Angry Chinese Blogger
 |
 |
Angry Chinese Blogger:
The news and views about China that the big media can't, or won't, tell you The is no single truth Menu: Home |
|
Entries By Country
   |
Religion in China: A Matter of Faith?
«
H E
»
News and Politics :: Human rights and personal freedoms :: Sino-Tibet :: News and Perspectives ::
email
posted Sunday, 12 July 2009
Contrary to what atheists and so-called secularists might have you believe, religion is one of the strongest and most central forces of human civilization.
Throughout history various regimes have tried and failed to destroy individual faiths, or even to destroy religious belief as a whole. They have declared religion to be an outmoded superstition, have closed places of worship, turned away worshipers, and have persecuted those who maintain them. Some have even put the faithful to death. But none have ever come close to their goal by anything short of genocide.
Even in cases where the influence of organized religions has been significant reduced people have simply migrated to other outlets. Replacing the mainstream religion beliefs with alternatives that fill similar mental niches, such as New Age beliefs and paranormal superstitions or, in extreme cases, the belief that shape changing Reptilian aliens are using episodes of Spongebob Square Pants “to make their children gay” (ACB finds that it's best not to make eye contact with people like this).
As ever, China is no exception to this rule.
Since the time of Mao, Beijing has - as with communists the world over - tried to stamp out organized religion. Partly because Communists are supposed to be “rational thinkers who shun primitive superstitions” but also, and in no small part, due to the fact that organized religion represents an alternative source or authority and leadership. Which is something that your average dictatorships cannot brook.
However, after 50 years of trying to stamp out religious beliefs the most that Beijing ever achieved was to push faith underground. When the monasteries and temples burned the faithful simply went elsewhere and worshiped in secret.
However, that was then and this is now. With many of the restrictions of the Mao era lifted, the faithful are coming up for air, and China's traditional religions are seeing a revival.
While ACB welcomes the return of Buddhism and Taoism in China, not to mention the resurgence of religions such as Islam and Christianity, ACB does have some concerns. Specifically, that Beijing has a well known record for interfering in organized religion.
For this reason Beijing established “Patriotic” churches and a number of other state accountable bodies to control what organized religion was permitted on the Mainland. They represent the world's largest religions, but with “Chinese Characteristics”.
For the most part people are free to worship according to their respective traditions, but Beijing keeps them on a tight leash to ensure that they do not involve themselves in areas such as human rights, and to ensure that their respective priests and holy men are suitably loyal to the official state line on history, society, and politics. In the case of Chinese Christians, they are even forbidden from fully acknowledging Rome, and instead must pledge Beijing as being the highest authority.
Thus, people who want to worship according to their conscience and to acknowledge their full religious hierarchy are forced to join illegal underground churches, meeting in private homes, and risking detention by Mainland security forces.
In some cases Beijing has directly interfered in regional religious practices, often through direct censorship, in order to create a more compliant version of the religion. Probably the best known example of this is Tibetan Buddhism. Unable to extinguish Tibetan Buddhism, Beijing instead took indirect (and in some cases direct) control of many monasteries. Forcing the monks to learn (and in turn teach) a watered down version of their faith. One which espoused unity with the Mainland, and which was stripped of songs, symbols and prayers that even hinted at nationalism or the notion of a separate Tibetan identity.
Monks are forbidden from possessing pictures or recording of the Dali Lama
For this reason many Tibetans are forced to undertake the dangerous, and sometimes fatal, journey to India in order to receive the traditional education denied to them back home by a Mainland government intent on controlling Tibet through its faith.
From the pen of Jane Macartney, care of the Times:
Oh, and let's not forget about the FLG spiritual movement. As soon as it became clear that they had become large enough, and had a loyal enough following to threaten the authority of Beijing, the Mainland government cracked down on them mercilessly.
Throughout history various regimes have tried and failed to destroy individual faiths, or even to destroy religious belief as a whole. They have declared religion to be an outmoded superstition, have closed places of worship, turned away worshipers, and have persecuted those who maintain them. Some have even put the faithful to death. But none have ever come close to their goal by anything short of genocide.
