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Thread: Shaolin Scandals

  1. #151
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    Fake monks busted

    $25K+? Dang, that's a lot of lucky rocks. BTW, wanna buy some beads?
    Fake Shaolin Monks arrested for Swindling
    Erika Villanueva | Jul 01, 2014 08:10 AM EDT


    (Photo : curezon.com)
    Seven suspects were arrested after being caught impersonating monks and swindling over 160,000 yuan, or 25,787 dollars from over 100 tourists visiting the Shaolin Temple in Henan Province.

    Dressed as Shaolin Temple Monks, the seven gave away stones claiming that they were lucky. After unsuspecting tourists accept the stones, the fake monks gave advices about the tourists' families based on ominous signs, saying that they have to give "donations" to get rid of the bad luck.

    The local authorities collected seven notebooks from the suspects which contains their victims' record and personal information. According to police, the fake monks walk around far from the temple to avoid being busted by the real Shaolin monks.

    Founded in the fifth century, the Shaolin Temple in Songshan, Henan Province have become famous for their history association with martial arts particularly Shaolin Kung Fu, attracting millions of tourists every year.

    However, the local tourism has been defiled by acts of fraud allegedly related to Buddhism and the well-known Shaolin Kung Fu.

    In an announcement released in 2010, the Shaolin Temple monks of Songshan have declared that they would not perform kung fu, tell fortunes, sell medicine and ask for money outside the temple grounds.

    The term Shaolin came from "shao", refering to Shaoshi Mountain, one of the seven mountains comprising Songshan Mountain range where the Temple is situated, and "lin" which means "forest".
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  2. #152
    When I visited the temple, there was a monk reading palms there. I don't recall him being far away from the temple. Far away from the temple is sort of the middle of nowhere, as I recall. I could be mistaken.

    That said, my Chinese friends were the ones to point out to me that was happening. I think it's a case of, as long as they are hurting no one, it is okay. Obviously the behavior in the article above is problematic.

  3. #153
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    Fake monks in Flushing NY

    Flushing. Long time Shaolin followers know Flushing. But I doubt this is result of that. I post it here just to show how ubiquitous scamming fake monks are. It's now a global phenomenon.

    If He Walks and Talks Like a Monk, but Has His Hand Out ...
    Panhandlers Dressed as Monks Confound New Yorkers

    By JOSEPH GOLDSTEIN and JEFFREY E. SINGERJULY 5, 2014

    In Times Square, amid the dozens of Elmos, Mickey Mouses and superheroes who work the crowds for loose bills, new costumed characters have come to seek their fortunes.

    They are mostly men of Chinese descent, with shaved heads, beatific smiles and flowing robes of orange, but sometimes brown or gray. They follow a similar script: Offering wishes of peace and a shiny amulet, they solicit donations from passers-by, often reinforcing their pitch by showing a picture of a temple for which the money seems to be intended. Then they open a notebook filled with the names of previous donors and the amounts given.

    The men appear to be Buddhist monks; a smaller number of similarly dressed women say they are Taoist nuns.

    No one seems to know who they really are or where they come from. The police have taken no official stance, stepping in only when the monks become aggressive. Various Buddhists have confronted the men, asking about their affiliation or quizzing them about the religion’s precepts. The men remain silent or simply walk away.

    They have become ubiquitous — so much so that the Naked Cowboy, the Times Square performer whose real name is Robert Burck, now simply refers to them as “co-workers.”

    “They’re littered all over,” he said.

    Even in New York, where people soliciting money are practically a tourist attraction, these monks tend to stand out, both for their attire and for their sense of entitlement. They offer the amulet and, in some cases, a bracelet; if they are not satisfied with the donation, they unabashedly demand $20 or more.

    This year, the police have arrested at least nine people who have presented themselves as monks, mostly on charges of aggressive begging or unlicensed vending.

    But merely begging in the streets is not against the law. The police have largely left these men alone, to the consternation of Buddhist leaders in New York’s Chinese neighborhoods, who portray them as nothing more than beggars who undermine Buddhists’ credibility.

    “They are damaging the reputation of real monks and damaging the reputation of Buddhists in America,” said Shi Ruifa, a monk in Brooklyn who is president of a confederation of nearly 50 temples.

