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【寒冬网】:Life Zen Temple Banned as a Xie Jiao and Raided

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发表于 2021-8-8 23:25:19 | 显示全部楼层 |阅读模式
Life Zen Temple Banned as a Xie Jiao and Raided


The movement promotes a radical “religious Communism,” eliminating in its communes private property and the family, replaced by free love.



by Massimo Introvigne


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An image of the April 28 raid: the police forcibly take an old devotee away from his community. Source: Guizhou Public Security.

On April 28, 2021, starting at 1 a.m., Public Security and agents of the unit specialized in combating xie jiao (i.e., religious movements banned as “heterodox teachings”) started raiding the two communal settlements of Life Zen Temple (生命禅院, Life Chanyuan), located in remote areas of Tongzi county and Anlong county in Guizhou province. By 6:30 a.m., they had taken control of the two premises, where some 100 devotees from 13 different provinces lived. It was a classical raid against a “cult,” hailed by the police as a full success.

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The communes in Tongzi county (above) and Anlong county (below). Source: Guizhou Public Security.

The agents gathered the Life Zen Temple members together, read them a statement that their movement had been banned, and proceeded to take all of them away from the communes to be “deprogrammed.” According to the officers, most of them resisted, and shouted that they preferred to die rather than leaving the community, but none of the devotees resorted to violence. After three months, according to Guizhou Public Security, most of the members have been deprogrammed and entrusted to the care of relatives. Their “reeducation” will continue at home.

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The statement that Life Zen Temple has been banned is read to the devotees. Source: Guizhou Public Security.

This, the Public Security said, is not the end of the Life Zen Temple. They maintain more than 2,000 members, most of them hidden somewhere in China, and their leader is safely living in Canada. The hunt by specialized police to locate the remaining devotees in China continues.
The case of the Life Zen Temple confirms a recent trend about the xie jiao. They are banned by decrees of local authorities at the provincial level, but are then denounced as xie jiao by the China Anti-Xie-Jiao Association, and for all practical purposes become part of the national list of the xie jiao.

The Life Zen Temple has a long and, indeed, extraordinary story. Its founder, Zhang Zifan, known to his followers as Xuefeng, was born on July 17, 1957, in Zhangjia village, Lianhua township, Yongjing county, in northwestern Gansu province. Due to the construction of the Liujiaxia Reservoir, the village no longer exists. Young Zifan and his family were relocated to Hetan Township, Dongxiang Autonomous County, Gansu province. Zifan’s father was a member of the CCP and a staunch Communist, described by the villagers as totally devoted to the Party, where he served in different local leadership positions. Zifan’s mother went to a Buddhist temple, and transmitted an interest in Buddhism to her son.
Zifan went to Dongxiang County No. 3 Middle School, then to Zhangjiakou Geological Technical School of the Ministry of Geology and Mineral Resources, the Lanzhou Institute of Education, the Jiuquan Institute of Education, and the Beijing University of International Business and Economics.

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Zhang Zifan, aka Master Xuefeng. Source: Life Zen Temple.

As was expected from the son of a local CCP bureaucrat, Zifan joined the Party when he turned 18, in 1975. He quickly became the CCP’s branch secretary in his rural production brigade. He taught English, and also worked as an interpreter for CCP local leaders and businesspersons. In this capacity, he was sent to Africa by the Gansu Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources in 1993, and settled in Zimbabwe in 1995.

He liked the country, and decided not to return to China. He obtained a residency permit, and invested his savings in founding and developing a company that owned shops, restaurants and bars in Zimbabwe. He also explored the local Christian churches. Zifan later reported that he had a near-death experience after a car accident on the road between Zimbabwe’s capital Harare and Mutare, during which he “died” as Zhang Zifan and was “reborn” as Master Xuefeng, the prophet for the new era and the same divine spirit who had once incarnated as Lao Tzu, Buddha Sakyamuni, Jesus, and Muhammad. He started writing books and gathering followers, and in 2005 founded the Life Zen Temple (sometimes called in English Life Zen Center) in Zimbabwe.

He remained a Chinese citizen and a member of the CCP. At some stage, he left the Party, but states that “my lifelong belief in the realization of Communism has not changed,” and Marx and Chairman Mao remain among his main references.

