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VietNamNet Bridge - On November 6, several social networking sites shared photos and video clips in which people denounced a monk of the Chan Long temple in Chang Son commune, Thach That district, Hanoi, of arbitrarily changing an ancient Buddha statue with a statue of himself.
The statue and the monk.
In the video clip, filmed on November 5, local people and some guards carried the new statue out of the temple in the presence of the Chang Son commune authorities. The forum of Chang Son people also shared their outrage and upset of many incidents occurred at the temple, a national historic relic.
According to resident of Chang Son commune, in 2012 the oldest statue in the middle of the temple disappeared. When people asked the monk who manages the temple – Thich Minh Phuong, he replied that the statue was thrown into the river because it was heavily damaged. In addition, dozens of ancient censers were also replaced by the new ones, without consulting the people.
At noon on November 5, many people flocked to the temple since they knew that monk Thich Minh Phuong would organize rituals to add “soul” into the new statue before putting it to the place of the ancient statue. They discovered that the face of the new statue is similar to the face of monk Thich Minh Phuong. Locals reported the case to the local government and they took the new statue out of the temple.
Earlier, local residents denounced to the local authorities several violations at the temple, such as cutting down ancient trees, building toilets and a garage in the temple without permission and the dubious spending of money donated by Buddhist followers.
The Hanoi Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism is investigating the incident, said Deputy Director Truong Minh Tien.
Chang Son commune leaders said that in 2010, Mr. Nguyen Xuan Long (monk Thich Minh Phuong) was permitted to temporarily live and celebrate ceremony at the temple. In 2011, he was appointed as the manager of the temple.
They said that Long made many wrong things that make local people upset. Specifically, the local government made seven minutes on Long’s violation of the laws on religion, including building a toilet for himself in the temple campus, removing and changing ancient statues without informing the local authorities, bringing two 30 new statues with unclear origin into the temple, etc.
The local authorities asked Long to not arbitrarily change any statue in the temple or to remove the new statues out of the temple, but until November 5, Long took the new statues out.
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Local people showed their anger over the monk’s act by doing something with the statue.
They put a soldier hat, a conical hat and even a leaf on the head of the statue then take pictures of it.
The people took the statue to the local market.
After this incident, the monk disappeared and nobody could contact him.
The Chan Long temple was ranked as a national relic in 1992. This is the place where local people come to worship on holidays.
The temple was closed after the incident.
The place for the ancient statue is empty now.
Locals are very angry since they believe that monk Thich Minh Phuong intended to change the ancient statue with his own statue so everybody would have to worship and kowtow under his feet. Since November 5, the monk has been absent from the temple.
The new statues made of wood and plasters have been removed from the altars.
Not only ancient statues but also ancient vases were replaced by new ones. Some statue and vases were salvaged from a nearby river.
A toilet in the temple campus.
A garage was built right at the gate of the temple.
It is said that the monk used the money donated for charity to buy these furniture. |
Tri Thuc
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