SOS Chapter 33

Traditional Culture Challenges the Legitimacy of the CCP Rule

Traditional Chinese culture believes in God and the heavenly mandate. Accepting the mandate of heaven means that rulers have to be wise, follow the Tao and be attuned to destiny. Accepting belief in God means accepting that authority over humanity rests in heaven.

The CCP ruling principle is summarized as, �Never more tradition's chains shall bind us, arise ye toilers no more in thrall. The earth shall rise on new foundations; we are but naught; we shall be all.� [27]

The CCP promotes historical materialism, claiming that Communism is an earthly paradise, the path to which is led by the pioneer proletarians, or the Communist Party. The belief in God thus directly challenged the legitimacy of the CCP�s rule.

******************

II. How the Communist Party Sabotages Traditional Culture

Everything the CCP does serves a political purpose. In order to seize, maintain and consolidate its tyranny, the CCP needs to replace human nature with its evil Party nature, and the Chinese traditional culture with its Party culture of �deceit, wickedness and violence.� This destruction and substitution includes cultural relics, historical sites and ancient books, which are tangible, and such intangible things as the traditional outlook on morality, life and the world. All aspects of people�s lives are involved, including their actions, thoughts and lifestyles. At the same time, the CCP regards insignificant and superficial cultural manifestations as the �essence,� retaining them, and then puts this �essence� up as a fa�ade. The Party keeps the semblance of tradition while replacing the real tradition with Party culture. It then deceives the people and international society behind a fa�ade of �carrying on and developing� Chinese traditional culture.

Simultaneously Extinguishing the Three Religions

Owing to the fact that the traditional culture is rooted in Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, the CCP�s first step in destroying traditional culture was to extinguish the manifestation of the divine principles in the human world, eradicating the three religions corresponding to them.

All three major religions, Confucianism, Buddhism, and Taoism, encountered destruction in different historical time periods. Take Buddhism for example. It has suffered four major tribulations in history, which are historically known as the �Three Wus and One Zong� persecution of Buddhist devotees by four Chinese emperors. Emperor Taiwu [28] of the Northern Wei Dynasty (386-534 AD) and Emperor Wuzong [29] of the Tang Dynasty (618-907 AD) both tried to extinguish Buddhism in order to have Taoism prevail. Emperor Wu [30] of the Northern Zhou Dynasty (557-581 AD) tried to extinguish Buddhism and Taoism together, but venerated Confucianism. Emperor Shizong [31] of the Later Zhou Dynasty (951-960 AD) tried to extinguish Buddhism merely to use the Buddha statues to mint coins, and did not touch Taoism or Confucianism.

The CCP is the only regime to extinguish the three religions simultaneously.
Soon after the CCP established a government, it began to destroy temples, burn scriptures and forced the Buddhist monks and nuns to return to secular life. Neither was it any softer in destroying other religious places. By the 1960s, there were hardly any religious places left in China. The Great Cultural Revolution brought even greater religious and cultural catastrophe in the campaign of �Casting Away the Four Olds� [32]�i.e., old ideas, old culture, old customs and old habits.

For example, the first Buddhist temple in China was the White Horse Temple (Bai Ma Temple) [33] built in the early Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 AD) outside Luoyang city, Henan Province. It is honored as �the Cradle of Buddhism in China� and �the Founder�s Home.� During �Casting Away the Four Olds,� the White Horse Temple, of course, could not escape looting.

There was a White Horse Temple production brigade near the temple. The Party branch secretary led peasants to smash the temple in the name of �revolution.� The over 1,000-year-old clay statues of the Eighteen Arhats built in the Liao Dynasty (916-1125 AD) were destroyed. The Beiye scripture [34] that an eminent Indian monk brought to China 2,000 years ago was burned. A rare treasure, the Jade Horse, was smashed to pieces. Several years later, Cambodian King in Exile Norodom Sihanouk made a special request to pay homage to the White Horse Temple. Zhou Enlai, the Chinese premier at the time, hurriedly ordered the transport to Luoyang of the Beiye scripture stored in the Imperial Palace in Beijing and the statues of the Eighteen Arhats built in the Qing Dynasty from the Temple of Azure Clouds (Biyun Temple) located at the Xiangshan Park [35] in suburban Beijing. With this bogus replacement, a diplomatic difficulty was �solved.� [36]

The Cultural Revolution began in May of 1966. It was in fact �revolutionizing� Chinese culture in a destructive way. Starting in August 1966, the raging fire of the �Casting Away the Four Olds� burned the entire land of China. Regarded as objects of �feudalism, capitalism, and revisionism,� the Buddhist temples, Taoist temples, Buddha statues, historical and scenic sites, calligraphy, paintings, and antiques became the main targets for destruction by the Red Guards. [37] Take the Buddha statues for example. There are 1000 colored, glazed Buddha statues in relief on the top of Longevity Hill in the Summer Palace [38] in Beijing. After the �Casting Away the Four Olds,� they were all damaged. None of them has a complete set of the five sensory organs any more.