Even in cases where the influence of organized religions has been significant reduced people have simply migrated to other outlets. Replacing the mainstream religion beliefs with alternatives that fill similar mental niches, such as New Age beliefs and paranormal superstitions or, in extreme cases, the belief that shape changing Reptilian aliens are using episodes of Spongebob Square Pants “to make their children gay” (ACB finds that it's best not to make eye contact with people like this).
As ever, China is no exception to this rule.
Since the time of Mao, Beijing has - as with communists the world over - tried to stamp out organized religion. Partly because Communists are supposed to be “rational thinkers who shun primitive superstitions” but also, and in no small part, due to the fact that organized religion represents an alternative source or authority and leadership. Which is something that your average dictatorships cannot brook.
However, after 50 years of trying to stamp out religious beliefs the most that Beijing ever achieved was to push faith underground. When the monasteries and temples burned the faithful simply went elsewhere and worshiped in secret.
However, that was then and this is now. With many of the restrictions of the Mao era lifted, the faithful are coming up for air, and China's traditional religions are seeing a revival.
Buddhism thrives as China relaxes religious policy
WUTAISHAN, China (AFP) - Temples thrive, monks travel far and wide in search of enlightenment, the faithful fill the halls of worship -- after decades of atheist policies, Buddhism is making a huge comeback in China.
Nowhere is this revival more apparent than at Wutaishan, the most important of China's four holy mountains and home to a sprawling complex of temples, 300 kilometres (180 miles) southwest of Beijing.
"I have come to study at Wutaishan because Zen Buddhism, Han Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism, all the different schools from different places, are represented here and mixed together," itinerant monk Master Shi told AFP.
"This is the Buddhist holy land. Buddhist monks and nuns from all over China want to come here to study."
Shi, sporting a shaved head and wearing a grey robe, has visited temples throughout China in search of Buddhist knowledge, repeating a pilgrimage undertaken by generations of monks before him.
Besides studying Tibetan Buddhism in Lhasa, he has visited the Hongfa Temple in Guangdong, south China, and been to the White Horse Temple -- China's oldest Buddhist place of worship -- in Henan province in the center of the country.
Interest in Buddhism has grown dramatically since the 1966-1976 Cultural Revolution, a period when religion was largely banned, the clergy persecuted and many temples and monasteries destroyed.
In stark contrast to this era, during the opening and reform era of the last 30 years, the state has largely allowed religion to develop, albeit within strict parameters.
For decades, the communist-run State Administration for Religious Affairs has said there were only about 100 million religious believers in China, but state press reports have recently said that number has grown to 300 million.
In late June, Wutaishan was named a World Heritage Site by the United Nation's cultural arm UNESCO, a move expected to bring more visitors to this holy shrine that houses some of China's oldest Buddhist manuscripts. Currently 53 temples house monks and nuns, while the ruins of more than 150 temples are scattered around hillside terraces or isolated on remote mountain tops.
"Twenty years ago, as we started recovering from the Cultural Revolution, the total number of monks here was just a few hundred," said Yi Bo, spokesman for the Wutaishan Buddhist Association.
"Since then Buddhism has not stopped developing. More and more monks have come. The numbers hit 1,000, then 2,000, then 3,000. Three years ago we hit 5,000."
At that time the government stepped in and began restricting the number of monks who could study here, he said.
Meanwhile, 2.8 million visitors came to Wutaishan in 2008, bringing in 1.4 billion yuan (206 million dollars) in tourist revenues, according to government figures. This year more than 3.1 million visitors are expected.The government supports us mainly with policy, but funding for our growth mainly comes from donations from the Buddhist faithful," said Miao Yi, a nun at the Buddhist Institute at the Pushou Temple, China's largest convent.More than 600 nuns are studying in the Buddhist Institute which has received generous funding from Buddhists in Hong Kong and Taiwan, she said.
Still the government remains wary over religion and monks here refused to discuss Tibetan Buddhism or its spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, who once asked communist leaders if he could make a pilgrimage to Wutaishan's 10 Lama temples.
"We must work to support patriotism and national unity. We must embrace the leaders of the Communist Party and the socialist system," Gen Tong, a senior Buddhist leader said on the occasion of 50th anniversary of the Wutaishan Buddhist Association in late 2007.
