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For a religious leader, the allegations were shocking. Mistresses, illegitimate children, misuse of funds. Yet in the year 2015, the chief monk of Shaolin Temple, the birthplace of Zen Buddhism and martial arts in the country, was untouchable. Shi Yongxin, labeled the “CEO monk” who converted the 1,500-year-old monastery into a business venture worth hundreds of millions of Chinese currency, remained in control. Shortly after, he was exonerated of all charges.

A Decade Later

However a decade after, the 60-year-old cleric faced less fortune. In July, shortly after the abbot returned from a visit to the Vatican to meet the deceased Pope Francis, the monastery released a announcement saying that he was being investigated for allegedly misappropriating funds and for siring illegitimate children with several partners. Less than a two weeks later, he was removed and lost his religious status. He has not been heard from after that.

Shi’s downfall, for allegations similar to those leveled—and survived—in the year 2015, was the most high profile in a string of scandals that have shaken the nation's monasteries in recent months.

Controversies and Political Scrutiny

The controversies reveal the increasingly unstable situation of powerful religious leaders in China, as government backing for the commercialisation of religious sites is replaced by an focus on austerity and loyalty to the state.

In July, a famous monk called Daolu—real name {Wu Bing|Wu—was lost his position by the Buddhist Association of China after police in Zhejiang province said that he was being investigated for suspected deception. The monk is accused of collecting public donations under the guise of collecting money for unmarried pregnant women and needy children, which was actually used on luxury items. It is not clear if Wu, who has not been heard from after the news broke, disputes the claim.

In August, a recording of monks from Hangzhou’s Lingyin Monastery sitting around a desk counting wads of cash spread quickly online, thrusting the ancient hall of worship into a social media storm.

“People who practice Buddhism become poor, and clerics gain wealth,” commented one online observer.

Wealth and Faith

There is nothing built-in in Chinese Buddhism that prohibits the amassing of wealth, notes an expert, an scholar of Asian religious studies. In the Middle Ages, monasteries stood in for banks, loaning money to merchants while imposing high interest rates.

But while collecting donations for religious purposes is seen as acceptable, becoming wealthy can draw negative attention to one’s reputation.

Criticism comes from ordinary people who see riches as being harmful to faith, and, more often, from the government, which under the leadership of Xi Jinping has cracked down on excess wealth and dishonesty.

Restructuring the Temple's Business

China’s religious sites have alternated in and out of government support in modern Chinese history. During the Chinese Communist party’s (CCP) agricultural restructuring in the 1950s, monasteries were lost their assets. Many places of worship were damaged or harmed in the political movement of the 1960s-70s. Yet as China began a period of economic reform and global engagement in the 1980s, temples were back in vogue, with many turning to visitor attractions to support themselves, often with clear government support.

Of the well-known abbots who seemed to gain individually in this time, the abbot was the biggest. Born Liu Yingcheng, he joined the Shaolin temple in Henan province as a teenager in 1981. At that time, the temple was in disrepair. However as he rose the ranks to leadership, he worked with authorities to restore prayer halls and charge entry to tourists. Soon, thousands were arriving, with the local government taking a seventy percent share. Stores selling temple-related merchandise also appeared, and Shaolin Inc was created.

The abbot's reputation grew in the meantime. In 2006, the local administration awarded him a high-end vehicle valued at 1m yuan to recognize his efforts to the area's visitor economy. He dismissed criticism, saying “Clerics also need to eat.”

As wealth increased came political power. Between 1998 and 2018 he was a representative to the national legislature. Over the years, he met Nelson Mandela, diplomats and Queen Elizabeth II, and led a troupe of kung-fu practitioners to Russia for a show at the invitation of Vladimir Putin. It led one worker near the Shaolin monastery to observe that the clout of local CCP officials seemed paltry in contrast to Shi.

The Boom and Challenges of the Temple Economy

Its popularity rose as the so-called “religious commerce” in China expanded—its market size is expected to reach 100 billion yuan by the end of this year.

As China faces stubbornly sluggish expansion, temples in theory are a gift to both authorities and ordinary people. The authorities gain from increased local consumption as people flock to temple-cum-tourist attractions, while people struggling to find work or fulfilment in the community are increasingly seeking religion for guidance.

Yet monasteries also must tread an increasingly narrow path between public appeal and state compliance. “Authorities is very attentive to how much influence is being accumulated by religion,” the expert says.

Analysts believe that Shi’s ouster could have been due to a withdrawal of backing rather than any specific wrongdoing.

“It’s almost always that there is another factor [going on] that has to do with support networks,” comments a writer, the author of a book on religion, a volume about spiritual life in China.

Xi has shown a keen focus in traditional Chinese religions. Early in his career he assisted in re-open significant Buddhist temples and develop them as visitor sites, a model for how the officially atheist government could work with religion.

But in recent times, the leader has attempted to reduce the excesses of religious commercialisation. In 2017, Beijing updated its regulations on religious affairs, stating that temples risked damaging the “respectable reputation” of China’s ancient religions. The updated rules required that religious venues must be non-profit operations and prohibited the over-marketing of paid-for religious practices such as lighting offerings and drawing lots for fortune-telling.

A New Direction

Now it appears that the temple, located in the rugged Song Mountains, is being brought to heel. Upon being installed in August, the former abbot's successor, an abbot named Shi Yinle with a reputation for modesty, announced an restructuring of Shaolin Inc. He halted paid shows, prohibited expensive blessing ceremonies, stated he would remove {temple shops|on