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As a spiritual leader, the claims were shocking. Lovers, illegitimate children, embezzlement. Yet in 2015, the chief monk of Shaolin Temple, the birthplace of Zen Buddhism and kung-fu in the country, was untouchable. Shi Yongxin, labeled the “business-oriented monk” who transformed the ancient temple into a business venture valued at hundreds of millions of yuan, stayed in control. Soon, he was cleared of all charges.

A Decade Later

However ten years later, the 60-year-old cleric faced less fortune. In the month of July, shortly after the abbot came back from a trip to the Vatican to see the late Pontiff Francis, the monastery released a announcement stating that he was under scrutiny for reportedly misappropriating funds and for fathering children out of wedlock with several partners. Within a fortnight after, he was removed and lost his monkhood. He has disappeared after that.

Shi’s downfall, for allegations resembling those made—and overcome—in 2015, was the most high profile in a series of scandals that have rocked China’s Buddhist temples in recent months.

Controversies and Political Pressure

The controversies reveal the more precarious situation of powerful religious leaders in China, as government backing for the monetization of religious sites is replaced by an focus on frugality and political obedience.

In July, a famous monk called the monk Daolu—actual name {Wu Bing|Wu—was stripped of his position by the national Buddhist organization after police in Zhejiang province said that he was being investigated for alleged deception. The monk is accused of soliciting donations under the guise of collecting money for single expectant mothers and underprivileged youth, which was actually used on luxury items. The facts are unclear if Wu, who has vanished after the story emerged, denies the allegation.

In August, a video of clerics from Hangzhou’s Lingyin Monastery sitting around a table handling wads of cash spread quickly online, thrusting the ancient hall of worship into a online controversy.

“People who worship Buddha struggle financially, and monks become rich,” wrote one social media user.

Wealth and Faith

There is nothing built-in in Chinese Buddhism that forbids the accumulation of wealth, says Kin Cheung, an scholar of East and South Asian religions. In the Middle Ages, religious centers stood in for banks, loaning money to traders while imposing substantial fees.

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

Criticism stems from the public who see riches as being spiritually corrosive, and, increasingly, from the government, which under the leadership of the country's leader has targeted excess wealth and dishonesty.

Overhauling the Temple's Business

China’s temples have alternated between government support in recent decades. During the Chinese Communist party’s (CCP) agricultural restructuring in the 1950s, monasteries were lost their properties. Many religious sites were destroyed or damaged in the political movement of the 1960s-70s. But as the nation entered a era of market changes and global engagement in the 1980s, temples were back in vogue, with many embracing visitor attractions to support themselves, frequently with clear state backing.

Among the prominent abbots who appeared to gain individually in this period, Shi was the most successful. Born Liu Yingcheng, he joined the monastery in Henan as a teenager in 1981. At that time, the site was in ruins. However as Shi advanced to head abbot, he worked with local officials to re-open religious spaces and sell tickets to visitors. Soon, millions were arriving, with the local government taking a seventy percent share. Gift shops selling temple-related merchandise also opened, and Shaolin Inc was created.

Shi’s star rose in the process. In 2006, the Dengfeng city government gave him a high-end vehicle valued at 1m yuan to recognize his contributions to local tourism. He shrugged off criticism, saying “Clerics also need to eat.”

With money came political power. Between 1998 and 2018 he was a delegate to China’s National People’s Congress. During his tenure, he met international figures, Henry Kissinger and royalty, and took a troupe of martial arts monks to Russia for a special performance at the invitation of Vladimir Putin. This prompted one worker near the Shaolin monastery to remark that the clout of government representatives seemed paltry in comparison with Shi.

The Boom and Issues of the Monastic Business

The Shaolin temple’s popularity increased as the so-called “temple economy” in China boomed—its market size is predicted to reach 100 billion yuan by the end of this year.

While the nation faces stubbornly sluggish expansion, religious sites in principle are a benefit to both authorities and ordinary people. The authorities benefit from increased local consumption as people visit religious destinations, while people finding it hard to find work or fulfilment in Chinese society are more turning to religion for support.

But temples also must tread an ever-tighter line between popularity and political obedience. “Authorities is highly watchful to how much influence is being accumulated by religion,” Cheung notes.

Analysts think that the abbot's downfall could have been due to a loss of political support rather than any particular misconduct.

“Typically that there is something else [going on] that has to do with patronage,” says a writer, 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 important monasteries and turn them into visitor sites, a blueprint for how the secular government could work with faith.

However in recent times, Xi has tried to reduce the over-commercialization of monetizing spirituality. In 2017, Beijing revised its regulations on spiritual matters, noting that Buddhist and Taoist sites could damaging the “respectable image” of China’s ancient religions. The updated rules stipulated that Buddhist and Taoist sites must be non-profit operations and prohibited the excessive promotion of fee-based rituals such as lighting offerings and selecting fortunes for predictions.

Changes Ahead

Currently it appears that the Shaolin monastery, set in the jagged Song mountain range, is being reined in. Upon being appointed in the summer, the former abbot's successor, an abbot named Shi Yinle with a reputation for modesty, declared an overhaul of the commercial operations. He halted paid shows, prohibited costly consecration rituals, said he would remove {temple shops|on