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by Yu Sen-lun,
Taipei Times
September 21, 1999
TEMPLE POLITICS:
Although four colleagues have denied her claims, Miaowen has pressed
charges.
Four nuns from
Taichung yesterday denied they had ever been sexually assaulted at a
Buddhist temple in Taichung, despite earlier allegations by another nun
that all the nuns at the temple had been sexually assaulted by two monks
over a period of 12 years.
Their claims,
however, did little to stop Miaowen, who made the original accusations
three days ago, from claiming that she had evidence that the four nuns --
including her teacher Hailiang -- were victimized by two monks, Juhsu and
Chenhua.
As the case garners
headlines and TV video segments around the island, religious scholars have
said that while the truth of the charges is for the courts to decide, the
scandal reflects the problem of gender hierarchy and mixed-gender lodgings
in Taiwan's temple culture.
Meanwhile, several
female Buddhist masters are offering help and counseling for nuns
suffering the psychological effects of sexual assaults.
Last week, Miaowen
filed a rape charge against her masters, 70-year-old Juhsu and 78-year-old
Chenhua, accusing them of sexually assaulting her over the past 12 years.
Although the two men immediately denied the accusation, Miaowen remains
steadfast in her quest for justice, claiming there are other victims who
have yet to come forward.
Yesterday, more than
20 nuns came to Taipei from Hukuo temple in Taichung to deny that any of
them had ever been subjected to sexual abuse, saying that Miaowen was
guilty of slander.
"None of us were
raped," Miaowen's teacher Hailiang, 60, said. While she said that the
purpose of their action was not to defend Juhsu and Chenghua, she noted
that they just wanted to show that there were not involved.
Another nun, Haiyin,
said she had followed Juhsu and Chenghua for 30 years and that it was
"totally impossible for me to have been victimized by them."
As Miaowen's
teacher, Hailiang said she felt sorry that Miaowen had gone public with
her charges, adding: "I apologize for not guiding her along the right
path."
Sakya Chao Fei, a
woman from the ROC Buddhist Temple Association, used stronger language.
"I'm a Buddhist
feminist and I want to hear from anyone who has concerns about
discrimination against female Buddhists. But I cannot tolerate Miaowen
acting as a vulnerable woman, allowing her dirty words to play in the
media every day," she said. "She's even used these words to hurt other
nuns and Buddhism itself."
However, Chao Fei
did admit that there might be some "rotten apples in the barrel," adding
that she had just received a complaint from a nun who claimed she had been
sexually assaulted by a monk.
"But this nun later
indulged in lasciviousness and found it in her heart to forgive the monk.
I just worry that this monk might attack other nuns," she said.
According to a rough
estimate by Buddhist professor Chiang Tsan-teng, around 60 percent of
temples in Taiwan offer mixed-gender lodgings. This, according to Chiang,
is a major factor in the sex scandal.
He said men and
women should pray and practice meditation in separate temples, according
to Buddhist discipline. Unlike in countries such as China, India, Japan
and Tibet, where separate temples are standard, Taiwan does things
differently.
"In Buddhism, there
is a tradition of male-dominance, which puts nuns at a disadvantage in
Taiwan's temples," he said.
Chiang also said
that increasing numbers of young women have been converting to Buddhism
recently at a young age, which might encounter some problems.
He said that some of
the women converted without a lot of thought.
"Some of them want
to join a temple to escape from the frustrations of life, and some do so
because of peer pressure," he said. "So it is very possible that these
women were not given enough knowledge to protect themselves and became
more sexually vulnerable than non-religious people."
Chao Fei denied
there was any male chauvinism in Taiwan's Buddhist culture. "Buddhism
emphasizes that all living beings are equal," she said, adding that Taiwan
has the world's highest proportion of female Buddhist masters.
As the owner of an
all-female Buddhist school in Taipei, the Vihara of Universal Vows, Chao
Fei said the school is planning to offer counseling for nuns who have been
sexually assaulted, and that legal and medical aid will be provided.
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