Returning to the Israeli professor—well, he also asked me about my loyalty to Vietnam as a nation and to Buddhism as a religion, because in our discussions I always put peace and human life above everything. So he asked, “What if Buddhism cannot survive in Vietnam? Will you accept that in order to have peace in Vietnam?” I said, “Yes. I think if Vietnam has real peace—cooperation between North and South—and if it can ban war for a long time, I would be ready to sacrifice Buddhism.” He was very shocked. But I thought it was quite plain that if you have to choose between Buddhism and peace, then you must choose peace. Because if you choose Buddhism you sacrifice peace, and Buddhism does not accept that. Furthermore, Buddhism is not a number of temples and organizations. Buddhism is in your heart. Even if you don’t have any temple or any monks, you can still be a Buddhist in your heart and life.

The rabbi asked also, “How about your loyalty to Vietnam as a nation?” I think that question touched the very core of the problem of the Middle East. I said that if I had to choose between the survival of the Vietnamese people and the survival of Vietnam as a nation, I would choose the survival of the people. He said, “Well, we cannot agree on that. That is why we cannot agree on other things.” So that was the end of the dialogue.