纽约时报英文版8月5日发文《Buddhist Sect Leader Detained During Raid》。

原文链接：

http://sinosphere.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/08/05/buddhist-sect-leader-detained-during-raid/?_php=true&_type=blogs&module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Ar%2C%7B"2"%3A"RI%3A18"%7D&_r=0

原文如下：

Buddhist Sect Leader Detained During Raid

By BECKY DAVIS AUGUST 5, 2014 4:13 AM

The authorities in the southern province of Guangdong have moved against a Buddhist sect whose spiritual leader has cultivated a growing cadre of followers both inside China and abroad.

Wu Zeheng, a Buddhist master who has long been at odds with the government, was taken into police custody last week after the police staged a coordinated raid on a number of businesses and living compounds run by his group, Huazang Dharma.

Nearly 50 people, 20 of them children, were detained during the raids, according to the group’s followers. While the majority have been released in recent days, Mr. Wu and 18 others are still being held at various detention centers around the coastal city of Zhuhai.

The crackdown on Huazang Dharma comes at a time of increasing pressure on organized religious activity outside the government bodies that regulate much of the nation’s religious life. Buddhism is one of the five officially sanctioned religions of China — the others being Taoism, Islam, Protestantism and Catholicism — but the Communist Party requires spiritual leaders to operate under the auspices of its “patriotic” Buddhist association.

Last week, the American State Department, as it has since 1999, listed China as a “Country of Particular Concern” in itsannual report on international religious freedom.

The current detention of Mr. Wu is not his first run-in with the Chinese authorities. In 2000, he was convicted of financial crimes, including “illegally operating a business,” and sentenced to 11 years in jail, according to the Huazang Center website. His followers say the arrest was retribution for an open letter he wrote to Chinese leaders calling for democracy and greater government transparency.

Although Mr. Wu has largely refrained from advocating political change since his release in 2010, his disciples say the Chinese government has taken notice of his growing popularity. In the last four years, Mr. Wu had drawn thousands of followers within China and across the world, largely through videos and writings he and his aides post online. Although the authorities have blocked his blog and microblog platforms in China, Huazang says that events organized by the group in recent years have drawn more than 8,400 participants worldwide.

It was not immediately clear what prompted the raid on the group. The government has not issued any public statements about Huazang Dharma, and those questioned by the police say the authorities did not suggest they thought the group was an illicit cult.

According to its website, the group calls on followers to perform a good deed each day and to fast several days a month and then to donate to charity the money they would have spent on food. The website also speaks of the group’s “commitment to the prosperity of the Chinese nation and world peace.”

Mr. Wu, who is also addressed by followers as His Holiness Vairocana Xing Wu, founded Huazang Dharma in the late 1980s and traces its teachings back to the earliest days of Buddhism. A number of followers believe he possesses healing powers and say the traditional Chinese medicine he prescribes can cure cancer and other diseases.

Nicole Ho, who lives in the United States and who credits Mr. Wu with saving the life of her ailing father, has been a devout follower since 1995. “His ability and level of wisdom is simply different from anyone else,” she said. “With Master Wu, you listen and feel good from head to toe.”

Mr. Wu had been briefly detained twice by the police in recent years, but his followers said the current detentions of him and his followers suggested the authorities were determined to crush the group.

According to several witnesses, the police entered Mr. Wu’s home in Zhuhai on July 29 saying they wanted to examine his residency registration papers and then took him away. A number of followers living in apartments in the same complex were also detained at the same time, including children who were studying meditation and martial arts. Meanwhile, the police in the nearby city of Shenzhen raided two businesses affiliated with Huazang Dharma and the homes of people working there.

One follower who gave her name as Cissy said she was stunned by the way the police handled the incident. She said the police took six children from an apartment in Zhuhai around 11 p.m. and held them at the station house until dawn. The youngest child, she said, was 11. “They asked about personal things, our families, when and why we’d come here,” she said in a telephone interview. “Whatever they ask, you must answer.”

Ms. Ho, who was recently in Beijing to lobby American Embassy officials on Mr. Wu’s behalf, expressed concern for her teacher and those still held in custody. “They won’t physically hurt you, but they’ll try to break you down, change your mind, and make your heart timid, like that of a slave.”

Reached by phone on Monday, officials in the Zhuhai Gongbei Municipal Public Security Bureau declined to comment.

Those who were detained and released said they remained convinced that their group had done nothing wrong.

“Honestly, what I’m most concerned about right now is the state of our society,” Cissy said. “As I was leaving the police station, I asked the policeman, ‘Is it so hard to be a good person in today’s society?’ He didn’t respond.”

