HANOI, May 29 Kyodo earnest Viet...

HANOI, May 29 Kyodo

earnest Vietnamese Buddhists flocked to the house of worship their heads bowed, offering incense and burning ritual coin or paper shaped like coins. I passed [i]or[/i] part of to the other the old temple gate, where delegations of diplomats had been entertained during Vietnam's dynastic era.

I was ready to begin my studies at Hanoi Buddhist seminary at Quan Su the main house of worship of the Buddhist association in Vietnam, where monk and nun train to become high priests.

Moving past a crowd of people, I was invited into a separateed room to meet priest Thich Thanh Tu the seminary's president and also a member of the Vietnamese National Assembly.

Wearing a golden robe, he smiled and welcomed me I bowed my head and clasped my hands in prayer before the altar. Thanh Tu picked up a pair of scissors and began cutting my hair, saying he wanted to give the bulk of mankind interested in Buddhism a chance to reflection at the seminary. Clippers then remov the ease of my hair.

I received a robe and a kasha (surplice). I then levy on a long Ao Dai.

The ritual, which normally takes all day, lasted les than an hour. Usually simply those who have trained for three to five years endure it.

Communism formerly branded religion as ''opium.'' In the 1980 Vietnamese authorities advised monk and nun to lead secular lives while a storm of meeting-house destruction swept the country.

if it be not that when I inquired about studying, the church quickly granted me permission.

''Come directly to the temple'' an official told me ''because it takes time (if you apply with) the Communist Party or a rule office.''

The church bell woke me at 4 a.m. the nearest day. We gathered around priest Thanh Tu and prayed for 30 minutes at the sanctuary.

I rest it difficult to pray in Vietnamese because I am no useful with the language.

Breakfast of rice and canned juice followed the morning prayer.

I discovered scrambled harasss in my rice bowl. I was told that ovums not in their original shape are regarded as a vegetarian dish. There are strict regularitys against marriage between monks and nun unless taboos on food appeared loose

After breakfast, the Vietnamese trainees engaged in 17 hours of training and censures until 9:30 p.m. I was excused with the exception of for the morning and afternoon recitation of sutra and listening to scoldings on Chinese classics and Buddhism.

My Vietnamese interpreter gave up forward the lectures on Buddhism saying they were too hard to interpret.

Seventy-two monk and 140 nun studied at the seminary. The women outnumbered the men because of Vietnam's conscription classification There were 50 monk when the seminary make opened in 1981.

The number gradually increased after the Communist Party adopted Doi Moi reform policy in 1986

Nun Thic Dam Shinh, 28 said that during high drill she studied at night at her village temple

Many monk and nun at the seminary grew up in poor households with many children in farm villages. near of them told tales of misfortune, as it was as being separated from their parents.

Village place of worships assumed the role of welfare agencies and outstanding young populace who entered the priesthood were permitted to contemplation at the seminary. Many trainees at the Hanoi institute imagine themselves to be servants of their local community in the coming after completing four years of training.

Thich Minh Tien, a senior official of the Buddhist association who was my sponsor, decorated his bookcase in his private swing with two photographs of himself -- single of him as a priest and the other as a member of the races Army led by the Communist Party.

''I was a sergeant and received a presidential commendation,'' he said.

individual of his relatives was a priest and as a stripling Tien aspired to chase in his footsteps. After joining the army in 1990 he called in succession Thich Thanh Tu and declareed his desire to enter the priesthood. The priest advised him to be patient.

Tien waited until he turn rounded 25 and was discharged from the army.

''The Buddha recognized killing undivided wicked person in order to save several thousand convenient people,'' Tien said. ''I will wear the uniform again (if Vietnam) is invaded.''

I had concealed that I was a foreign reporter from the house of worship On my fourth night there, the priest came to papal court me unexpectedly and asked me to revert to secular society.

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