Buddhists blast pro-blue monk

Buddhist Master Shih Chao-hui speaks at a press conference held at the Legislative Yuan yesterday to condemn Buddhist Master Wei Chueh for calling on Buddhists to support the pan-blue camp and abstain from voting in the referendum. PHOTO: CHEN TSEH-MING, TAIPEI TIMES

Buddhist Master Wei Chueh (惟覺) is terrifying people by calling on Buddhists to support the pan-blue camp and not pick up referendum ballots on March 20, Buddhist Master Shih Chao-hui (釋昭慧) said yesterday.

Buddhist leaders yesterday held a press conference at the Legislative Yuan to condemn Wei Chueh's "inappropriate behavior."

"Buddhist monks and Buddhist nuns never lie. How can he use his alarmist talk to terrify people? It's spreading wild rumors to blind the mind of the people," said Shih, who is also an associate professor at Hsuan Chuang University (玄奘大學).

"His anti-democratic words and deeds humiliate Buddhist circles," Shih said.

On Tuesday, Wei expressed his support for the pan-blue camp when the alliance's presidential candidate, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (連戰), and his running mate, People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜), visited the Chung Tai Chan Monastery (中台禪寺). Wei Chueh, who is the head of the monastery, also branded the referendum illegal and urged Buddhists to boycott it.

Wei Chueh also said that the proposed Religious Groups Act (宗教團體法), which had been drafted by the Executive Yuan as part of a Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) initiative, infringed on religious groups' independence in financial and personnel matters. He said the law would further "destroy religionists."

Shih said yesterday that the Chung Tai Chan Monastery might end up being the most terrible religious monster in Taiwan, because it arbitrarily did illegal things, such as occupying state-owned lands.

She added that the opulent monastery in the center of the country was a galling shame to Buddhists.

"The over-commercialized Chung Tai Chan Monastery's use of political leverage to influence the Religious Groups Act is absolutely inappropriate," Shih added.

Lin Jung-chih (林蓉芝), secretary-general of the Chinese Buddhist Temple Association, said that Wei Chueh's criticism was nonsense, because the current draft of the law was based on common sense and had been endorsed by members of a religious counsel under the Ministry of the Interior, including representatives from the monastery.

Lin Pen-hsuan (林本炫), an assistant professor in both religion and sociology at Nanhua University, said the act was aimed at establishing sound regulations for "religious corporate organizations."

He had drafted the law along with representatives from five major religions about three years ago.

Lin Pen-hsuan said that the only voice against the law had been raised by the Chung Tai Chan Monastery.

"They are reluctant to make their accounts transparent and to deal with illegal construction problems," Lin Pen-hsuan said.

He said the Legislative Yuan's evaluation of the proposed act had been suspended.

Meanwhile, Lin Pen-hsuan said, KMT Legislator Huang Chao-shun (黃昭順) and PFP Legislator Shen Chih-hwei (沈智慧) have proposed another version of the bill which would enable dishonest religious groups to dodge problems about financial transparency and illegal construction.

Two of Wei Chueh's disciples tore up the certificates proclaiming them Buddhists at a DPP office in Taichung yesterday to express their disappointment.

Chuan Chieh (傳潔), who had been following Wei since 1994, said that she had heard of many accusations concerning the acquisition of land after the 921 earthquake in 1999. Chuan Miao (傳淼) said that he would enjoy his precious democratic right to participate in the referendum.