"In the past, (the rulers) of different dynasties were all impressive emperors and were all devout Buddhists," said association spokesman Yi Bo.
If Chinese communist leaders were allowed to publicly adhere to Buddhism, he said, "for sure it would bring a huge benefit to us," he said.
WUTAISHAN, China (AFP) - Temples thrive, monks travel far and wide in search of enlightenment, the faithful fill the halls of worship -- after decades of atheist policies, Buddhism is making a huge comeback in China.
Nowhere is this revival more apparent than at Wutaishan, the most important of China's four holy mountains and home to a sprawling complex of temples, 300 kilometres (180 miles) southwest of Beijing.
"I have come to study at Wutaishan because Zen Buddhism, Han Buddhism, Tibetan Buddhism, all the different schools from different places, are represented here and mixed together," itinerant monk Master Shi told AFP.
"This is the Buddhist holy land. Buddhist monks and nuns from all over China want to come here to study."
Shi, sporting a shaved head and wearing a grey robe, has visited temples throughout China in search of Buddhist knowledge, repeating a pilgrimage undertaken by generations of monks before him.
Besides studying Tibetan Buddhism in Lhasa, he has visited the Hongfa Temple in Guangdong, south China, and been to the White Horse Temple -- China's oldest Buddhist place of worship -- in Henan province in the center of the country.
Interest in Buddhism has grown dramatically since the 1966-1976 Cultural Revolution, a period when religion was largely banned, the clergy persecuted and many temples and monasteries destroyed.
In stark contrast to this era, during the opening and reform era of the last 30 years, the state has largely allowed religion to develop, albeit within strict parameters.
For decades, the communist-run State Administration for Religious Affairs has said there were only about 100 million religious believers in China, but state press reports have recently said that number has grown to 300 million.
In late June, Wutaishan was named a World Heritage Site by the United Nation's cultural arm UNESCO, a move expected to bring more visitors to this holy shrine that houses some of China's oldest Buddhist manuscripts. Currently 53 temples house monks and nuns, while the ruins of more than 150 temples are scattered around hillside terraces or isolated on remote mountain tops.
"Twenty years ago, as we started recovering from the Cultural Revolution, the total number of monks here was just a few hundred," said Yi Bo, spokesman for the Wutaishan Buddhist Association.
"Since then Buddhism has not stopped developing. More and more monks have come. The numbers hit 1,000, then 2,000, then 3,000. Three years ago we hit 5,000."
At that time the government stepped in and began restricting the number of monks who could study here, he said.
Meanwhile, 2.8 million visitors came to Wutaishan in 2008, bringing in 1.4 billion yuan (206 million dollars) in tourist revenues, according to government figures. This year more than 3.1 million visitors are expected.The government supports us mainly with policy, but funding for our growth mainly comes from donations from the Buddhist faithful," said Miao Yi, a nun at the Buddhist Institute at the Pushou Temple, China's largest convent.More than 600 nuns are studying in the Buddhist Institute which has received generous funding from Buddhists in Hong Kong and Taiwan, she said.
Still the government remains wary over religion and monks here refused to discuss Tibetan Buddhism or its spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, who once asked communist leaders if he could make a pilgrimage to Wutaishan's 10 Lama temples.
"We must work to support patriotism and national unity. We must embrace the leaders of the Communist Party and the socialist system," Gen Tong, a senior Buddhist leader said on the occasion of 50th anniversary of the Wutaishan Buddhist Association in late 2007.
"In the past, (the rulers) of different dynasties were all impressive emperors and were all devout Buddhists," said association spokesman Yi Bo.
If Chinese communist leaders were allowed to publicly adhere to Buddhism, he said, "for sure it would bring a huge benefit to us," he said.
While ACB welcomes the return of Buddhism and Taoism in China, not to mention the resurgence of religions such as Islam and Christianity, ACB does have some concerns. Specifically, that Beijing has a well known record for interfering in organized religion.
For this reason Beijing established “Patriotic” churches and a number of other state accountable bodies to control what organized religion was permitted on the Mainland. They represent the world's largest religions, but with “Chinese Characteristics”.
