By Tsering Dhundup
DHARAMSHALA, August 6: The Chinese government is set to enforce new guidelines on religious activities within the People’s Republic of China (PRC), including occupied regions beginning September 1. The contentious regulations, recently revealed by Radio Free Asia on August 3, are set to place significant emphasis on the prioritization of the Communist Party of China (CPC) leadership and the concept of “Sinicization.”
The forthcoming rules mandate that all religious institutions, including monasteries, temples, mosques, churches, and other places of worship, must unequivocally endorse the CPC’s leadership and align with President Xi Jinping’s vision of Sinicization in religious practices. A striking clause in the guidelines asserts that “no organization or individual may use religious activity sites to conduct activities that endanger national security, disrupt social order, or damage national interests.”
Supervision of these religious sites will be meticulous, with managers required to undergo rigorous scrutiny by religious affairs officials. These individuals must pledge allegiance to the nation, uphold CPC values, and champion the socialist system. Detailed plans for religious activities must be submitted in advance for approval, and a strong emphasis is placed on fostering patriotism and adherence to sinicization directives. Religious venues are mandated to maintain comprehensive records of staff, residents, and their interactions with foreign entities.
A contentious aspect of the guidelines is their reach into the content of religious sermons and teachings. Sermons are to be tailored to fit the “Chinese national situation” and embody “socialist core values.” Religious practices are also expected to encourage the use of Mandarin and integrate Chinese cultural elements, spanning from architecture to artistic expression. Notably, the construction of large outdoor religious statues is expressly forbidden.
The regulations extend their reach to prohibit religious groups from accepting teaching positions or financial contributions from overseas sources without prior government authorization. Activities outside of pre-approved schedules and unauthorized religious events held in non-designated spaces are also explicitly prohibited.
The guidelines empower the State Administration of Religious Affairs and the Party United Front Work Department with direct oversight over religious centres, eliciting concerns from human rights advocates and religious groups. Critics fear that these regulations could further limit religious freedom and suppress cultural diversity.
The Chinese government states that these guidelines aim to ensure religious practices align with CPC principles and contribute to the Sinicization of culture and society. With the implementation date of September 1 looming, the international community is watching intently to assess the ramifications of these regulations on religious minorities and the broader religious landscape within the People’s Republic of China and occupied nations.
Buddhism was founded by an enlightened person known to the world as Lord Buddha. Buddha was no ordinary being and his teachings have thrived for more than 2600 years. Buddha’s teachings are based on exposing human frailties and how an individual can over come them. The message of the Buddha is human frailties are the root cause of suffering which are ultimately rooted in the three poisons: desire, anger and ignorance. He taught how to overcome the three poisons in order to liberate oneself from the bondage of human misery. All of Buddha’s teaching are devoted to eliminating human suffering such as death, rebirth, old age and sickness. He left his home and hearth to find a solution to sufferings of all sentient beings. After living a life devoted to poverty, ethical serenity and cultivation of compassion and wisdom, He achieved enlightenment and taught at Vulture’s peak known in Tibetan as (བྱ་རྒོད་ཕུང་པོའི་རི་). All of Buddha’s teaching are sacred and can’t be tempered by mere mortals. The reason is simple. The Buddha sought to achieve freedom from suffering and through his own experience taught the rest of humanity how liberation can be achieved. Any tempering or concoction to suit base human demands such as “loyalty to the State” is a sacrilege and undermines the sanctity of the true path that would result in the degeneration of the holy teachings of the Buddha. The CCP went on a rampage to vandalise the physical manifestation of Buddhism in Tibet by razing every monastery to the ground and burning every holy textbook on fire right from the beginning of their invasion. The Tibetans labelled the Chinese communists བསྟན་དགྲ་རྒྱ་དམར་ (enemies of the faith. Now, it’s on a warpath to contaminate and soil the sacred teachings by tempering them with violent communist ideology completely destroy Tibetan Buddhism. This is absolutely unacceptable!
Tibetan Buddhism is the life blood of the Tibetan people and the sacred heritage of the Tibetan nation. If our Buddha Dharma is contaminated and cannibalised by violent and ruthless communist ideology, it will be like splashing blood on a pool of pure milk! It will totally destroy the sanctity, sacredness and the very legitimacy of Tibetan Buddhism as a pathway to liberation. Therefore, the responsibility to protect the most treasured heritage of our nation naturally falls on the shoulders of every Tibetan. Our history has it that the last Emperor Wudhum Tsenpo, འུ་དུམ་བཙན་པོ་often derogatively known as Lang Darma (གླང་དར་མ་) for his anti-Buddhist orientation was assassinated by a monk called Lhalung Paldor (ལྷ་ལུང་དཔལ་རྡོར་) to save Buddhism from annihilation and prevent the extinction of the holy Dharma from the Land of Snows.