Text | Qi Qin
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In the puritanical world of Buddhism, the life of a nun is often unrelated to worldly luxury, but in Hong Kong, a 15-year nun, Sha Chi Ding, has broken this traditional image, and her story is not only a farce in Buddhism, but also a tragedy of greed and hypocrisy.
Her past, from a poor rural girl to the owner of a mansion in Hong Kong, was full of dramatic transformations, and eventually, her extravagant life was revealed, bringing her Buddhist career to a humiliating end.
How did a once considered devout Buddhist disciple become a "wealthy nun" who spendthrift and embezzled money? What's the secret behind this? What kind of ups and downs has this Shi Zhiding experienced?
From rural girls to Hong Kong mansions
Shi Zhiding, formerly known as Shi Aiwen, was born in 1967 in a small village in Jilin Province in northeast China.
In 1993, at the age of 26, Shi Aiwen made a bold decision: to leave her hometown and go to Hong Kong in search of a better life. When she first arrived in Hong Kong, she faced various pressures to survive.
Her ambition and perseverance set her apart from ordinary working girls, and in order to gain a foothold in Hong Kong as soon as possible, she chose to marry a truck driver, even though the driver already had a family.
In order to win this marriage, she did not hesitate to use various means, and finally succeeded in getting the driver to divorce her original partner, and successfully obtained permanent residency in Hong Kong. Her journey to Hong Kong has thus entered a new chapter.
With the acquisition of Hong Kong status, Shi Aiwen was not in a hurry to live the comfortable life of an ordinary rich wife, on the contrary, she chose to become a monk and practice, and in 2002, she was officially ordained at Po Lin Monastery in Hong Kong, with the Dharma name Shi Zhiding.
At this time, she had changed her name to Long Enlai, and seemed to be ready to get rid of the worldly distractions through the practice of Buddhism and embark on the path of devout Buddhism.
With her brilliant mind and shrewd skills, she quickly rose to prominence in the temple, gradually gaining the trust of the temple's top brass and being introduced to Hong Kong's Ding Hui Temple, which, despite its small size, is thriving with incense and donations from devotees.
In 2005, Shi Zhiding successfully became the abbot of Dinghui Temple, officially grasped the actual control of the temple, her position was stable, power was gradually concentrated in her hands, and all the operations of the temple were completely under her control.
The transition from a nun to a life of luxury
The story of Shi Zhiding is like a drama of ups and downs, and after becoming the abbot of Dinghui Monastery, her lifestyle became more and more extravagant, away from the puritan precepts of Buddhism, and her bedroom was filled with luxuries, even wigs and sexy lingerie.
After she became abbot, the financial power of the temple fell into her hands, and she began to use the money to create a luxurious lifestyle for herself, with nine wardrobes in her bedroom, filled with designer clothes and luxury goods.
Instead of shaving her hair like other nuns, she kept her hair and used wigs in private to change her look, and she even had high-end skincare products from France, which contrasted with the austere image of traditional nuns.
What is even more shocking is that Shi Zhiding's room also contains hair dryers and cosmetics, which should not be present in the life of Buddhist monks, and her monk's robes are different from other nuns, appearing more fashionable and short, not at all like a devout practitioner.
Not only did she live a luxurious life in the temple, she also embezzled the money to buy a mansion in Beverly Hill, Tai Po, Hong Kong, worth HK$39.5 million, which was purchased for her by her apprentice Shi Miaohui in 2012.
Behind Shi Zhiding's extravagant life was the unbridled profligacy of the temple's donations, which she used as her own private treasury to buy all kinds of luxury goods, and her extravagance not only threw the temple's finances into chaos, but also aroused suspicion and dissatisfaction among the believers.
Shi Zhiding's greed is not only reflected in her personal luxury life, but she also defrauds more charity money through various means. She had deliberately disguised the dilapidated condition of the temple and cried poverty to the outside world, successfully defrauding a large number of donations, which were not used for the repair of the temple, but for her personal pleasure.
What's even more outrageous is that Shi Zhiding also orchestrated a "fake donation" scam, in 2009, she embezzled 590,000 Hong Kong dollars of temple funds under the pretext of donating to the "Nanshan Zen Temple" in Jingdezhen, this so-called "Nanshan Zen Temple" did not exist at all, and all the donations flowed into her personal account.
In 2005, Dinghui Temple's deposit was 6.7 million Hong Kong dollars, but in 2014, this money was only 700,000 Hong Kong dollars, and the temple's financial situation deteriorated, and Shi Zhiding's extravagant life became more and more high-profile.
Not only was she financially greedy, but her private life was also full of controversy, and she violated Buddhist precepts twice by marrying a monk, adding another stain to her image.
In 2006, Shi Zhiding married a mainland monk, Liu Jianqiang, and although Liu Jianqiang had become a monk, the two lived as legal husband and wife for some time, and Buddhist precepts strictly prohibit monks from marrying.
Shi Zhiding did not care about these precepts and continued to go his own way, and later, the two divorced, and in 2012, Shi Zhiding married another male teacher who was a mainland monk, and this teacher's legal name was Shi Zhiguang.
Shi Zhiding's claim that both marriages were "sham marriages" and that she was only trying to help mainland monks obtain the right of abode in Hong Kong did not alleviate the suspicion of the outside world, and that her actions not only violated Buddhist precepts, but also raised deep doubts about her credibility.
From glory to depravity
Shi Zhiding's extravagant life and fake marriage eventually attracted the attention of the well-known Hong Kong actress Yung Ching-ching, one of the main donors of the temple, who became suspicious of Shi Zhiding after discovering that the temple's accounts were in disarray.
In order to find out the truth, Weng Jingjing hired a private detective to conduct a long-term follow-up investigation on Shi Zhiding, and after a period of evidence collection, Weng Jingjing mastered a large amount of evidence, exposing a series of evil deeds such as Shi Zhiding's embezzlement of charity funds, extravagant life and illegal marriage with monks.
In October 2015, Shi Zhiding was arrested by the Hong Kong Immigration Department on charges including embezzlement of huge amounts of property and illegal marriage.
Her mansion has been confiscated and her temple has gradually declined due to her downfall, and Shi Zhiding's ending tells us that no matter how shrewd the disguise, it will eventually be exposed, and the abuse of power will eventually come to a due price.
Source: Xinhuanet-2015-10/1513:19 - Hong Kong nuns and two monks fake marriage, live in villas, take luxury cars, and wear black silk