For the most part people are free to worship according to their respective traditions, but Beijing keeps them on a tight leash to ensure that they do not involve themselves in areas such as human rights, and to ensure that their respective priests and holy men are suitably loyal to the official state line on history, society, and politics. In the case of Chinese Christians, they are even forbidden from fully acknowledging Rome, and instead must pledge Beijing as being the highest authority.
Thus, people who want to worship according to their conscience and to acknowledge their full religious hierarchy are forced to join illegal underground churches, meeting in private homes, and risking detention by Mainland security forces.
In some cases Beijing has directly interfered in regional religious practices, often through direct censorship, in order to create a more compliant version of the religion. Probably the best known example of this is Tibetan Buddhism. Unable to extinguish Tibetan Buddhism, Beijing instead took indirect (and in some cases direct) control of many monasteries. Forcing the monks to learn (and in turn teach) a watered down version of their faith. One which espoused unity with the Mainland, and which was stripped of songs, symbols and prayers that even hinted at nationalism or the notion of a separate Tibetan identity.
Monks are forbidden from possessing pictures or recording of the Dali Lama
For this reason many Tibetans are forced to undertake the dangerous, and sometimes fatal, journey to India in order to receive the traditional education denied to them back home by a Mainland government intent on controlling Tibet through its faith.
From the pen of Jane Macartney, care of the Times:
China tries to teach Tibet a lesson that the monks have refused to learn
From civil servants to yak herders, barley farmers and street traders, the residents of the Tibetan capital and surrounding countryside are being subjected to a two-month re-education campaign to combat anti-Chinese sentiment.
Under the latest drive to instil a sense of patriotism — titled “Oppose splittism, protect stability, encourage development” — those involved in the anti-Chinese Lhasa riots of March 14 will be asked to denounce their actions and condemn others who took part.
China says that 22 people died when Tibetans rampaged through Lhasa, stabbing and stoning ethnic Han Chinese and burning shops and offices.
For thousands of monks across the restive Himalayan region and in adjacent provinces, such campaigns have become part of life in the monasteries.
Related Links
Reminiscent in tone and rhetoric of the Cultural Revolution, patriotic lessons attack the “wrongs” of taking part in anti-Chinese protests or demonstrations in support of the Dalai Lama as China tries to persuade Tibetans to renounce their exiled spiritual leader.
Political education, an occasional if unwelcome interruption into monastic life, has become a daily ritual for monks such as Wangchuk — not his real name — who no longer have the freedom to watch the latest DVD, surf the internet or chat with friends on their mobile phones.
Wangchuk's monastery has been his home since he was a child. He gets up at dawn, offers holy water and lights a yak butter lamp to honour the Buddha protector of his temple and the Dalai Lama — in all his 14 reincarnations.
Under more peaceable circumstances Wangchuk's afternoon would have comprised an array of different activities, from saying prayers for the dead “to help their soul reach Heaven” to debates with his fellow monks or time spent with his teacher.
Now, the monasteries have been closed to the public and a very different study session forms part of his timetable: patriotic education:
“This is compulsory. There's no excuse for not attending — unless you're ill and then you have to have a note from doctor.”
The sessions used to be called for a week once every two or three months. They now take place almost daily. “We gather in the main hall and Communist Party officials deliver a speech telling us to be patriotic and they give each monk a paper to read.”
This session takes place in the morning; in the afternoon the monks are summoned to answer questions. “Usually it's pretty relaxed. If I can't remember my answers then I just repeat the same as the monk in front of me.
“Sometimes it turns more serious. That is when the police arrive. They stand beside each monk listening carefully to make sure each answer is correct. If the police come we have to lie. We have to say, ‘I love the Motherland. I don't love him'. They don't require you to explain who ‘him' is, because we all know.”
Beijing has blamed the recent violence on the Dalai Lama and his followers. “We learn from the patriotic education that many things are banned. For example, we can't have pictures of the Dalai Lama and we mustn't listen to what people outside China tell us.”
In the past few weeks groups of Tibetan monks have staged highly publicised protests, including hijacking official tours of the region put on for foreign journalists.