The capital of the country was like this, and so was the rest of the country. Even the remote county seats did not escape.

There is a Tiantai Temple in Dai county in Shanxi Province. It was built during the Taiyan time period of the Northern Wei Dynasty 1,600 years ago and had precious statues and frescos. Although it was situated on a hillside quite a distance away from the county seat, the people who participated in the �Casting Away the Four Olds� ignored the difficulties and made a clean sweep of the statues and frescos there. � The Louguan Temple, [39] where Lao Zi gave his lecture and left his famous Tao-te Ching 2,500 years ago, is situated in the Zhouzhi County of Shaanxi Province. Centered around the platform where Lao Zi lectured, within a radius of 10 li [40], there are over 50 historical sites, including the Temple Venerating the Sage (Zongsheng Gong) that Emperor Tang Gaozu Li Yuan [41] built to show respect for Lao Zi over 1,300 years ago. Now the Louguan Temple and the other historical sites have been destroyed, and all Taoist priests have been forced to leave. According to the Taoist canon, once one becomes a Taoist priest, one can never shave one�s beard or have one�s hair cut. However, now the Taoist priests are forced to have their hair cut, take off their Taoist robes, and become members of the People�s communes. [42] Some of them married daughters of the local peasants and became their sons-in-law. � At the sacred Taoist places in Laoshan Mountain in Shandong Province, the Temple of Supreme Peace, the Temple of the Highest Clarity, the Supreme Clarity Temple, the Doumu Temple, the Huayan Nunnery, the Ningzhen Temple, the Temple of Guan Yu, �the statues of the divine, sacrificial vessels, scrolls of Buddhist sutras, cultural relics, and temple tablets were all smashed and burned down�. � The Temple of Literature in Jilin Province is one of the four famous Temples of Confucius in China. During the �Casting Away the Four Olds,� it was severely damaged.� [43]

A Special Way to Destroy Religion

Lenin once said, �The easiest way to take a fortress is from within.� As a group of children and grandchildren of Marxism-Leninism, the CCP naturally and tacitly understands this.

In the �Mahayana Mahaparinirvana Sutra,� [44] Buddha Shakyamuni predicted that after his nirvana, demons would be reincarnated as monks, nuns, and male and female lay Buddhists to subvert the Dharma. Of course, we cannot verify what Buddha Shakyamuni was referring to exactly. However, the CCP�s destruction of Buddhism indeed started with forming a �united front� with some Buddhists. They even sent some underground communist party members to infiltrate the religion directly and subvert it from within. In a criticism meeting during the Cultural Revolution, someone questioned Zhao Puchu, vice president of the Chinese Buddhists Association at the time, �You are a Communist Party member, why do you believe in Buddhism?�

Buddha Shakyamuni attained supreme and complete enlightenment through �precept, concentration, wisdom.� So before his nirvana, he instructed his disciples to �Uphold and observe the Precepts. Do not let them down or violate them.� He also warned, �People who violate the Precepts are abhorred by heaven, dragons, ghosts and the divine. Their evil reputation spreads far and wide. � When their lives end, they will suffer in hell for their karma, and meet their inexorable doom. Then they will come out. They will continue to suffer by bearing the body of hungry ghosts and animals. They will suffer in a circle like this endlessly with no relief.� [45]

The political Buddhist monks turned deaf ears to Buddha�s warnings. In 1952, the CCP sent representatives to attend the inaugural meeting of the Chinese Buddhists Association. At the meeting, many Buddhists in the association proposed to abolish the Buddhist precepts. They claimed that these disciplines had caused the death of many young men and women. Some people even advocated that �people should be free to believe in any religion. There should also be freedom for the monks and nuns to get married, to drink alcohol, and to eat meat. Nobody should interfere with these.� At that time, Master Xuyun was at the meeting and saw that Buddhism was facing the danger of extinction in China. He stepped forward opposing the proposals and appealed for the preservation of the Buddhist precepts and dress. Master Xuyun was then slandered, and labeled as �counter-revolutionary.� He was detained in the abbot�s room, and denied food and drink. He was not allowed out of the room even to use the toilet. He was also ordered to hand over his gold, silver and firearms. When Xuyun answered that he had none, he was beaten so badly that his skull was fractured and bleeding and his ribs broken. Xuyun was 112 years old at the time. The military police pushed him from the bed to the ground. When they came back the next day and found Xuyun still alive, they brutally beat him again.

