietnam’s state-sanctioned Buddhist sangha has not officially recognized him as a monk, but he has nonetheless garnered widespread admiration and support.

At one point, Vietnamese authorities, leery of his popularity, announced he had “voluntarily retired.”

Vietnamese state media had not broadcast any news about Minh Tue’s pilgrimage – until Feb. 22, when Hanoi Television posted a report on its YouTube channel titled “YouTubers Cause Chaos to Monk Thich Minh Tue’s on-foot Pilgrimage.”

The report focused on the YouTubers following the monk group, accusing them of spreading “sensational” and “divisive” information for “personal gain.”

It also highlighted what it described as “internal conflicts” within the group, calling it a “clash of group interests.”

Minh Tue’s group “disturbed the security and public order” in areas they passed through and the local police had to “take them to their headquarters for resolution,” according to the report.

When RFA contacted YouTubers accompanying the monk in Thailand about Hanoi Television’s claims, one YouTuber named Tran Nguyen said that he and others are adhering to Thai law, and not disturbing public order.

Radio Free Asia is an online news service affiliated with BenarNews.