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For a spiritual figure, the allegations were disturbing. Mistresses, offspring born out of wedlock, misuse of funds. Yet in 2015, the chief monk of Shaolin monastery, the cradle of Zen Buddhism and martial arts in China, was untouchable. The abbot, dubbed the “business-oriented monk” who converted the 1,500-year-old monastery into a commercial empire worth hundreds of millions of yuan, stayed in control. Shortly after, he was exonerated of all charges.

A Decade Later

However a decade after, the sixty-year-old monk faced less fortune. In the month of July, shortly after Shi came back from a visit to the Holy See to meet the late Pope Francis, the monastery issued a statement saying that he was under scrutiny for reportedly misappropriating funds and for siring illegitimate children with several mistresses. Less than a fortnight after, he was removed and stripped of his monkhood. He has not been heard from since.

Shi’s demise, for accusations resembling those made—and survived—in the year 2015, was the most prominent in a series of incidents that have rocked China’s Buddhist temples in the past few months.

Controversies and Government Scrutiny

These events highlight the increasingly precarious situation of powerful clerical figures in China, as official support for the monetization of religious sites is replaced by an focus on frugality and political obedience.

In July, a famous cleric called the monk Daolu—actual name {Wu Bing|Wu—was stripped of his position by the Buddhist Association of China after police in Zhejiang said that he was being investigated for alleged fraud. Wu is accused of collecting public donations under the guise of collecting money for unmarried pregnant women and needy children, which was reportedly spent on personal extravagances. It is not clear if he, who has not been heard from since the news broke, denies the claim.

In the following month, a video of monks from the city of Hangzhou's Lingyin Monastery sitting around a table handling wads of cash spread quickly online, thrusting the 4th century temple into a social media storm.

“People who worship Buddha struggle financially, and clerics become rich,” wrote one online observer.

Prosperity and Faith

Nothing built-in in Chinese Buddhism that prohibits the amassing of wealth, says an expert, an associate professor of East and South Asian religions. In the Middle Ages, religious centers stood in for banks, loaning cash to traders while imposing substantial fees.

But while collecting donations for religious purposes is considered acceptable, growing personally rich can put a mark on one’s back.

The opprobrium comes from the public who see wealth as being harmful to faith, and, increasingly, from the state, which under the guidance of Xi Jinping has cracked down on excess wealth and corruption.

Restructuring the Temple's Business

China’s temples have alternated in and out of government support in recent decades. During the Chinese Communist party’s (CCP) agricultural restructuring in the 1950s, temples were lost their properties. Countless places of worship were damaged or damaged in the cultural revolution of the 1960s and 1970s. Yet as the nation began a period of market changes and opening up in the 1980s, temples were once again popular, with many turning to visitor attractions to sustain operations, often with explicit state backing.

Of the prominent abbots who appeared to gain individually in this period, Shi was the most successful. Born Liu Yingcheng, he entered the Shaolin temple in Henan as a 16-year-old in 1981. Back then, the temple was in disrepair. But as he advanced to leadership, he worked with local officials to re-open religious spaces and sell tickets to tourists. Quickly, thousands were flocking in, with the municipality taking a 70% share. Stores selling Shaolin-branded merchandise also opened, and Shaolin Inc was created.

Shi’s reputation grew in the process. In 2006, the local administration awarded him a high-end vehicle worth 1m yuan to honor his contributions to the area's visitor economy. He dismissed complaints, saying “Monks also need to eat.”

With money came influence. From 1998 and 2018 he served as a representative to China’s National People’s Congress. During his tenure, he encountered Nelson Mandela, diplomats and royalty, and took a group of martial arts monks to Russia for a special performance at the request of Vladimir Putin. This prompted one local near the Shaolin monastery to observe that the clout of local CCP officials seemed insignificant in contrast to the abbot.

The Boom and Issues of the Temple Economy

Its popularity increased as the so-called “religious commerce” in the country expanded—its economic value is predicted to reach 100 billion yuan by the end of this year.

As China suffers with stubbornly sluggish expansion, religious sites in principle are a gift to both local governments and ordinary people. The authorities gain from increased domestic spending as people flock to temple-cum-tourist attractions, while people finding it hard to find work or fulfilment in Chinese society are more turning to spirituality for support.

Yet temples also must navigate an ever-tighter path between public appeal and political obedience. “Authorities is highly watchful to how much influence is being amassed by religion,” Cheung notes.

Experts think that Shi’s ouster could have been due to a withdrawal of political support rather than any specific misconduct.

“Typically that there is another factor [going on] that has to do with patronage,” comments Ian Johnson, the writer of a book on religion, a book about spiritual life in the country.

The leader has demonstrated a particular interest in traditional Chinese religions. Early in his career he helped to restore significant monasteries and turn them into visitor sites, a model for how the secular government could work with religion.

But in more recent years, Xi has tried to reduce the over-commercialization of religious commercialisation. In 2017, Beijing updated its rules on religious affairs, noting that temples could damaging the “pure and solemn image” of China’s ancient religions. The new regulations stipulated that Buddhist and Taoist sites must be charitable entities and banned the excessive promotion of fee-based rituals such as lighting offerings and drawing lots for predictions.

A New Direction

Currently it seems that the temple, set in the jagged Song mountain range, is being brought to heel. Upon being installed in August, the former abbot's replacement, an monk called Shi Yinle with a reputation for modesty, declared an overhaul of the commercial operations. He stopped commercial performances, prohibited expensive blessing ceremonies, said he would remove {temple shops|on