The Chinese Buddhists Association founded in 1952 and the Chinese Taoist Association founded in 1957 both clearly declared in their founding statements that they would be �under the leadership of the People�s government.� In reality, they would be under the leadership of the atheistic CCP. Both associations indicated that they would actively participate in production and construction activities, and implement government policies. They were transformed into completely secular organizations. Yet the Buddhists and Taoists who were devoted and abided by the precepts were labeled as counter-revolutionaries or members of superstitious sects and secret societies. Under the revolutionary slogan of �purifying the Buddhists and Taoists,� they were imprisoned, forced to �reform through labor,� or even executed. Even religions spread from the West, such as Christianity and Catholicism were not spared.

Based on the statistics given in the book How the Chinese Communist Party Persecutes the Christians published in 1958, even the limited number of documents that have been made public reveal that among the clergymen who were charged as �landlord� or �local bully,� a staggering 8,840 were killed and 39,200 were sent to labor camps. Among the clergymen charged as �counter-revolutionary,� 2,450 were killed, and 24,800 were sent to labor camps. [46]

Religions are a way for people to remove themselves from the secular world and cultivate themselves. They emphasize �the other shore� (the shore of perfect enlightenment) and �heaven.� Shakyamuni used to be an Indian prince. In order to seek mukti [47], a state in which one can obtain peace of mind, higher wisdom, full enlightenment, and nirvana, [48] he gave up the throne and went to a wooded mountain to cultivate by experiencing hardships and toil. Before Jesus became enlightened, the devil brought him to the top of a mountain, showed him all the kingdoms of the world in all their splendor. The devil said, �If you will bow down and worship me, I will give you all these things.� But Jesus was not enticed. Yet the political monks and pastors who formed united fronts with the CCP made up a series of deceits and lies such as �human world Buddhism,� and �religion is the truth, and so is socialism.� They claimed that �there is no contradiction between this shore and the other shore.� They encouraged Buddhists and Taoists to pursue happiness, glory, splendor, wealth and rank in this life, and changed the religious doctrines and their meaning.

Buddhism forbids killing. The CCP killed people like flies during the �suppression of counter-revolutionaries.� [49] The political monks thereupon cooked up the justification that �killing the counter-revolutionaries is an even greater compassion.� During the �War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea� (1950-1953) [50], monks were even sent directly to the front line to kill.

Take Christianity as another example. In 1950, Wu Yaozong [51] formed a �Three-Self� Church, which followed the principles of self-administration, self-support and self-propagation. He claimed that they would break away from �imperialism� and actively join the �War to Resist US Aggression and Aid Korea.� A good friend of his was imprisoned for over 20 years for refusing to join the Three-Self and suffered all kinds of torture and humiliation. When he asked Wu Yaozong, �How do you regard the miracles Jesus performed?� Wu answered, �I have discarded all of them.�

Not acknowledging Jesus� miracles equates to not acknowledging Jesus� heaven. How can one be counted as a Christian when one does not even recognize the heaven Jesus ascended to? However, as the founder of the �Three-Self� Church, Wu Yaozong became a member of the Political Consultative Conference standing committee. When he stepped into the Great Hall of the People [52], he must have completely forgotten Jesus� words. �Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and greatest commandment.� (Matthew, 22:37-38) �Render therefore unto Caesar the things that are Caesar�s; and unto God the things that are God's.� (Matthew, 22:21)

The CCP confiscated the temple property, forced monks and nuns to study Marxism-Leninism in order to brainwash them, and even forced them to labor. For instance, there was a �Buddhist workshop� in Ningbo city, Zhejiang Province. Over 25,000 monks and nuns were once forced to work there. What is more absurd is that the CCP encouraged monks and nuns to get married so as to disintegrate Buddhism. For example, just before the March 8th Women�s Day in 1951, the Women�s Federation in Changsha city, Hunan Province ordered all nuns in the province to decide to get married in a few days. In addition, young and healthy monks were forced to join the army and were sent to the battlefield to serve as cannon fodder! [53]

Various religious groups in China have disintegrated under the CCP�s violent suppression. The genuine elites of Buddhism and Taoism have been suppressed. Among those remaining, many returned to secular life, and many others were undisclosed Communist Party members who specialized in putting on kesa robes, [54] Taoist robes or pastor�s long gowns to distort the Buddhist Scriptures, the Taoist Canon and the Holy Bible and to look for justification for the CCP�s movements in these doctrines.