    Similarly attired men have attracted scrutiny around the world. They are a familiar presence in Australia, where the authorities heralded their reappearance in Sydney with a press statement, “Bogus Buddhists Are Back.” They have also been seen in Canada and New Zealand. In Hong Kong, their presence has merited a Facebook page, Fake Monks in Hong Kong. Overall, there have been few arrests, though the authorities in China recently arrested seven men dressed as Shaolin Temple monks on charges of swindling $26,000 from tourists.

    In Toronto, the police received reports a year ago of monks asking for money and threatening to put a hex on those who did not donate, according to Constable Victor Kwong, a spokesman for the Toronto Police Service.

    Toronto, like New York, prohibits aggressive panhandling. Although “people thought they were being duped,” Constable Kwong noted, “nothing is illegal about walking around dressed like a monk.” No arrests were made.
    Continue reading the main story

    In New York, the men have inspired a Fake Monks in New York City page on Facebook, documenting its subjects’ whereabouts, from Central Park to the city’s Chinese neighborhoods, where local monks have mostly driven them away. Last year, Mr. Shi confronted a man in orange robes in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, and quizzed him on the Five Precepts of Buddhism.

    The man “didn’t know even one,” he said.

    In another exchange, Harry Leong, a practicing Buddhist for 25 years, said he respectfully asked a robed man in Times Square for his religious name and temple.

    “He did not give me any direct answer, even after I repeated the same questions to him several times,” Mr. Leong recalled. “I then asked him if he was a fraud, and he ran away from me.”

    In interviews, the robed men were evasive about where they were from and generally refused to answer any questions about their background, temple or training. They tended to speak little English, favoring Mandarin, with accents hinting of provinces all across China.

    One woman dressed as a nun said her temple was in Taiwan, but declined to give specifics.

    “I cannot tell you where my temple is,” answered another woman dressed as a nun, who said her family name was Lin and that people called her Little Lin. “I won’t tell you. But it’s not that I don’t have a temple.” At another point, she grabbed at the sleeves of her robe and said, “If I didn’t have a temple, why would I be dressed like this?”

    Another man dressed as a monk, eating a hot dog while three topless women and a Spider-Man nearby posed for pictures with tourists, defended his actions. “I’m not a terrorist,” he said in Mandarin. “I’m not an outlaw, I’m not a thief.”

    With that, he got up and began walking toward the subway, saying, “I’m going back to Flushing.”

    On another afternoon, a mustard-robed man, apparently finished with his solicitations for the day, headed to the restroom at Bryant Park, emerging minutes later in street clothes, his robe apparently packed in a leather bag.

    He eventually boarded a No. 7 train to Flushing, Queens, which has a large Chinese population. There, he and another man bought a $12.99 jug of red wine and repaired to a flophouse that caters to recent immigrants.

    Begging is an important ritual among Buddhist monks: A begging bowl is one of the few possessions allowed, typically used to collect food.

    “Aggressive begging is utterly unheard-of in the Buddhist tradition,” said Robert Buswell, director of the Center for Buddhist Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles. The monks typically do not even acknowledge the offering.

    “No thanks given, no or very little eye contact with the donor and certainly no active solicitation of donations, no requests for money and no selling of amulets or rosaries,” Professor Buswell added.

    That was not the behavior of Wang Rongzeng, 64, who was charged with aggressive begging after a New York police officer observed him demanding cash in exchange for bracelets, according to records of a January court hearing. At the time, Mr. Wang told the judge that he intended to return to China in time for the Lunar New Year, then two weeks away. He was arrested again last month in a similar episode.

    On a recent Saturday, two women dressed in gray robes and beige baseball caps successfully solicited donations along Fifth Avenue near Herald Square in Manhattan. Ali Sawab, 47, in town on business, had just left a Burger King when one of the women offered him a shiny amulet card with the words “Work Smoothly, Lifetime Peace” on one side and the likeness of Guanyin, the Bodhisattva of Compassion, on the other.

    She then gently slipped a bracelet onto Mr. Sawab’s wrist. “For luck,” she repeated as she caressed his arm. But after he gave her a dollar, the woman took back the amulet card.

    Mr. Sawab said he assumed the women were inauthentic. “This is New York,” he said. “People just don’t go around touching each other.”

    And now it can be difficult for authentic monks to walk around in Midtown without drawing negative attention.

