To be honest, when I saw the official news from Shaolin Temple, I felt no waves in my heart; I can at least say that I was not surprised at all.

About ten years ago, when I was in my second or third year of high school, the Chinese teacher somehow got onto the topic of monks during class. I certainly can't remember the teacher's exact words, but the main idea was to warn us not to underestimate the monks near the school, and not to say things like "if I fail the college entrance examination, I will run to the temple to become a monk." Because these monks have high academic qualifications (they must have master's or doctoral degrees), and their income is also quite high.
I don't know which male classmate made a joke like, "But once you become a monk, you can’t eat meat or drink alcohol, and you can’t get married either," which made the whole class laugh. The Chinese teacher also laughed and then said seriously, "Monks today are quite secular; as long as they don’t eat meat or drink alcohol during work hours, it’s fine. And although they shave their heads and have scars from their vows, they can still lead a family life after work. So if any boys in the class want to become monks in the future and are worried about not being able to eat meat or drink alcohol, there’s no need to worry at all. However, they still need to do well in the college entrance examination because the score for Buddhist academies is not low." The whole class laughed again.
There are few male students in the liberal arts class in high school, only eight of us in total, including me. After class, we discussed it in the back of the classroom and all agreed that being a monk is also a good profession.

Ten years have passed, and it is still difficult to judge whether the words of my Chinese teacher back then were entirely correct; I hope more professionals can provide guidance. However, it is also because of this statement from the Chinese teacher that I am not surprised by the news regarding Shi Yongxin having "long-term inappropriate relationships with multiple women and fathering illegitimate children." Moreover, I probably read the part in "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils" about Xuanci when I was in the second year of middle school (though the first X enlightenment scene I encountered was still the part where Duan Yanqing added "additives" to the food of Duan Yu and Mu Wanquing, which was earlier than the segment in "Dream of the Red Chamber" where Jia Baoyu first experiences love), and I have also watched productions like "The Legend of Shaolin Temple" (I vaguely remember that the abbot Huike in the first film left home to cut off his emotional ties). Therefore, I do not find it shocking or unbelievable that an abbot of Shaolin Temple has an illegitimate child (this is not about what should be, but rather what is).

Shi Yongxin "misappropriating project funds and temple assets" is most likely to involve charges such as embezzlement, breach of duty, and corruption, with the specific circumstances to be clarified in subsequent complete reports and judicial documents. As for "maintaining improper relationships with multiple women for a long time and having illegitimate children", this is not only a matter of personal moral decay and violation of industry norms and standards, but may also involve the criminal charge of "bigamy". Although monks cannot register marriages with civil affairs departments and thus cannot constitute legal bigamy, it may constitute de facto bigamy, which means living together publicly as a couple for a long time. Of course, the determination of de facto bigamy requires relatively strict criteria, specifically the "public nature of marital identity", which is why I used the term "may". As for other speculated reasons by my acquaintances, Shaolin Temple has not made an official announcement, so I will wait for subsequent reports to analyze further.
Finally, I will conclude with the chapter titles from "Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils." Although the original phrases refer to characters like the Three Elders of the Soaring Cloud, Ding Chunqiu, Murong Fu, Jiumozhi, and Xuanci, they also fit well when applied to Shi Yongxin: "Unable to resolve, the reins of anger and greed are tied. But I ask, when will the infatuation be severed?"

#释永信 # Shaolin Temple