译文如下：

佛教教派领袖被查抄拘留

（纽约时报英文版8月5日早4’13’’)

中国南部广东省的政府当局对一个佛教教派及其精神领袖采取了镇压行动，该教派的精神领袖培养了越来越多的遍布海内外的法脉追随者。

吴泽恒，这位佛教大师曾经多年与政府的意见相左，他在上周被警方拘留。在此前，警方对与华藏法门相关人士的企业和住所进行了一次联合性的突然查抄。

根据其追随者的讲述，在查抄行动中拘留了近50人，其中20个是孩子。虽然大部分人已在近日被释放，吴先生连同其他18人仍然被关押在这个海滨城市---珠海---的各个看守所中。

针对华藏法门的镇压发生在一个特定的时期：政府机构管控国家的绝大部分宗教生活，同时，官方系统之外有组织的宗教活动受到的压制越来越大。虽然佛教是中国官方认可的五个宗教之一 ---其余为道教，伊斯兰教，基督新教和天主教 ---但是共产党要求精神领袖们在“爱国的”佛教协会的主持下进行运作。

上周，美国国务院在其关于国际宗教自由的年度报告中，把中国列为自1999年以来“特别关注的国家”。

目前对吴先生的拘留并不是他与中国当局发生的第一次争执。根据华藏中心网站，在2000年，他被以经济罪定罪，包括“非法经营罪”，并判处11年徒刑。他的追随者说，逮捕他是当局报复他写了一封公开信给中国领导人，呼吁民主和加强政府透明度。

自2010年出狱以来,尽管吴先生在很大程度上不再敦促政治改革，他的弟子们说中国政府已经注意到他的人气越来越旺。在过去的四年里，主要通过在互联网上发布的视频和著作，吴先生吸引了中国和世界各地成千上万的追随者。虽然当局封杀了他在中国的博客和微博平台，华藏最近几年组织的活动已经吸引了全世界超过8,400人的参与。

目前尚不清楚是什么原因造成此次的查抄。政府也没有出台有关华藏法门的任何公开声明。那些被警方调查过的人员说，当局并没有表明他们认为该团体是一个非法的邪教组织。

根据华藏的网站，该团体号召追随者们用“日行一善”和每月辟谷几日，把辟谷省下的食物花费用于捐助（“辟谷济善”）。 其网站同时声明，该团体“致力于中华民族的繁荣昌盛和世界和平。”

吴先生，追随者们用法名称之毗卢行武，在20世纪80年代末创办华藏法门，它的教义追溯到最早期的佛教。许多信徒们相信他具备治愈能力，并说他提供的传统中药药方可以治愈癌症和其他疾病。

住在美国的何妮可，提起了吴先生挽救她生病父亲生命的过程，她是自1995年皈依的虔诚信徒。“他的能力和智慧是非同一般人，”她说。“跟随师父，听其法会感到身心的统摄。”

虽然近年来吴先生已被警方短暂拘留过两次，但是他的追随者们说，当前这次的拘留行动表明目前当局下决心要镇压这个团体。

据一些目击者说，7月29日警察进入吴先生在珠海的家，说他们想检查他的户籍文件，然后带走了他。住在同一小区其他公寓的一些追随者们也同时被拘留，包括那些来学习禅坐和武术的孩子们。同时，附近深圳市的警察查抄了华藏法门相关人士的两个公司及其公司员工的住家。

一名叫西茜的追随者说，她被警方处理事件的方式惊呆了。她说，晚上11点左右警方将六个孩子从珠海的公寓带走，并把他们关在派出所一直到天亮。其中最小的孩子，是11岁。。她说：“他们讯问关于个人私事，我们的家庭，何时以及为什么我们会来这里，”她在电话采访中说。“不管他们问什么，你都必须回答。”

何女士，最近代表吴先生到北京会见美国使馆的官员，对于她的老师及那些被关押的朋友表示关注。 “他们一般不会伤害你身体，但他们会摧垮你，改变你的思想，并让你的内心胆怯，最后如同奴隶般。”

周一电话拨通了珠海市拱北公安局，接电话的官员拒绝对此发表评论。

这些被拘留后释放的人说，他们仍然相信，他们的团体没有做错任何事情。

“说实话，我目前最关心的，是我们社会的现状，”西茜说。“当我离开了派出所，我问那个警察，‘在当今社会，做一个好人很难吗？’他没有回应。”

原文截图如下：