China’s Buddhist body
to sue media for ‘tarnishing’ religion
Apr 10, 2017
hindustantimes
The Buddhist association said the media and
netizens shared a video that incorrectly showed its members
partying at a nun’s wedding to garner clicks.
A Buddhist association in China has vowed to
sue media networks and netizens for “tarnishing Buddhism” after
they reported and shared a video that incorrectly showed its
members partying at a nun’s wedding.
The Wutaishan Buddhist Association (WBA) of
Shanxi Province accused the media of “tarnishing Buddhism” over the
video titled “Buddhist nuns participate in a Wutai Mountain nun’s
wedding.”
The tape, which showed shaven-headed women in
robes at a hotel, attracted more than a million viewers on Sina
Weibo, which is akin to Twitter in China.
In a WeChat statement on Saturday, WBA claimed
the guests were actually members of a pyramid scheme called
“Wuxingbi,” whose members shave their heads.
It said the party had nothing to do with WBA
members and the video’s uploaders only used their name to garner
clicks.
The association added that it has already
instructed lawyers to demand the platforms take the video down,
apologise and compensate them, state-run Global Times
reported.
WBA lawyer Wei Haisheng said in Sunday the
association had reported the case to the public security
bureau.
According to a 2013 judicial interpretation
that defines what constitutes “fabricating facts to slander others”
online, and what could be regarded as “serious” violations,
citizens can be charged with defamation if their rumours are viewed
by more than 5,000 netizens or re-tweeted more than 500
times.
Others also expressed outrage over the video,
with many calling it an insult to the sanctity of Buddhism and
slamming the social platforms for being careless.
“How can these social platform administrators
allow such videos to go online without even scrutinising their
reliability?” a Weibo user wrote.
Wei said Buddhism is a peaceful and tolerant
religion, and considers litigation a last resort.
However, more and more cases have blackened
the name of Buddhism in recent years, he said, adding, “It’s time
for us to take actions to defend the reputation of
Buddhism.”
In 2016, WBA had slammed rumours claiming that
temples on Wutai Mountain were hiring monks with a monthly salary
of 8,000 yuan.