    Puttar Chansomboon, a 32-year-old monk from Thailand, had his recent sightseeing trip in Times Square interrupted by a man hawking tickets for a bus tour. The man, seeing Mr. Chansomboon dressed in an intricately wrapped yellow robe, did not ask whether he was interested in the bus tour.

    As Mr. Chansomboon recalled, “The guy was asking, ‘Are you the same monks who are smoking and begging?’ ”

    Emily S. Rueb contributed reporting.

    A version of this article appears in print on July 6, 2014, on page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: If He Walks and Talks Like a Monk, but Has His Hand Out .... Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe
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  4. #154
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    Speaking of Flushing...

    More controversy on Guolin. Such a shame. He was my friend.

    Shaolin Kung Fu Instructors Shouldn't Get Paid, Temple Argues
    By James Fanelli on November 6, 2014 7:30am


    The head of the Queens-based Shaolin Temple is in a legal battle with the state Department of Labor, which determined that the group underpaid kung fu instructors. Shaolin Temple Owes Kung Fu Instructors Cash, State Says

    FLUSHING — The Queens outpost of China's famed Shaolin Temple owes its kung fu instructors a fistful of dollars in back wages, state investigators say — but the martial arts group's grandmaster wants to kick the charges to the curb.

    The State Department of Labor found Grandmaster Guolin Shi and the Flushing-based Society of Shaolin Temple guilty of underpaying two live-in instructors, Chao Gong Sun and Chao Hai Lan, and ordered them to pay more than $72,000 in back wages and $54,000 in civil penalties.

    But the temple challenged that decision last month in a legal filing, saying its instructors were religious members of the Shaolin Temple practicing Buddhism and were not employees subject to the state's minimum wage laws.

    "They are disciples of the senior monks like Guolin Shi who use their time to practice Zen Buddhism," the filings says.

    "The Shaolin Temple is a sanctuary according to the traditions of Zen Buddhism. Those invited to live in the temple may provide some work or service for a few hours a day but, most of the time, these individuals review and recite Buddhist literature, practice Shaolin Kung Fu or engage in meditation."

    Shi became a monk after studying for years at the original Shaolin Temple in the Henan province of China. The monastery, where monks practice Buddhism and kung fu, has been mythologized in pop culture through martial arts flicks and the songs of the Staten Island-based rap group Wu-Tang Clan.

    Shi was encouraged by the headmaster of the Shaolin Temple in China to open a U.S. branch because he thought New Yorkers "would benefit from the practice of kung fu because it would enable them to become more understanding of themselves and experience enhanced tranquility," the filing says.

    After he opened the U.S. branch, the Shaolin Temple Overseas, in Flushing in 1995, Shi invited monks and kung fu masters from the Chinese monastery to stay at the Queens location for periods of time to teach martial arts classes and in return receive room, board and a monthly stipend of $600 to $800.

    He later launched a kung fu studio in Nolita.

    The wage dispute began in 2007, when the state Department of Labor received an anonymous letter "alleging the existence of certain unlawful employment practices at the Shaolin Temple," the court filing says.

    Jonathan Gould, a lawyer for Shi and the Shaolin Society, told DNAinfo New York the anonymous letter followed the 2007 suicide of a monk connected to the temple.

    "There were rumors going around that he was abused by the temple," Gould said. "The anger that grew out of that event led to this ill-considered Department of Labor Investigation."

    In 2010 the DOL determined that the Queens temple owed 11 kung fu instructors — who all came from China — nearly $777,000 in back wages, civil penalties and damages.

    Shi and the Shaolin Society later appealed DOL's determination to the state Industrial Board of Appeals, arguing that the instructors were religious members exempt from the state's labor laws and had only been in the United States on a cultural exchange.

    In an Aug. 7, 2014 decision, the Industrial Board of Appeals ruled that the Shaolin Society didn't owe back wages to five of the instructors because they were found to be monks — and therefore religious members.

    The board said that four other instructors couldn't collect back wages as well because the DOL could not provide a rational basis for calculating the amount of hours they worked.

    The board's decision upheld the $72,000 in back wages and $54,000 in penalties were owed to instructors Sun and Lan.

    But Shi and Shaolin's Oct. 8 filing says that Sun and Lan were also disciples of the temple and should also be excluded from wage laws.

    "It was an arbitrary conclusion that they weren’t considered monks or members of the religious organization," Gould said.

