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The speeches at last week's celebrations were masterpieces of ambivalence, saying nothing for or against Khanh, for or against the Reds. Aged Supreme Patriarch Thich Thien Khiet appealed enigmatically to Buddhists "regardless of their sects" to "achieve more union and to think of the danger faced by Buddhist law and the people." He added, equally mysteriously, that Vietnamese Buddhists "know how to approve of sound policies and resist nefarious ones."
Some observers believe that the Buddhists are still trying to make up their minds about what position they should take on Communism—pretty late in the game. Others suggest that the Buddhists want only to be independent of both government and Communists—which sounds like a neutralism of sorts. Moreover, Communist tactics being what they are, it would be almost miraculous if the Buddhists were not infiltrated by Red agents.
Whatever their aims, the Buddhists are stronger than last summer—a force now rivaling the Viet Cong in organization. Channeled against the Reds, they could quite possibly help win the war by galvanizing the apathetic populace. And, logically, they should want to do so, for their northern brethren have fared badly under Communist rule. But then logic has never been a noticeable spoke in the Buddhist wheel of life.
*Buddhist doctrine teaches that freeing caged birds is one way to earn virtue. As a result, one Saigon bird merchant has reputedly made a fortune by training his feathered charges to return to him as soon as they have been bought and freed by virtue seekers.