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Another picture of Master Xuefeng. Source: Life Zen Temple.

From 2009, he started founding communities in China, which were initially tolerated by the authorities, who found their references to Communism and Chairman Mao reassuring. Tolerance was, however, short-lived. In 2014, the New York Times visited the Life Zen Temple community near Lincang, Yunnan province, spoke with Xuefeng and published a surprisingly favorable account of the group. The Times article also noted that other Life Zen Temple communities had been compelled to shut down, and the Yunnan commune was itself under heavy harassment by the local Public Security.

The Times described the commune as “a Communist experiment” and a “utopian pastoral community” somewhat reminiscent of the Cultural Revolution, with members working hard in the fields and living of the fruits of their own agriculture and poultry farming. But it was more than that. While Xuefeng insists that the Life Zen Temple is not a religion and does not have rituals, believers are supposed to acknowledge that the founder is a divine incarnation and will lead them into the Millennium. Each believer is called a “Zen garden grass,” and is asked to add the word “grass” to his or her name.

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An image of the Millennium. Source: Life Zen Temple.

The Temple believes that a 30-year period of tribulations started in 2018. How this “Cold Winter” will be, and whether it will involve apocalyptic disasters, depends on the attitude of humanity and the Temple itself. What will happen next is presented as hypothetical, but it is possible that Planet Earth will merge with the Millennium, which already exists as a planet located 960 light-years from Earth. It is ten times larger than Planet Earth, and the souls of these deceased that have been saved go there in about sixteen minutes. The Temple denies that (as its opponents maintain) only its members will be saved. In fact, others who live a good and selfless life will also enter the Millennium, which will however welcome no more than 1% of the present Earth population.

The Millennium is also where the perfect “classless society” prophesied by Marx, Lenin, and Chairman Mao is realized. On Earth, however, the Temple’s mission is to establish small replicas of Planet Millennium in the shape of communes that should be “paradises for the working classes,” and where the “Xuefeng-style Communism” is realized. “Communism is the only way to happiness for the working masses, and it is also the only way out for mankind,” Xuefeng teaches. “Xuefeng-style Communism” is, however, different from “historical Communism” as it exists in present-day China. The Temple’s Communism includes a spiritual element, a way to immortality in the Millennium and to “Buddhahood” and enlightenment on Earth. It also criticizes the CCP for “having put Mao’s thought on the shelves” and re-introduced elements of capitalism.

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A somewhat sexualized Millennium. Source: Life Zen Temple.

One important feature of “Xuefeng-style Communism,” which the Temple believes is part of the true essence of Communism, is the elimination of the bourgeois family, replaced by free love and the communal education of children. According to Xuefeng, “The family is the main source of suffering in life. If the family does not dissolve, humankind will not be able to enter a new era full of freedom and happiness.” In the Millennium on Earth (but by now in the Temple’s communes) “the family will disappear, the marriage ceremony will no longer exist, the marriage certificate will become a historical relic, the title of wife and husband will become a sign of ignorance and backwardness, and it will be confined to history museums. The love between men and women will be carried out at will as long as it is consensual.”

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Dancing in Life Zen Temple communes. Source: Life Zen Temple.
This does not mean that sexuality is regarded with suspicion by the Temple. It is in fact celebrated, and the Public Security released pictures of theatrical performances in the Guizhou communes that it believes prove the “immorality” of the group.

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Pictures of theatrical performances seized in the Guizhou communes and released by the police. Source: Guizhou Public Security.

Pure Maoist Communism is already suspicious in China, as it implies a criticism of post-Mao Party leaders, including Xi Jinping, but free love promoted through religious millennialism is certainly not tolerated. In 2017, also in the anticipation of the coming 30 years of troubles, Xuefeng moved to Canada, where he has followers (other Life Zen Temple groups exist in Thailand), and ordered the communities in China to go underground. For how long they can survive there, now that they are mercilessly targeted by the anti-xie-jiao police, is an interesting question.