    The filing also says that if a judge won't throw out the wage claims, then the monetary amount should at least be lowered because Lan only worked for the Shaolin Society for a year — not for five years, as the DOL investigation determined.

    Gould said the DOL investigation was "a big waste of time" because Sun and Lan didn't make the wage claims and have stated they don't want the money. However, New York law allows the DOL to make claims for individuals. If the workers don't take the money, the state can claim it.

    Neither Sun nor Lan could be reached for comment.
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  5. #155
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    Unfortunately this is not an isolated case. Seems like this has been going on since Songshan Shaolin first came to our shores.

  6. #156
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    It's been going on for longer than that...

    Shaolin has been a controversial temple surrounded by scandals for over 4 centuries. Perhaps more, depending upon how you want to define 'scandalous'.
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  7. #157
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    ttt 4 2015

    Shaolin abbot promises regulation after donation scandal
    Source:Xinhua Published: 2015-4-9 21:40:06

    Shaolin Abbot Shi Yongxin has promised to instill stronger monastic principles in the Buddhist institution's monks after one reportedly forced a donor to increase the size of a donation.

    A media report claiming a journalist was forced by a Shaolin monk to donate 100 yuan instead of 20 yuan has stirred massive criticism on social media.

    Shi said the temple "will prop up teachings and make sure every monk is better guided".

    Each donation must be voluntary and it is not the temple's policy to ask for a certain amount, according to the abbot.

    Shi, known as the "CEO monk", has courted controversy for developing business operations including lucrative kungfu shows and merchandise. In March, he was moved to distance the temple from media criticism claiming a planned Australian outpost would be over-commercialized.
    I would love to know more details on this donation strong-arming.
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  8. #158
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    Ahahaha "the Tong!"

    You get something the size of a monster like they have going and it's kind of like a city then...little harder to control and make the better look of.

    Guess it's polite to restrict it to one or two chuckles (hahaha)
    "The perfect way to do, is to be" ~ Lao Tzu

  9. #159
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    ugly rumors...

    I just heard about a rather old skool Shaolin 'sign-breaking' scuffle. May just be a rumor, but the source is one of my top ninjas for such things. If true, a lawsuit may be impending, at which point it should become public record, and we can discuss it openly here. Until then, if anyone knows anything more and wants to discuss it confidentially, I'm all ears.
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  10. #160
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    Shi Yongxu

    Gang led by former Shaolin monk busted
    By Zhang Han Source:Global Times Published: 2019/7/31 20:33:56


    Shaolin Temple in Dengfeng, Central China's Henan Province Photo: VCG

    Police in Central China have caught 16 gangsters led by a former monk reportedly from Shaolin Temple and will invite the public to share their insights into the gang's crimes at a public meeting on Thursday.

    Police in the city of Yanshi, Henan Province issued a notice Tuesday, saying they had busted a gang led by Shi Yongxu. The police invited residents to come and identify their crimes at the meeting.

    A police officer responsible for this case told the Global Times Wednesday that serious criminals had been detained including Shi.

    "The meeting aims to encourage residents to provide more clues as some insignificant figures in the gang are still at large," the officer said. He declined to be fully named and refused to disclose what kind of crime the gang members had committed.

    Shi was born in Henan in 1969 and has attended events as the deputy head of Buddhist Association of Yanshi and member of the Yanshi committee of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, according to The Beijing News.

    In a report by China News Service in 2017, Shi is the 33rd generation of Shaolin discipline and was in charge of kung fu monks.

    Shi used to run a shop in the temple after becoming a monk, but he was not a master, a staff member at Shaolin Temple told The Beijing News. The article did not name the staff member.

    Shi left the temple in the 1990s. No other monks followed him, said the staff member.

    China launched a three-year campaign in early 2018 against gangs and organized crimes, which also targeted officials who shelter criminal organizations.
    THREADS
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  11. #161
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    More on Shi Yongxu

    15 hours
    Self-Proclaimed Shaolin Master Arrested as Gang Leader
    Authorities in central China’s Henan province have arrested a criminal gang led by a man who claims to have trained Shaolin monks, according to an official statement released Tuesday.

    Luoyang City police say they arrested 16 suspects in Yanshi, another city, earlier that day for their alleged involvement in a range of illegal activities, including blackmail and extortion. Among those taken into custody is the gang’s leader, who police identified as Shi Yongxu.

