Guanyin Famen

Guanyin Method
觀音法門
TypeNew religious movement
ClassificationBuddhist New religious movement
OrientationMahayana
Supreme MasterChing Hai
Origin1984
Neihu District, Taipei
Other name(s)Meditation Society of ROC, Ching Hai World Society
Official websitewww.godsdirectcontact.org
suprememastertv.com

Guanyin Famen or Quan Yin Buddhism (Chinese: 觀音法門), the teachings of Meditation Society of ROC (Chinese: 中華民國禪定學會) or Ching Hai World Society (Chinese: 清海世界會), is a new religious school of Mahayana Buddhism founded in 1988 by the ethnic-Chinese Vietnamese teacher Ching Hai.[1][2]

Guanyin Famen is one of the religious organizations officially banned in the People's Republic of China due to its legal status as a "heterodox teaching" (Chinese: 邪教; pinyin: xiéjiào).[3] This designation was first given to the organization in 1995 and was re-affirmed in 2014 and 2017. The China Anti-Cult Network xiéjiào website lists Guanyin Famen as one of eleven "dangerous" groups, a more serious designation than merely appearing on the list of twenty banned groups.[4]

As such, it has made the leap to cyberspace and become a kind of cybersect.[1]

Guanyin Famen advocates daily meditation and a vegan lifestyle.[5]

History[edit]

Supreme Master Ching Hai in Sydney, Australia in 1993.

In 1996, following the first Taiwanese presidential election, the government of Taiwan suppressed religious groups that did not support president Lee Teng-Hui during the election, including Guanyin Famen, through asset seizures and media manipulation.[6][7] In that same year, several American followers donated $640,000 to Bill Clinton's Presidential Legal Defense Fund, which was eventually returned.[8] Following the 1996 United States campaign finance controversy, the fund took caution to what it deemed "suspicious" funding sources.[9][10]

Ban in China[edit]

See also: Antireligious campaigns of the Chinese Communist Party

The Quan Yin method and Ching Hai's group has been banned in China since 1995.[11][12] A 2000 report entitled "Notice of the Ministry of Public Security on Several Issues Concerning the Identification and Banning of Cult Organizations" cites anti-communist political activity and the alleged defrauding of millions of dollars from Guanyin method followers as the reason for the ban.[13] In 2017, the China Anti-Cult Network (a branch of the State Council) listed the Guanyin method as one of eleven "dangerous groups".[11]

In 2002, the manager of the Wuhan Zhongzhi Electric Testing Equipment Company was accused by the Chinese authorities of using the business as a cover to "support cult teachings" associated with the Quan Yin method.[12] The enterprise supported thirty practitioners who "masqueraded as employees and business associates." The manager was charged with using the company's offices and buildings as "retreat sites", organizing "initiations" and "screenings" to recruit members, and illegally printing and distributing more than 6,000 copies of cult texts.[12]

Ban in Vietnam[edit]

See also: Freedom of religion in Vietnam

According to an official statement by Vietnamese authorities:[14]

“Activities spreading superstition affect the social fabric. They have the clearest and broadest influence on the population in places where these new religions (heresy, strange faiths) appear: Supreme Master Ching Hai, Long Hoa Maitreya, Treasured Temple of the Three Religions, Protestant Word of Life…”

Quan Yin method[edit]

Ching Hai first demonstrated the "Immeasurable Light Meditation Center and the Way of Sound Contemplation", or Quan Yin method of meditation, in Miaoli, Taiwan.[12] The Quan Yin method involves meditation on the "inner light and the inner sound" of God or the Buddha. Ching claims that the Bible acknowledges the existence of this method,[15] and that it has been used by most major religions.[16] She also preaches that enlightenment in Buddhism, as demonstrated by the Gautama and Guanyin Buddhas, is achieved through the method.[17]

The Quan Yin method's full initiation involves a life-long commitment to a vegan diet, adherence to the Five Precepts of Buddhism, and at least two hours of meditation daily. A shorter form of initiation requires a half hour of meditation daily and abstinence from meat for ten days each month.[18]

A 2015 Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada research report states that some consider the method to be a Buddhist movement.[19] The World Religions and Spirituality Project has written: "Ching Hai’s teaching against violence towards animals is very similar to Sikhism, but her meditation teachings resemble Buddhism, and her Catholic background enables her to incorporate Christian Bible teachings as well."[15] Religious studies scholar Jennifer Eichman notes that this particular meditation method is not part of the standard Buddhist repertoire. Ching's synthesis of the method uses a combination of jargon from Christianity, Buddhism, and Hinduism.[20]

