Shi Zhitong. (File photo)
(ECNS) - One of the most influential Buddhist figures in Wenzhou, a city in Zhejiang province, has lost his official position after being accused of violating a number of religious rules.
Shi Zhitong has been accused of enjoying worldly pleasures against Buddhist disciplines, including eating meat, driving fancy cars and even having a wife, the Southern Weekly reports, citing a statement by a woman named Ms. Huang.
Huang, the former girlfriend of Shi's son, gave birth to a boy without being married, and is now in conflict with Shi's family. She started to disclose the hidden side of the well-connected Buddhist on social media in June.
Huang said Shi is a beef lover and owns a Land Rover and an Audi A8. Shi is also a regular visitor to five-star hotels, according to Huang.
Shi admitted that he has a wife and family, but denies that he's a meat-lover or has misused the money of temples.
"Although I'm not a Buddhist, I insist on Buddhism practice every morning and evening," Shi said.
An official investigation by the Buddhist Association of Wenzhou shows that Shi is not a registered monk, and that he lost his position as deputy head of the Buddhist association in Wenzhou's Cangnan county. However he still runs Baolin Temple and Longhui Temple as an abbot.
A monk in the county who declined to reveal his name said that everyone knows Shi's secrets, but they dare not expose him. "Real monks stay away from him to avoid trouble."
Shi appears to be untroubled by the accusations, and said he plans to build a new Baolin Temple to the scale of its heyday in the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368).
