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April 9, 2012

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Drinking, womanizing 'monks' held by police

TWO men who caused widespread public outrage by cavorting with women and drinking alcohol while posing as monks were arrested at a Beijing temple over the weekend.

A Buddhist priest, named Xiao Du, alerted police after he saw two men in religious robes taking photographs with two women in the Fayuan Temple on Saturday, while genuine monks were reciting sutras.

Du recognized the pair as bogus monks having seen pictures of them online carrying on with women and swigging alcohol in public, the Legal Evening News reported yesterday.

The pair fled after being spotted and were later found in a toilet changing back into street clothes, the report said.

Quizzed by monks, they could not provide any evidence that they were genuine holy men.

"They refused to answer our questions and couldn't recite any parts of the sutra," said senior monk Ming Xin.

Monks blocked the exit of the toilet until police arrived.

Police in Xicheng District of Beijing did not release the names of the men nor details of their activities, the report said.

Many Buddhist worshippers were outraged by earlier reports of the activities of the bogus monks. The pair had been photographed drinking alcohol with two young women in a subway train several days ago.

They were also seen hugging women in the lobby of a luxury hotel.

"It's so disgusting," said a web user on the Sina Weibo microblogging site. "They have dishonored Buddha."

Ming Xin said Buddhist priests would never behave in such a manner. "We must be vigilant and inform police when such things occur," he added.




 

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