The latest re-education campaign, which will include films and television programmes, suggests that China fears the spread of the discontent.
From civil servants to yak herders, barley farmers and street traders, the residents of the Tibetan capital and surrounding countryside are being subjected to a two-month re-education campaign to combat anti-Chinese sentiment.
Under the latest drive to instil a sense of patriotism — titled “Oppose splittism, protect stability, encourage development” — those involved in the anti-Chinese Lhasa riots of March 14 will be asked to denounce their actions and condemn others who took part.
China says that 22 people died when Tibetans rampaged through Lhasa, stabbing and stoning ethnic Han Chinese and burning shops and offices.
For thousands of monks across the restive Himalayan region and in adjacent provinces, such campaigns have become part of life in the monasteries.
Related Links
Reminiscent in tone and rhetoric of the Cultural Revolution, patriotic lessons attack the “wrongs” of taking part in anti-Chinese protests or demonstrations in support of the Dalai Lama as China tries to persuade Tibetans to renounce their exiled spiritual leader.
Political education, an occasional if unwelcome interruption into monastic life, has become a daily ritual for monks such as Wangchuk — not his real name — who no longer have the freedom to watch the latest DVD, surf the internet or chat with friends on their mobile phones.
Wangchuk's monastery has been his home since he was a child. He gets up at dawn, offers holy water and lights a yak butter lamp to honour the Buddha protector of his temple and the Dalai Lama — in all his 14 reincarnations.
Under more peaceable circumstances Wangchuk's afternoon would have comprised an array of different activities, from saying prayers for the dead “to help their soul reach Heaven” to debates with his fellow monks or time spent with his teacher.
Now, the monasteries have been closed to the public and a very different study session forms part of his timetable: patriotic education:
“This is compulsory. There's no excuse for not attending — unless you're ill and then you have to have a note from doctor.”
The sessions used to be called for a week once every two or three months. They now take place almost daily. “We gather in the main hall and Communist Party officials deliver a speech telling us to be patriotic and they give each monk a paper to read.”
This session takes place in the morning; in the afternoon the monks are summoned to answer questions. “Usually it's pretty relaxed. If I can't remember my answers then I just repeat the same as the monk in front of me.
“Sometimes it turns more serious. That is when the police arrive. They stand beside each monk listening carefully to make sure each answer is correct. If the police come we have to lie. We have to say, ‘I love the Motherland. I don't love him'. They don't require you to explain who ‘him' is, because we all know.”
Beijing has blamed the recent violence on the Dalai Lama and his followers. “We learn from the patriotic education that many things are banned. For example, we can't have pictures of the Dalai Lama and we mustn't listen to what people outside China tell us.”
In the past few weeks groups of Tibetan monks have staged highly publicised protests, including hijacking official tours of the region put on for foreign journalists.
The latest re-education campaign, which will include films and television programmes, suggests that China fears the spread of the discontent.
Oh, and let's not forget about the FLG spiritual movement. As soon as it became clear that they had become large enough, and had a loyal enough following to threaten the authority of Beijing, the Mainland government cracked down on them mercilessly.
View Comments/Add a Comment (3)
1. Bill Rich left...
Monday, 13 July 2009 2:33 am
Buddhism and Taoism are one aspect. The most interesting, and probably one
that was ignored, is the traditional Chinese religion - Shamanism. When
that is mixed up with Taoism (which has many branches). Many Chinese, even
CCP members, are into fortune telling (thousands of different methods and
practices), face and palm reading, communcating with the dead, worshiping
of rocks, trees, and other natural (or unnatural) things. What is amazing
is that this is not restricted to the uneducated, or undereducated. This is
wide spread even amount the highly educated.
2. ACB left...
Friday, 17 July 2009 4:38 am
Unfortunately, Beijing classifies this as being "superstition" and in
recent years it has stepped up efforts to destroy these transitional
beliefs. Especially fortune telling. Beijing seems to hate/fear fortune
telling.
3. peter left...
Sunday, 19 July 2009 12:38 pm :: http://kiwiriverman.blogspot.com
So much to read here. Will comment again when I have read all and taken it
all in.