楼主热帖
 楼主| 发表于 2021-8-9 00:06:25 | 显示全部楼层
“生命禅院”被列为 "邪教 "并被查处
该运动提倡激进的 "宗教共产主义",在其公社中消除了私有财产和家庭,代之以自由的爱。




4月28日突击检查的一个画面:警察强行将一名老信徒带离他的社区(资料来源:贵州省公安厅)



2021年4月28日,从凌晨1点开始,公安和专门打击邪教(即被禁止的 "异端教义 "的宗教运动)的人员开始突袭生命禅院的两个社区,这两个社区位于贵州省桐梓县和安龙县的偏远地区。到早上6点30分,他们已经控制了这两个地方,那里住着来自13个不同省份的大约100名信徒。这是一次针对 "邪教 "的经典突击行动,被警方誉为完全成功。



桐梓县(上)和安龙县(下)的生命禅院聚点(资料来源:贵州省公安厅)



警察们将生命禅寺的成员聚集在一起,向他们宣读了一份他们的运动被禁止的声明,并着手将他们所有人从公社中带走,接受 "再教育"。据官员们说,他们中的大多数人都进行了抵抗,并大喊宁死也不离开社区,但没有一个信徒诉诸于暴力。据贵州省公安厅称,三个月后,大多数成员已经被解除了看管,并被委托给亲属照顾。他们的 "再教育 "将在家里继续进行。


警察向信徒们宣读生命禅寺被取缔的声明(资料来源:贵州省公安厅)



公安部门说,这并不是生命禅院的终点。他们保持着2000多名成员,其中大部分隐藏在中国的某个地方,而他们的领导人则安全地生活在加拿大。专业警察继续追捕在中国的剩余信徒。


生命禅院的案件证实了最近关于“邪教”的一个趋势。它们被省级地方当局的法令所禁止,但随后被中国反邪教协会谴责为“邪教”,并在所有实际情况下成为全国“邪教”名单的一部分。


生命禅院的故事很长,而且确实很特别。它的创始人张自繁,被信徒们称为雪峰,1957年7月17日出生在甘肃省西北部永靖县莲花乡张家村。由于刘家峡水库的建设,该村已不复存在。年轻的子凡和他的家人被迁移到甘肃省东乡族自治县河滩镇。张自繁的父亲是一名中共党员,也是一名坚定的共产党员,村民们说他完全献身于党,在当地担任过不同的领导职务。张自繁的母亲去了一个佛教寺庙,并把对佛教的兴趣传给了儿子。


张自繁在东乡县第三中学上学,然后到地质矿产部张家口地质技术学校、兰州教育学院、酒泉教育学院和北京对外经贸大学学习。


张自繁,又名雪峰大师(资料来源:生命禅院)




正如一个中共地方官员的儿子所期望的那样,张自繁在1975年年满18岁时加入了党。他很快成为中共在农村生产大队的支部书记。他教英语,并为中共地方领导人和商人做翻译。以此身份,他于1993年被甘肃省地质矿产局派往非洲,并于1995年在津巴布韦定居。

他喜欢这个国家,并决定不回中国。他获得了居留证,并将自己的积蓄投入到创办和发展一家在津巴布韦拥有商店、餐馆和酒吧的公司。他还探索了当地的基督教教会。张自繁后来报告说,他在津巴布韦首都哈拉雷和穆塔雷之间的公路上发生车祸后有过一次濒临死亡的经历,在此期间,他作为张子凡 "死亡","重生 "为雪峰大师,新时代的先知,与曾经化身为老子、释迦牟尼佛、耶稣和穆罕默德的神灵一样。他开始写书,收集信徒,并于2005年在津巴布韦建立了生命禅院(有时也称为英文的生命禅中心)。


他仍然是中国公民,是中国共产党党员。在某个阶段,他离开了党,但他表示,"我对实现共产主义的终生信仰没有改变",马克思和毛主席仍然是他的主要参考文献。


雪峰大师的另一张照片(资料来源:生命禅院)



从2009年起,他开始在中国建立社区,这些社区最初得到了当局的容忍,因为当局认为他们提及共产主义和毛主席令人放心。然而,这种宽容是短暂的。2014年,《纽约时报》访问了云南省临沧市附近的生命禅寺社区,与雪峰交谈,并发表了对该团体令人惊讶的有利描述。《泰晤士报》的文章还指出,其他生命禅寺社区已被迫关闭,而云南公社本身也受到当地公安的严重骚扰。


