On September 13, 2022, the Chinese Buddhist Association issued an association statement through its WeChat public account, trying to refute an old news from 6 years ago. The main content of the statement was that the association did not say at that time that more than 20% of the

On September 13, 2022, China Buddhist Association issued an association statement through the WeChat public account, trying to refute an old news from 6 years ago. The main content of the statement was that the association did not say at that time that more than 20% of the temples in China were commercialized. We are not sure what the association’s real purpose is to draw out articles from 6 years ago. Judging from the reputation of the Buddhist community, the effect of this statement is probably backfire.

First of all, now is an era of information explosion. Yesterday’s hot news has become cold news today, which is also common. If you don’t dig out an article from 6 years ago, most of us don’t know anything about it. Now you not only do it yourself, but also quote it with great fanfare. Believe it or not, now everyone knows that there was an article 6 years ago that said that more than 20% of the temples in China have been commercialized.

Secondly, the Buddhist Association not only found the news from 6 years ago, but also found the author of the article and asked the author to write an apology letter as required. Unfortunately, the author did not admit that the data was fabricated by himself, but said that the source of the citation was no longer available to be verified. In other words, the data may have been there at that time, but it was deleted.

Thirdly, under what circumstances is the temple considered commercialized? If tickets are sold, even if they are commercialized, the proportion of domestic temples commercialized may not be low. Unfortunately, it was not mentioned in the statement, but emphasized that the association had not said it and did not prove that the data was incorrect.

Fourth, if the Buddhist community believes that commercialization "demonstrates", then some famous temples in China, such as Shaolin Temple, Jiuhua Mountain , such as Putuo Mountain ... Is there anyone who wants to collect tickets and incense money? If so, are they considered "destructive of the reputation of the Buddhist community"?

Therefore, based on the above, this rumor-refuting statement issued by the Buddhist Association not only failed to maintain the reputation of the Buddhist community, but also aroused everyone's questions.

Religion is a philosophy, philosophy is a kind of wisdom. When encountering secular problems, the Buddhist Association should be more wise to deal with them. Besides, monks should be free from the world, not afraid of honor and disgrace, and can look at everything in the world with an inclusive attitude. Unfortunately, all we see is a stern statement and a cold warning to pursue legal responsibility.