Vietnam orders halt to ‘bad karma’ swindle
HANOI — Vietnamese authorities have ordered monks at a popular Buddhist pagoda to stop “soul summoning” and “bad karma eviction” ceremonies after an investigation found the rituals were a swindle.
Tens of thousands of worshipers have been paying the 18th century Ba Vang pagoda in northern Quang Ninh province between 1 million and several hundred million dong ($45-$13,500) to have their bad karma vanquished, according to the state-run Lao Dong (Labor) newspaper.
The Committee for Religious Affairs, a government body, issued a statement on its website saying “the ritual goes against Buddhist philosophy and violates Vietnam’s law on religion and folk beliefs.”
“It has a negative impact on social order and security,” it added.
Calls to the pagoda were not answered.
Monks at the pagoda teach that all illnesses and misfortune result from bad deeds in previous lives. Three times a month, they hold a two-day ceremony to “summon wandering souls” and “remove bad karma,” demanding donations, supposedly representing good deeds, to help cure bad karma and make up for supposed bad deeds in previous lives.
Such rituals have been going on for years, but the practice has drawn unfavorable attention as the amounts demanded by the monks soared to the point where they began taking payments by bank transfers and by installments.
Public outrage flared when an inspirational speaker associated with the pagoda blamed a victim for being gang raped, saying she had committed evil acts in a past life in comments posted on the pagoda’s website and on social media. The 20-year-old college student was taken hostage and raped by five men for two days before she was killed on the eve of the Feb. 5 Lunar New Year.
“The teaching was hurtful and disrespectful to the soul...