Venerable Thich Nu Dieu Thong, secular name Pham Thi Bach Lien, dharma name Dieu Thong, nickname Chin To. She was born in 1935, in Tan Duong village, Lai Vung district, Dong Thap province. As a child, she was exposed to the Buddhist teachings of compassion and forgiveness, but also witnessed the suffering of the people under the colonial and imperialist regimes. In 1959, after studying in Hue, she returned to the South, right at the time when the Republic of Vietnam regime implemented Law 10/59, carrying out a bloody massacre against revolutionary soldiers.
Witnessing the oppression of her fellow countrymen, she realized that practicing religion was to save the suffering and the victims, and that she could not stay in a temple when her country was invaded and the people lived in extreme poverty and misery... So nun Dieu Thong decided to follow the call of the country. Under the "cover" of a nun, she joined the Saigon - Gia Dinh Special Forces, joining unit F100 in 1965. This was an elite force prepared for the Tet Offensive and Uprising of 1968.
Venerable Thich Nu Dieu Thong (middle) takes a souvenir photo with comrades in the National Defense Intelligence Liaison Committee in An Giang
When joining this force, she did many jobs, disguised herself in many ways to deceive the enemy. Sometimes she was a nun begging for alms, or a monk selling incense, selling soy sauce... Everything was for the sole purpose of reconnaissance, transporting weapons and guiding the way for key battles. Tam Bao, Truc Lam, Lien Tri, Bon Nguyen pagodas... were founded by her and Venerable Vien Hao. These places were not only for religious practice, but also secret bases, places to store weapons, documents, explosives, serving the resistance. Under the ground, in Buddha statues or jars of soy sauce... detonators and pistols were carefully hidden. Those pagodas became screens, important "links" in the combat network of Saigon commandos, in the center of the enemy's brain.
Dieu Thong worked as a scout and participated in many fierce and decisive battles, including the typical battles of 1969. In March, Saigon commandos attacked the Senate headquarters; in April, they attacked the high-voltage power station at Phu Tho racetrack; in May, they attacked the American bus station on Nguyen Van Thoai Street; in July, they attacked the American bachelor non-commissioned officer residence. In those battles, she and her female teammates fought bravely, contributing to the destruction of many enemy villains, causing both the Saigon government and the American army to be extremely confused.
In her memory, the attack on the American quarters was a “painful mark”. She choked up and said: “When Tam A sacrificed himself, his body was thrown onto the barbed wire fence, at that moment I felt like a knife was cutting into my heart, because my sisters and I used to eat together, sleep on the same bamboo mat under the Buddha statue”. Dieu Thong was once arrested and brutally tortured, but she resolutely refused to confess, to protect her organization and comrades. During her life of participating in the revolution, she was awarded many noble awards, such as: First Class Resistance Medal, Third Class Feat of Arms Medal, Vietnam National Defense Intelligence Medal… She always humbly said that those achievements belonged to the collective, comrades, those who will forever remain on the battlefield.
Her life of fighting silently and bravely became an endless source of inspiration for writer and screenwriter Le Phuong to write the script for the famous film "Saigon Special Forces". The film was released in 1980 and became a famous classic film at home and abroad. Mr. Mai Thanh Dong (Head of the National Defense Intelligence Liaison Department in An Giang) shared: "Up to now, Venerable Thich Nu Dieu Thong has always maintained the integrity of a soldier, silently contributing, not demanding personal honor, clearly demonstrating the pure qualities of Uncle Ho's soldiers".
The life and career of Venerable Thich Nu Dieu Thong is a living testament to the harmony between religion and nation, between the compassionate spirit of Buddhism and the passionate patriotism of the Vietnamese people. From the small pagoda to the supernatural battles, from the guise of a monk to that of a liaison officer and scout... she lived a life of complete religion, a life of wholehearted devotion to religion and nation. Her brave example and heroic spirit will forever be a beacon of light, inspiring the young generation of today and tomorrow.
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Source: https://baoangiang.com.vn/ni-truong-thich-nu-dieu-thong-nu-biet-dong-sai-gon-a419631.html
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