The head of one of Taiwan's main Buddhist temples, Master Hsing Yun of Fo Kuang Shan, had a few words yesterday for the leaders of China:
The Dalai Lama's envoys are due to fly to China from India on Saturday to meet their Chinese counterparts over the crisis in Tibet, the government-in-exile said, days after Beijing bowed to international pressure and agreed to fence-mending talks.
"It's a very good thing the Dalai Lama's envoys can come. It's also a very good thing China is willing to accept (them)," Master Hsing Yun told Reuters during a visit to China.
Hsing Yun, abbot of Buddha Light Mountain temple in Taiwan's southern port city of Kaohsiung, said China would be better off befriending the Dalai Lama, who has been demonized by Tibet's hardline Communist Party boss and state media.
"The Dalai Lama is Tibet's spiritual leader. Politically, (China) should turn (him) from an enemy into a friend," Hsing Yun said in an interview.
Fo Kuang Shan is extremely politically well-connected and also heads a worldwide network of Buddhist temples. The head of the Buddhist Light Association in Taiwan is currently Wu Po-hsiung, the current Chairman of the KMT, who took it over from Hsing Yun in 1997. Some of you might recall the flap over Chinese donations to the Democrats in the US a few years back (senate report).....
In 1996 after then US vice president Al Gore attended a fund-raising luncheon at the Hsi Lai temple, a Fo Kuang Shan branch in Hacienda Heights, California, a question was asked about whether the donations made during the luncheon were legal."Hsin Yun thought it was not a bad idea to know Al Gore, so he agreed to hold the luncheon in the temple. People who attended the luncheon were local Chinese Democrat members, and some without knowing gave away more than allowed by law to the Democratic Party," Pu said.
"It was not done on purpose. Hsin Yin had fought long and hard to have the Hsi Lai temple built at that place, and after 10 years of wrestling with the local council, he knew not to break the law," Pu said.
DPP officials have accused Fo Kuang Shan of being pro-KMT and in cahoots with Beijing. Hsing Yun himself was born in China and publicly supports annexing Taiwan to China. He has long commented on Tibet issues as well (Hsing Yun at Wikipedia).
[Taiwan]
7 comments:
But the really important news is that Mr. Turton (along with Scott Sommers and TC Lin) were featured in a great Steve Cook feature about foreign bloggers in Taiwan. The article is in the new issue of Topics magazine. Nice photo Mike.
your secret fan in San Chung
Well to be fair, China's treatment of the Tibetans and of the Dalai Lama should be one issue that unites Taiwanese across the aisle. The total failure of the Chinese to address the situation in Tibet with any degree of seriousness besides that which comes with self-preservation is disgraceful. Political maneuverings of Ma and the KMT aside, I am sure most practicing Buddhists in Taiwan feel the same way.
Religion and politics, always a scary mixture, even with Budists...
Thomas, Taiwanese cannot be united on this issue as "Tibet is Chinese, it belongs to China, foreigners should stay out of this issue" is a well embedded mantra in most educated people. Furthermore, as Michael pointed out, practicing Budists are mostly led by very conservative and powerful masters...
I disagree, Ticoexpat. They may not openly advocate Tibetan independence, but you can't say there is no grumbling on a religious level. A Blue friend of mine actually said to me the other day that he though the whole thing was terrible and that Tibet would be better off without the Chinese. That is just one guy, but I can imagine his view is quite shared among practising Buddhists in Taiwan.
And, for your opinion, stay out of it exactly what they should NOT do. Remember that Beijing is going to great lengths to separate the two issues. They want the Taiwanese to not care. By speaking up, Beijing gets a message that its policy might be having undesirable effects for them in Taiwan. They won't change their Tibet policy, but it is good for them to see this.
They fear that Westerners can be easily duped by "biased Western media". It is not as easy to make that complaint about Taiwanese.
""Tibet is Chinese, it belongs to China, foreigners should stay out of this issue" is a well embedded mantra in most educated people."
Oh, and this comment could not have come better from the mouth of a CPP spokesperson.
Thomas, if that comment was isolated and from someone from the other side of the Strait, it wouldn't be news. But having heard it for weeks, from a range of people, from Overseas chinese -conservative, indeed- to locals from diverse walks of life, I am left with the impression than this Nationalistic mantra has indeed made a contagion here in the island. As to reading it in actual news, I haven't had the unfortunate distintion yet, but I really hope I won't.
I put this up there with a not so distant relative, who taught himself to swim so he could escape from Guagdong to Hong Kong back when that was still fashionable. Boy, is he a stauch defender of teritorial integrity, if you know what I mean. Politics and nationalism divorced long ago, I think.
As to religious awareness, I think it depnds on their masters, and I am afraid that if teh masters are conservative, so will their disciples. I am glad that you point out there is a growing concern about religious freedom, and I hope this will spark a deeper and more lasting concern about what goes on in the otehr side of the Strait.
As I said, "they may not openly advocate Tibetan independence, but you can't say there is no grumbling on a religious level."
I did not say that Taiwanese generally feel Tibet should be independent. And I think that saying that people generally go the way the master tells them ignores the religious aspect. Of course, most Buddhist masters will not be embroiling him/herself in political issues openly. This is a religious issue for Buddhists. And in terms of condemnation of how China has reacted to the Tibet issue, condemnation should be across the aisle from most devout buddhists. Find me one who approves of the situation.
Which is why you can find people such as this particular master who are willing to politely suggest China deal directly with the Dalai Lama.
Post a Comment