Recently, a woman in mainland China publicly accused the abbot Bao Changjiang of Liaoning Bible Temple of deception in a relationship.
On June 22, the social media platform in China was buzzing with the trending topic of “Woman Accuses Temple Abbot of Deception in Relationship.” In a video, a woman holding her ID card exposed the abbot Bao Changjiang of Bible Temple in Zhangwu County, Fuxin City, Liaoning Province.
The woman revealed that since the age of 19, she had been seeking solace at the Bible Temple after her mother’s death in a car accident. During this time, Bao Changjiang took advantage of her vulnerable state, deceived her into a relationship, and made her his secret lover for four years. At that time, Bao Changjiang was not yet the abbot.
Later, she was persuaded to enter a Buddhist college for further study for ten years. As she grew older and gained more knowledge, she realized she had been deceived and decided to expose Bao Changjiang’s actions. The woman is now 34 years old.
Regarding this incident, officials from the Civil Affairs Bureau of Zhangwu County responded that the woman’s claims were not true and they had reported the issue to the police. Bao Changjiang, a popular abbot with over 2 million followers on Weibo, deactivated his social media accounts after the video accusing him spread online.
Comments from netizens flooded the internet, with some saying, “Being a fake monk who doesn’t uphold the four fundamental virtues seems to be a way to get rich. Partner up to manage a temple, use internet traffic for publicity, and then the temple will prosper. Shamelessly deceiving for money and relationships, it’s pitiful for girls like this…” Others questioned how places like Buddhist sanctuaries dare to have such scandals, and if monks are still not abstaining from inappropriate behaviors.
Some netizens doubted the woman’s accusations, saying, “To realize after four years? It’s hard to judge without knowing the truth.” However, others countered, “Accusing with her real name? Is she crazy? Where would a girl falsely accuse someone using her own innocence? Bao Changjiang deactivated his social media accounts, is it out of fear or for other reasons? If there’s misinformation online, wouldn’t having an account be a way to defend oneself?”
Another netizen said, “Don’t believe just one side, wait for the final investigation results.”
Incidents of turmoil within China’s Buddhist community continue to surface under the rule of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
For example, last year, there was a scandal involving Shi Zhaojie, a member of the Sichuan Provincial Political Consultative Conference, former vice president of the Provincial Buddhist Association, and abbot of Shixiang Temple in Pujiang County, Chengdu. Shi Zhaojie was involved in an inappropriate relationship with a female anchor named Cai, leading to her husband extorting over three million RMB. After the incident was exposed, Shi Zhaojie was suspended from his positions in the Provincial Buddhist Association and the county Buddhist Association, while his abbot status was revoked. In January of this year, he was stripped of his membership in the Political Consultative Conference, and in February, his license was cancelled. On June 19, Cai was given a suspended sentence, while her husband, involved in extortion, was sentenced to 5 years and 6 months in prison.
In 2018, Shi Xuecheng, the former highest leader of the CCP’s Buddhist community and president of the CCP Buddhist Association, was exposed for sexually assaulting several female disciples.
That same year, a woman in mainland China publicly accused a monk at Wutai Mountain of “marriage fraud,” and related videos went viral on Chinese social media.
In 2011 and 2015, Shi Yongxin, vice president of the Chinese Buddhist Association and president of the Henan Province Buddhist Association, was publicly accused of having dual household registrations, keeping multiple mistresses, having illegitimate children with nun, and so on.
Editor-in-chief of Beijing Spring, Chen Weijian, once told Epoch Times, “Currently, temples have become very corrupt. 99% of those monks are fake monks because these temples are all controlled by the CCP’s Religious Affairs Bureau. They are just political monks and economic monks, living a lifestyle no different from corrupted officials in the CCP, indulging in food, drinks, pleasure, and women.”