對釋永信的舉報查無實據

The “CEO monk” who turned the kung-fu Shaolin temple into a sprawling commercial empire has been cleared by local officials of allegations that he funnelled money from religious businesses to fund a lavish lifestyle.

當地官員宣告，有關“和尚CEO”使用宗教事業資金支持自己奢靡生活的舉報不成立。這位和尚把以功夫著稱的少林寺變成了一個龐大的商業帝國。

Yellow-robed Abbot Shi Yongxin disappeared for several months in 2015 after he was accused of embezzlement and fathering several children out of wedlock. The allegations created a storm in China, where a religious revival in recent decades has been accompanied by the commercialisation of Buddhist sites.

2015年，在被舉報貪污和結婚生育幾個孩子之後，身着黃色僧衣的釋永信曾消失過幾個月。那次舉報在中國引發了一場風暴。在中國，伴隨最近幾十年宗教復興而來的，是佛教場所的商業化。

Mr Shi had been a high-profile promoter of the 1,500-year-old Buddhist institution on Song mountain, whose monks once created elaborate fighting systems and worked as mercenaries. He created a travelling troupe of performing monks that performs for paying audiences around the world, and travelled to Australia to present a $3.8m cheque for land for a kung-fu theme park, complete with a hotel and golf course.

此前釋永信一直在高調推廣位於嵩山、有1500年曆史的佛教機構少林寺。該寺的僧侶曾創建複雜的格鬥套路，並充當過僱傭軍。釋永信組織了一個僧人巡迴表演團，爲世界各地的觀衆舉行收費表演。他曾訪問澳大利亞，拿出一張380萬美元的支票，爲一個包括酒店和高爾夫球場的功夫主題公園項目購地。

As he travelled the world, he rubbed shoulders with luminaries including Apple’s chief executive Tim Cook, the late South African leader Nelson Mandela, Queen Elizabeth II and Henry Kissinger, while securing a place in China’s rubber-stamp legislature the National People’s Congress, a position generally reserved for business elites. A plan to list Shaolin on the stock market was mooted in 2009.

在訪問世界各地時，他遇見了不少名人，包括蘋果(Apple)首席執行官蒂姆?庫克(Tim Cook)、已故南非領導人納爾遜?曼德拉(Nelson Mandela)、英國女王伊麗莎白二世(Queen Elizabeth II)和亨利?基辛格(Henry Kissinger)。他還是中國的橡皮圖章式立法機構全國人民代表大會(NPC)的代表；這一般是留給商界精英的待遇。2009年曾有讓少林寺上市發行股票的設想。

But his rise was met with suspicion about an apparently indulgent lifestyle after he was gifted a Volkswagen SUV and spotted in an expensive cloak threaded with gold. He went to ground after an anonymous tipster claiming to be a temple monk posted allegations online that the official Buddhist Association said “affected the image and reputation of Chinese Buddhism”.

但是，在被贈予一輛大衆(Volkswagen) SUV車、並被發現身着鑲金線袈裟之後，這種明顯放縱的奢華生活使他的崛起引發了懷疑。在遭到一名自稱爲少林寺和尚的匿名爆料者的網上舉報之後，釋永信開始低調了。官方的中國佛教協會(Buddhist Association of China)表示，“此事關乎少林寺乃至中國佛教的形象和聲譽”。

A government investigation team in the central province of Henan where the facility is located combed through the temple’s accounts and determined that Shi Yongxin’s stakes in companies were being held on behalf of the institution, the Henan Daily reported this week. A fleet of 15 automobiles were registered to the temple rather than Mr Shi, according to one of the investigators.

本週《河南日報》報道稱，少林寺所在的河南省的一個政府調查小組在梳理該寺賬目後確認，釋永信所持公司股份是代表少林寺持有的。一位調查人員表示，15輛汽車登記在少林寺（而不是釋永信本人）的名下。

Several million renminbi donated by one of Mr Shi’s disciples between 2010 and 2012 were used to develop the temple and to support the studies of apprentices, the report said. “In the survey, we did not find the use of shareholdings to obtain dividends or other personal gain, and found no transfers of shares, forged accounts or personal invasion of Shaolin Temple assets,” an investigator said.

調查報告稱，2010年至2012年間，釋永信的一名弟子所給的數百萬元人民幣供養錢，已被用於發展寺廟和支持學徒的學習。“我們在調查中，未發現利用持有股份獲取分紅等個人收益的情況，未發現轉移股份、僞造賬目、個人侵佔少林寺資產問題，”一名調查人員說。

The investigation follows an earlier probe that dismissed Mr Shi’s alleged fathering of two children, but he did not emerge completely unscathed. It found that he was one of several monks who more than a decade ago had profited from selling incense, and that he had illegally held two household registrations.

在此次調查之前，還有過一次更早的調查，否認了釋永信是兩個孩子的父親的舉報，但他也並非完全清白。調查發現，他是10多年前通過賣香獲利的幾名僧人之一，並且他非法持有雙重戶口。

The report added that one of the companies connected to the temple had taken on Rmb4m of debt to fund expanded facilities for visitors, who often expect free food when visiting Buddhist sites. Mr Shi could not be reached for comment.

此次調查報告補充稱，少林寺的關聯公司之一爲擴建遊客設施而負債400萬元人民幣，遊客們經常期望在遊覽佛教景點時獲得免費食物。記者聯繫不上釋永信請其置評。