South Korea Jogye Buddhist monks launch reforms

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Seoul, South Korea -- Buddhist leaders in South Korea have announced that they will bring in professional managers to run temple finances, following recent "misbehaviour" by several monks.

<< Jogye Order is the representative order of traditional Korean Buddhism with roots that go all the way back 1,200 years

The country's main Jogye Order has been dogged by in-fighting and criticism since the latest scandal.

It has sparked a fresh debate on the role of monks in modern-day Korea.

The reforms mean that monks will focus on "self-discipline" and "missionary work" - not running temple affairs.

Instead, financial managers will be brought in to handle the accounts, and lay people will take over the day-to-day running of temples.

The leader of Korea's Jogye Order said there was no choice but to carry out "far-reaching reform" because "pre-modern" practices had led to disputes, conflicts and scandal.

Last month, several monks were caught on camera smoking, drinking and gambling in a hotel bedroom.

Gambling is illegal in South Korea, apart from in designated places such as casinos catering mostly to tourists. It is also a violation of the code of conduct for monks of the Jogye Order.

The video unleashed a spate of allegations against senior figures in the order - that they too had drunk alcohol, gambled and even paid for sex.

The order says it has more than 10 million followers - about 20% of the population of South Korea. But it has reportedly been hit by feuds and factional in-fighting.

Buddhist leaders have repeatedly said there would be strict penalties for those who tarnished the image of the country's monks.

The BBC's Lucy Williamson in Seoul says that many in South Korea believe that Buddhism is already struggling to remain relevant in the face of Christianity and capitalism.

Local media reports last month said that the footage was thought to have been shot by a monk from the order described as an opponent of its current administration.

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Thou shalt not launch IPOs, China tells temples

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SHANGHAI, China -- Buddhist and Taoist temples have no right to go public and list shares on stock exchanges, a Chinese official was quoted in state media as saying of an issue that seems to have touched a nerve with the officially atheist government.

The listing of companies linked to world famous Chinese heritage sites is not new in the country’s three-decade-old capital markets, but attempts to list at least one religious site have apparently crossed a line.

Schemes to promote tourism via temples, or even for temples to band together and go public to raise funds, were wrong, Xinhua news agency quoted Liu Wei, an official with the State Administration of Religious Affairs, today as saying.

Such plans “violate the legitimate rights of religious circles, damage the image of religion and hurt the feelings of the majority of religious people”, he said in remarks at a conference on the management of religious sites.

Reports about the Shaolin Temple, famous for its kung-fu monks, planning a listing sparked a public outcry three years ago when they surfaced. Many Chinese are concerned that the Shaolin Temple, which has become a high-profile commercial entity in recent years, is becoming overly money-minded.

Shanghai-listed Huangshan Tourism Development Co, for example, sells admission to Huangshan, or the Yellow Mountain, a UNESCO World Cultural and Natural Heritage site in the southern Chinese province of Anhui.

And the sale of admission tickets to the famed Emei Mountain in southwest China is also an important source of income for Shenzhen-listed Emei Shan Tourism Co.

China’s Communist-run government is officially atheist but the state recognises Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Catholicism and Protestantism, and tolerates religious activity within boundaries.

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