《泰晤士报》将该公社描述为 "共产主义实验 "和 "乌托邦式的田园社区",有点让人想起文化大革命,社员们在田间辛勤劳作,靠自己的农业和家禽养殖的成果生活。但它不仅仅是这样。虽然雪峰坚持认为生命禅寺不是宗教,没有仪式,但信徒们应该承认创始人是神的化身,将带领他们进入千年。每个信徒都被称为 "禅院草",并被要求在他或她的名字中加上 "草 "字。


千禧年的一个图像(资料来源:生命禅院)



禅院认为,一个30年的磨难期从2018年开始。这个 "寒冷的冬天 "将是怎样的,是否会涉及世界末日的灾难,取决于人类和圣殿本身的态度。接下来会发生什么是以假设的方式提出的,但有可能行星地球将与千禧年合并,千禧年已经作为一个行星存在,距离地球960光年。它比地球大十倍,这些被拯救的死者的灵魂在大约16分钟内就会去那里。圣殿否认(如其反对者所坚持的那样)只有其成员会被拯救。事实上,其他过着善良无私生活的人也将进入千禧年,然而这将欢迎不超过目前地球人口的1%。


千禧年也是实现马克思、列宁和毛主席所预言的完美 "无阶级社会 "的地方。然而,在地球上,禅院的任务是建立千年星球的小型副本,其形状是 "工人阶级的天堂",并在那里实现 "雪峰式共产主义"。"共产主义是劳动大众获得幸福的唯一途径,也是人类的唯一出路,"雪峰教导说。然而,"雪峰式的共产主义 "与当今中国的 "历史上的共产主义 "不同。寺庙的共产主义包括一个精神元素,一个在千年中获得不朽的方法,以及在地球上获得 "佛性 "和开悟的方法。它还批评中国共产党 "把毛泽东思想束之高阁",重新引入资本主义元素。


一个有点性爱意味的千年图(来源:生命禅院)



“雪峰式共产主义 "的一个重要特点是消除资产阶级家庭,代之以自由恋爱和儿童的公共教育,该寺院认为这是共产主义真正本质的一部分。雪峰认为,"家庭是生活中痛苦的主要来源。如果家庭不解体,人类将无法进入一个充满自由和幸福的新时代"。在地球上的千年(但现在已经在寺庙的公社里),"家庭将消失,结婚仪式将不再存在,结婚证将成为历史文物,妻子和丈夫的称号将成为愚昧和落后的标志,它将被限制在历史博物馆中。男女之间的爱情,只要是两厢情愿的,就会随意进行"。


在生命禅院公社里跳舞(资料来源:生命禅院)



这并不意味着寺院对性行为持怀疑态度。事实上,它是被赞美的,公安部门发布了贵州公社戏剧表演的照片,它认为这些表演证明了该团体的 "不道德"。


贵州省各乡镇查获的戏剧表演图片,由警方公布



纯粹的毛泽东共产主义在中国已经受到怀疑,因为它意味着对包括习近平在内的后毛泽东党领导人的批评,但通过宗教千年主义促进的自由之爱当然是不能容忍的。2017年,同样是对即将到来的30年麻烦的预期,雪峰搬到了加拿大,他在那里有追随者(泰国还有其他生命禅院团体),并命令中国的社区转入地下。他们能在被反邪教警察无情地盯上的情况下生存多久,是一个有趣的问题。


发表于 2021-9-18 08:23:21 | 显示全部楼层
我觉得,中国也好,国外也好,最想知道或者最想质疑禅院的就是性文化。
有趣,自己在俗世也算是待过一阵子,道貌岸然的男性特别多。
一方面有着婚姻家庭,另一方面又耐不住自己的性冲动,不停地在网上约炮。
我也不想去说什么,在家庭,工作等压力下,真的只有性生活才能让自己感到快乐或者愉悦。
否则脾气会变差,性格也会变得扭曲。
禅院只不过是在游戏中进行了亲密点的动作,也就是将众人以为隐私的情爱活动光明正大化,却遭来这样非议。
只能说,撒旦的确厉害,不像西方耶稣爸爸创造的人类,连A片都比国内的好看和清晰以及认真。
看着西方人的A片,我都觉得是享受。
希望生命禅院在国外发光发热,加油!
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