Or suppose you are under a high mountain and want to worship Buddha, only to find that it takes several grandfathers to get into the mountain, but it takes a pile to burn a wick. ...
These are not false rumors, but are often reported by the media.
In recent years, all over the country, in the name of religion, things have happened from time to time, and meditation places that should be clean and natural have become a bit smoky and trivial. It is generally believed that it is time to rectify the commercialization of temples and palaces.
This is why yesterday's news was widely reprinted as soon as it came out, causing a good cheer on the Internet.
The State Bureau of Religious Affairs, Publicity Department of the Communist Party of China and other 12 departments recently jointly issued "Several Opinions on Further Governing the Commercialization of Buddhism and Taoism" (hereinafter referred to as "Opinions"), and put forward 10 specific governance measures for the increasingly prominent commercialization of Buddhism and Taoism.
muddledness
This 10 measure is aimed at a number of outstanding problems in the commercialization of Buddhism and Taoism in recent years, such as commercial capital intervening in Buddhism and Taoism, non-religious organizations or individuals profiting from religion, burning too much incense and releasing too much, and some monks and Taoists are depressed.
The biggest problem is "building a religious platform and singing economic drama". On the grounds of developing tourism and promoting economic development, all localities "circle" famous ancient temples into cultural tourist attractions. This has led to the wanton construction of temples and palaces, large-scale open-air religious statues, and efforts to promote the listing of "famous mountains" tourism.
A report in the middle of this year said that tourism and cultural enterprises relying on the four famous Buddhist mountains are expected to gather in the stock market. Emei Mountain and Jiuhua Mountain landed, Putuo Mountain sprinted IPO, and Wutai Mountain was gearing up.
The Grandma Temple, which was on fire this summer, vividly demonstrated a benefit distribution mechanism-villagers contracting, village committees, original shareholders and secondary contracting interlocking, and pure religious beliefs alienated into jingle.
It is not uncommon for illegal release to cause the invasion of alien species, the release of interest chains, sky-high prices and various openness.
The "Opinions" prescribed a "prescription" for these chaos:
Commercial capital is not allowed to enter, organizations and individuals are not allowed to invest and contract Buddhist and Taoist sites and large-scale religious statues in the open air, and Buddhist and Taoist sites are not allowed to be packaged and listed as enterprise assets or operated as capital;
It is strictly forbidden to coerce or induce the masses to burn high incense, draw lots for divination, and speculate on the "head incense" and "head bell". It is strictly forbidden to use the release activities to carry out commercial operations. Organizations and individuals outside the Buddhist and Taoist circles may not publish in the name of Buddhism and Taoism;
Party and government cadres at all levels shall not support participation in "building a stage by religion and singing opera by economy", and it is strictly forbidden for party and government organs and staff to seek benefits from religious affairs and resolutely punish corruption.
rectification
Say "no", then say "yes".
In fact, both the revised Regulations on Religious Affairs (hereinafter referred to as the Regulations) and the Opinions published in the middle of this year have defined a "vast world" for the operation of Buddhist and Taoist places: they can distribute Buddhist and Taoist supplies, artworks and publications and carry out business activities consistent with their religious purposes and customs. In other words, French logistics offices, vegetarian restaurants and even some creative products of Buddhism and Taoism are in line with historical traditions and laws and regulations.
However, the Opinions also require that the proceeds from business activities should be used for activities that are self-supporting and consistent with the purpose and charity of Buddhism and Taoism, that is, the non-profit of Buddhism and Taoism venues is clarified.
In other words, the income of these places cannot be distributed and cannot fall into personal pockets.
Xue Cheng, president of the Chinese Buddhist Association, said that the Buddhist cultural products sold are aimed at spreading Buddhist pop culture to the public, and their standard pricing should be cost rather than profit.
Permanent cure
The commercialization of Buddhism and Taoism began in the mid-1990s, when temples began to be self-financing.
At this time, a group of rich organizations or individuals appeared, and they exchanged "contracting" or "shareholding" for the management rights of many temples and Taoist temples.
In terms of management, due to historical reasons, Buddhist and Taoist venues are managed by tourism, gardens, cultural relics and other departments, and some even form a situation in which three or four units are in charge.
Multi-head management has to face the problem of multi-person accounting. It is an inevitable path to raise the ticket price and expand the profit range. As a result, religious circles themselves, believers and tourists all have great opinions.
Some experts and scholars believe that there is no clear legal person status in Buddhist and Taoist venues, which is the fundamental reason for being in a "weak" position.
These drawbacks are stipulated in the Opinions. No organization or individual may invest in or contract to operate Buddhist and Taoist sites, and may not donate money to build Buddhist and Taoist activity sites. They don't have ownership or use rights, and they can't interfere in the internal affairs of the website.
However, the "Regulations" take more radical measures, stipulate the qualifications of legal persons, and clearly state that places for religious activities meet the requirements of legal persons, and they can go through some formalities and register as legal persons with the civil affairs department. In addition, it also stipulates the property ownership of religious sites, temples and monasteries enjoy the right to use and manage state and collective property, as well as the ownership of other legitimate financial rights.
The "Regulations" will be implemented on February 1 next year, and monks and Taoists can finally say for sure that "this is my home".
Let religious people manage religious sites, which makes it easier for all immortals to return to their places and restore religious culture itself. Monks always don't want their yard to be bustling for profit, and they won't let "modern gods" such as "car gods" rank among the immortals.
However, the interests of religious commercialization are quite entangled and involve a wide range, which is why the Opinions need to be jointly issued by 12 departments. If Buddhism and Daomen really want to return to a "clean place", there may be a long way to go.