Shaolin Temple criticized over plans for $300m complex in Australia

First Shaolin temple outside of China will feature a luxury hotel.

Beijing:  Shaolin Temple, the birthplace of Zen Buddhism, is facing a wave of criticism in China after confirming plans for a US$300-million temple complex including a luxury hotel in Australia.

After confirming the deal at the weekend the temple’s abbot, Shi Yongxin, tried to dampen controversy over the deal.

“If Disneyland can come to our country, why can’t Shaolin go to theirs’?” he was quoted as saying on Tuesday by China’s state-run Xinhua News Agency.

But his comments have prompted China’s press and social media users to launch a series of verbal attacks questioning the piety of one of the country’s most revered Buddhist temples, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Henan province.

New Express, a newspaper in Guangdong province, called the move to promote Buddhism and secular business “schizophrenic”, while Hainan province-based Hinews.cn warned the abbot risked undermining the temple’s 1,500-year history.

Shi has sparked rising controversy during his 16 years running the temple after selling merchandise online and arranging lucrative shows featuring Shaolin’s trademark Kung Fu. Dubbed China’s ‘CEO monk’, Shi is among the first Buddhist abbots in China to complete an MBA.

Chinese uproar follows controversy in Australia after the Shaolin Temple Foundation last month tried to make partial payment for the complex site in Shoalhaven, New South Wales, with a check for A$1 million (US$781,225) that later bounced.

Last week, Abbot Shi traveled to Australia to make amends by personally handing over a check for A$4.17 million to Shaolhaven’s Mayor Joanna Gash to cover the total cost of land for the development.

After facing opposition to the project from other councilors, Gash told ucanews.com on Thursday that the first check failed to clear because it was transferred from China “to the wrong bank”.

Commercial interests involved in developing the US$300-million site remain unclear.

Shi and Gash have both denied reports that the complex will include a golf course and housing estate, but have declined to say who would be developing and operating the four-star hotel on the site.

Although the Shaolin Temple has opened dozens of centers overseas teaching Buddhism and Kung Fu, the Shoalhaven complex will be the first Shaolin temple outside of China when it opens next year.

“I would encourage our community and the media to put any negative comments behind us and to embrace the opportunities this project may bring to the region,” said Gash.

Source: UCAN