[Vacets-local-dc] [Superstition is a form of official corruption]

[Hai Tran]

M#7855;t lim dim, ðao ph#7911; ng#7891;i Thi#7873;n ...
 
Eyes half-shut, the executioner is deep in za-Zen meditation ... 
 
Poet Bui Minh Quoc
 
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Chinese cadres pray for spirit intervention
By Wang Yijiang 

HONG KONG - Down with ghosts, monsters and feudal superstition in the glorious new China, based on socialism, materialism, atheism and Deng Xiaoping "to be rich is glorious" thought. Only it hasn't happened quite that way. Some high-ranking Communist Party officials of questionable ethics increasingly have turned devoutly to prayer, burning joss sticks and making pilgrimages to Buddhist temples. The irony is rich, like the nouveau riche cadres with their ill-gotten gains. 

Pursuant to the rigid planks of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) platform, a communist must be a devout proponent of Marxism, dialectical materialism and atheism. As a matter of practice, however, a great number of party officials, many of them of practicing dubious ethics, have turned religious and even superstitious, kneeling down before Buddha statues and praying, perhaps for good and almost certainly that they may evade judgment and punishment. Even the previous state president and CCP chairman Jiang Zemin is a regular pilgrim haunting Buddhist temples. 

"Superstition is a form of official corruption," a senior research fellow with the CCP Central School told the International Herald Leader, an incisive daily newspaper sponsored by the official Xinhua News Agency. Sociology professor Wu Chongqing told Xinhua that quite a few officials were "indulging in corruption while burning incense in prayer" before they were dismissed and penalized. In fact, they pray they may not be caught red-handed, but god-worshipping is nothing but a means of self-comfort, the professor added. 

Feudal superstition, deeply rooted among the populace, has a history of several thousand years in China. But unlike some Occidental religious beliefs seeking mental purity, many Chinese people are hoping to ward off evil and beckon good fortune through worship rituals, according to Wu. 

It has become all the rage among bureaucrats to kowtow to the immortal spirits enshrined in Buddhist or Taoist temples on the second early morning of the first Chinese lunar month. Chen Six, an important local-level official, is a case in point. Chen believes that his promotions and the prospects of his political career are all blessed by the sanctified spirits, and he now makes generous donations, thousands of yuan, to religious causes. "There are a lot more officials above my rank who worship Buddhism and Taoism," he told this reporter. "We all want to pray for safety and wealth during the Chinese New Year, but the first joss stick [of great significance] is too expensive to buy." 

As a matter of ritual, offering the first incense to divinities ensures that the prayer is heard and perhaps also answered first. Therefore, the first incense burned at the inception of a new lunar year can be sold for the value of half a limousine. 

Sociologist Li Mingshui noted that the spouses of some depraved officers are far more zealous in their religious beliefs than their spouses, who dare not perform their devotions in public. In a city of northeast China's Shandong province, for instance, officials' wives used to be organized every year for a pilgrimage to Mount Tai where they each distributed a six-digit donation to the local Buddhist and Taoist shrines, one at a time. "The busy officials have no time to do such stuff themselves, and they are not supposed to show up on open religious occasions. So their wives take matters into their own hands," said Li. 

Even Jiang Zemin, former supreme leader of the Chinese government and the armed forces, turns out to be a pious pilgrim. On June 5, 2004, commander-in-chief Jiang paid a widely reported homage visit to the famous Zhantanlin Temple located in north China's Anhui province. In order to await his belated arrival, the temple delayed the scriptures-chanting morning hours. The monastery abbot personally lit up three joss sticks for the military strongman, who following the worshipping rites, took over the sticks and piously placed them in the censer. Jiang stayed for almost an hour at the temple, longer than scheduled. On the way out, he turned around, hands pressed together, and bade "Amitabha", a commonly used name for the Buddha of Infinite Light and Life, to the abbot and the other monks. 

Prior to the 16th assembly of the CCP National Congress, during which he resigned as CCP general secretary and state president, Jiang Zemin visited Bailinchan Temple in north China's Hebei province. Perhaps his prayer was answered; he remained the first in military command as chairman of the CCP Central Military Commission after the assembly and only stepped down last September. 

"As general secretary of the party, I'm an atheist. But I have wide interests including religions, and I visit a religious sanctum every year," Jiang explained to the Hong Kong Commercial Daily last September. 

It is reported that this political heavyweight also paid tribute to Mount Wutai in 2001, a celebrated Buddhist sanctum in north China's Shanxi province. But the Mount Wutai tour today has become part of a cash-making pilgrimage itinerary. A story published earlier by the International Herald Leader related how political and business figures of a feather flocked together in prayer. A real-estate tycoon spent a good fortune all along the way to accompany a mayor to Mount Wutai. "I paid for his two-way flight ticket and the bill of a four-star hotel where we spent the night. And I donated in his name 1,000 yuan [US$9.58] to more than 10 temples each," the tycoon told to the newspaper. 

When devout religious worship becomes a haven for citizens and officials of dubious ethics, it is doubtful that there are many corners in China left unsullied. 




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You shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.
		
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