    Shi claimed to have once trained Shaolin monks and even declared himself to be the heir apparent to the abbacy of the renowned Songshan Shaolin Temple, according to domestic outlet The Beijing News. However, a temple staff member has denied Shi’s claims, insisting that he only worked as a clerk at the temple’s souvenir shop.

    The same staff member also told The Beijing News that Shi had left his job at the store 20 years earlier, and that the other suspects had never been associated with the temple. (Image: Weibo)

    The official statement:
    公 告

    近期,洛阳市公安局牵头侦办偃师市以释永旭为首的涉黑恶犯罪团伙,抓获团伙成员16名。现定于2019年8 月1日上午9时30分,在偃师市召开释永旭涉黑恶犯罪团伙主要成员公开指认现场揭发检举动员大会,届时将在 大口镇大街(镇政府南100米)设主会场,并押解犯罪嫌疑人进行公开指认犯罪现场活动,请广大群众前往参加 。

    举报电话:13592059700 高警官

    15838836110 李警官

    偃师市公安局

    2019年7月30日
    googtrans
    Public notice

    Recently, the Luoyang Municipal Public Security Bureau took the lead in investigating the black criminal gangs headed by Shi Yongxu, and arrested 16 members of the gang. It is scheduled to be held at 9:30 am on August 1, 2019, and the main members of Shi Yongxu’s black criminal gang will be openly identified in Yanshi City to publicly identify the on-site prosecution mobilization meeting, which will be held in Dakou Town Street (100 meters south of the town government). The main venue is set up, and the suspects are escorted to publicly identify the crime scene activities, and the masses are invited to participate.

    Reporting number: 13592059700 High police officer

    15838836110 Officer Li

    Yanshi City Public Security Bureau

    July 30, 2019

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  12. #162
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    Former Shaolin monk

    Shi Yongxu deserves his own thread now.

    Former Shaolin monk, 15 associates arrested on suspicion of gang activity
    1 2019-08-07 10:44:39 China Daily Editor : Li Yan

    A group of 16 people, including their leader, a former monk from Shaolin Temple, were arrested recently on suspicion of gang-related crimes in Central China's Henan province amid an ongoing crackdown against organized offenses nationwide.

    Police in Yanshi, Henan, issued a statement recently that they had busted the gang, led by Shi Yongxu, on allegations of fighting, illegal detention, blackmail and disturbing public order.

    Details about the case, including specifics of the gang's crimes, have not been revealed by police.

    The statement quickly aroused public attention, and information about Shi-that he was among the 33rd generation of monks studying the Shaolin discipline and in charge of the kung fu monks at the Shaolin Temple-hit Chinese media headlines.

    Some media also said Shi attended events as vice-president of the Buddhist Association of Yanshi and member of the Yanshi committee of Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.

    Late on July 30, the Shaolin Temple-located at the foot of the province's Songshan Mountain and regarded as the cradle of Chinese kung fu-issued a declaration on its website, clarifying Shi as a monk in the 1980s who had left the temple on his own in 2003.

    "Shi's activities have nothing to do with the temple, and we have never had a title called kung fu monk," the declaration added.

    On July 31, the Buddhist Association of Yanshi also issued a statement via the city's website, saying they have removed Shi from positions at the association and dismissed him as abbot of Hongjiang Temple in the province, considering his suspected offenses.

    A staff member of the Shaolin Temple also told Beijing News that Shi used to run a shop in the temple after becoming a monk, but he was not a master.

    Huaxi Metropolis Daily, a newspaper based in Sichuan province, reported Shi was involved in several major cases. For example, it said Shi blackmailed a house owner and urged him to pay fees for what he claimed were house repairs.

    A senior monk in the Shaolin Temple also told the newspaper that Shi still occupied four main halls, even though he left the temple.

    "He asked the temple to give him 3 million yuan ($427,000) as compensation for moving out of the halls, but the temple refused to do that," the paper quoted the monk as saying.

    The halls were cleaned up when newspaper staff went to the temple on Saturday.

    All the information reported by the paper has not been verified by the police.

    China launched a three-year campaign in early 2018 against organized crime, which also targeted officials who shelter criminal organizations.

    Beijing courts released a statement saying they convicted 271 people for their involvement in 65 organized crime cases from January last year to the end of June, 46 of whom were sentenced to more than five years' imprisonment.
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