Religious studies scholars, including Michael York, include Ching Hai in the Indian contemporary Sant Mat movements which involve the initiation of a member from a lineage guru or master.[21][22]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

Chinese Wikisource has original text related to this article:
  1. ^ a b Thornton, Patricia (2008). Manufacturing Dissent in Transnational China: Boomerang, Backfire, or Spectacle?. In Kevin J. O’Brien. Popular Protest in China (Harvard University Press, 2008). pp. 179-204. ISBN 978-0674041585
  2. ^ Refugees, United Nations High Commissioner for. "Refworld | China : Treatment of Guanyin Famen practitioners (Kuan Yin Famen, Guanyin Method, Quanyin Famen, Way of the Goddess of Mercy, Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association) (2014-August 2015)". Refworld.
  3. ^ Ministry of Public Security of the People's Republic of China. 公安部关于认定和取缔邪教组织若干问题的通知  [Notice of the Ministry of Public Security on Several Issues Concerning the Identification and Banning of Cult Organizations] (in Chinese) – via Wikisource.
  4. ^ Irons, Edward A. (2018). "The List: The Evolution of China's List of Illegal and Evil Cults" (PDF). The Journal of CESNUR. 2 (1): 33–57. doi:10.26338/tjoc.2018.2.1.3.
  5. ^ "Dialogue – Issue 52: The “Cult” of Buddha". duihua.org. Retrieved 27 May 2023.
  6. ^ Tsai, Cheng-An (20 September 2021). "Uncompleted Transitional Justice in Taiwan: Repression of Religious and Spiritual Minorities and the Tai Ji Men Case". The Journal of CESNUR. 5 (5): 68–93. doi:10.26338/tjoc.2021.5.5.5. ISSN 2532-2990.
  7. ^ "台灣未完成的轉型正義：受壓迫的宗教心靈少數派與太極門案". 平反1219行動聯盟. Retrieved 19 June 2023.
  8. ^ Public Eye, Metroactive News & Issues (December 1996). "Supreme Ordeal". Metro Silicon Valley. Retrieved 1 July 2023.
  9. ^ "SECT LEADER BADGERED FOLLOWERS FOR CLINTON AID". Chicago Tribune. 1 August 1997. Retrieved 21 May 2023.
  10. ^ "AllPolitics - Ching Hai Interview - Jan. 9, 1997". edition.cnn.com. Retrieved 29 May 2023.
  11. ^ a b Irons, Edward A (15 October 2018). "China's Blacklist of Forbidden Religions - The Chinese Communist Party's War on Religious Liberty".
  12. ^ a b c d Thornton, Patricia M. (2008). "Manufacturing Dissent in Transnational China: Boomerang, Backfire or Spectacle?". In Kevin J. O'Brien (ed.). Popular Protest in China. Harvard University Press. pp. 179–204 – via www.academia.edu.
  13. ^ "公安部关于认定和取缔邪教组织若干问题的通知" (in Chinese). Ministry of Public Security of the People's Republic of China. 30 April 2000. Retrieved 13 December 2023.
  14. ^ "Religion Bulletin – January 2020". The Vietnamese Magazine. 13 May 2020. Retrieved 5 June 2023.
  15. ^ a b "Suma Ching Hai". wrldrels.org. 24 June 2001. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  16. ^ Young, Gordon (22 May 1996). "God Inc". SF Weekly. Archived from the original on 30 September 2007. Retrieved 15 April 2007.
  17. ^ "Traces of Quan Yin in Religion - Contemplation on the Inner Heavenly Sound, Part 1 of 3 - English". suprememastertv.com. Retrieved 9 February 2022.
  18. ^ "Dialogue Ireland – Newsletter 11 – 1999". Dialogue Ireland. 30 September 1999. Archived from the original on 7 February 2020. Retrieved 7 February 2020.
  19. ^ Canada, Immigration and Refugee Board of (5 June 2018). "Responses to Information Requests". irb.gc.ca. Retrieved 30 May 2023.
  20. ^ Eichman, Jennifer (2011). "Prominent Nuns: Influential Taiwanese Voices". CrossCurrents. 61 (3): 345–373. doi:10.1111/j.1939-3881.2011.00187.x. ISSN 0011-1953. S2CID 170393485. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
  21. ^ York, Michael (2018). Pagan Mysticism: Paganism as a World Religion. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 77. ISBN 978-1-5275-2308-1. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
  22. ^ Jones, Constance A.; Ryan, James D. (2007). "Sant Mat movement". Encyclopedia of Hinduism. Encyclopedia of World Religions. J. Gordon Melton, Series Editor. New York: Facts On File. p. 384. ISBN 978-0-8160-5458-9. Archived from the original on 20 December 2016.
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