Ching Hai
Ching Hai, commonly referred to as Suma or Supreme Master Ching Hai, is a British citizen of Vietnamese descent; a humanitarian, philanthropist, and the spiritual leader of the Guanyin Famen or Quan Yin method transnational cybersect. The practice had existed predating the common usage of the internet. Based out of Taiwan, she is estimated to have 2 million followers worldwide.
Ching Hai founded the Loving Hut vegan restaurant chain and vegan Celestial Shop fashion company under Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association.
Life and career
Ching Hai was born to a Vietnamese mother and an ethnic Chinese father, on 12 May 1950 in a small village in the Quảng Ngãi Province in Vietnam. At the age of 18, she moved to England to study and later to France and then Germany, where she worked for the Red Cross. In 1969, she began a relationship with a German scientist. They married, but separated after two years to focus on spiritualism and she moved to India to study different religions. In 1979, she met a Buddhist monk in Germany whom she followed for three years, but his monastery denied entry to women.Ching Hai attempted to buy a copy of the Bhagavad Gita from a bookshop near the Ganges. Despite the shopkeepers' assertions that they did not have a copy, an extensive search revealed one in a sealed box. This led to rumours of her having a third eye circulating by 1982. In 1983, she met a Vietnamese Buddhist monk in Taiwan named Jing-Xing, who ordained her in 1984 as "Thanh Hai", meaning "pure ocean".
According to her official biography, Ching Hai was born to a well-off naturopathic family in Âu Lạc, Hanoi, Vietnam. Though raised as a Roman Catholic, she learned the basics of Buddhism from her grandmother. A Himalayas spiritual teacher showed her a particular meditation method which she named Quan Yin method.
According to Ting Jen-Chieh, assistant research fellow in the Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica, by the early 1990s Ching Hai was at odds with the Buddhist establishment in Taiwan. Rather than submit to their demands, she severed all connections to Buddhist organizations, abandoned the traditional robe, grew out her hair, dressed fashionably, and set out to create her own independent group.
Currently, Ching Hai does not operate under the guise of traditional Buddhism. Her home page calls her "Supreme Master Ching Hai, a renowned humanitarian, artist, and spiritual leader". Her current irreverence for religious traditions in general, have made her more synonymous to a Zen master.
Transpersonal psychologist Timothy Conway writes: "Though Ching Hai can be stern from time to time with her disciples, she often can be seen happily singing simple, romantic folksongs with them for hours at a time. This attractive blend of power and simplicity, virtue and joy, has many people revering Ching Hai as a manifestation of Guan-yin Bodhisattva". Ching Hai calls her meditation method the Guan Yin or Quan Yin method because She gave her first public teachings in Taiwan. Quan Yin is a Chinese term that means "observation of the inner vibration".
Her meditation centres in American cities such as Los Angeles benefit from tax-exempt status as religious organizations. She presides over an organization which owns restaurants and sells her jewellery and clothes.
Corporate operations
Ching Hai is the founder of the Loving Hut restaurant chain, which in 2017 had 200 locations in 35 countries worldwide. The restaurants are run on a franchise basis, with devotees managing each one and most workers belonging to the movement.Her organization's numerous websites are offered in 17 languages. The Celestial Shop "includes a line of Celestial apparel and Celestial jewelry designed by the Master".
Liam D. Murphy, professor of anthropology at California State has stated that "Ching Hai is a textbook example of what social scientists call a charismatic prophet" and that the abuse of power over her own members in Loving Hut is a hypothetical possibility "If anyone is in danger...it is usually their own members". Murphy states that the proper term for her movement is not "cult," but more accurately a new religious movement". The Database of Religious History, states regarding Ching Hai's movement "Does the religious group actively proselytize and recruit new members: No." with subject-matter expert, anthropologist Stephen Christopher commentating "Not really. Of course Ching Hai herself uses 24 hour satellite TV programming to reach out to potential new recruits. It is more often the case that among the Five Precepts the edict of veganism is most actively promoted as lifestyle worth spreading among non-believers". Christopher writes "The debate about the legitimacy of Ching Hai largely plays out through cyber forums from YouTube videos to cult warning websites. Christian missionary groups are particularly interested in debunking Ching Hai even though they may have no direct contact with the organization. These online forums often devolve into misunderstanding and exaggeration and Ching Hai adherents often express hurt and disappointment when they discover such material. Conversely, some adherents have disaffiliated after encountering anti-Ching Hai material".
In 2017, Yahoo.com reported that Chuck McLean, senior research fellow at GuideStar, reviewed the 990s of two of the largest American chapters of the group: Los Angeles, which reports over $1.2 million in assets—more than any other chapter in the US—and San Jose, the parent organization of more than a dozen chapters across the country. "Taking their Forms 990 at face value, it seems unlikely that anyone is enriching themselves financially through these organizations ... I don't know what the associated business interests are about, but it appears that they give almost all of their money to legitimate causes."
International organizations
Ching Hai has founded organizations including the Supreme Master Ching Hai International, World Peace Media, Oceans of Love Entertainment and Supreme Master Television.In late 2008, Ching Hai launched a media campaign in Australia and New Zealand asking people to "Be Green, Go Veg, Save the Planet".
The Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association has made submissions to the Garnaut Climate Change Review, advocating large cuts to livestock production. Hai is in favor of a meat tax.
According to political scientist Patricia Thornton at the University of Oxford, the Ching Hai World Society's heavy reliance on the internet for text distribution, recruitment and information-sharing, marks the group as a transnational cybersect. Thornton claimed that the source of income behind Hai's numerous business ventures is unknown and that much of the media produced by her television programmes is heavily self-referential and promotional and aims to "build a public record of recognition for group activities."
Anthropologist Saskia Abrahms-Kavunenko at Max Weber Center for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies stated that similar to the Ravi Shankar movement, Ching Hai's group generally does not self identify as a religion and are very ecumenical. Abrahms-Kavunenko has also noted that while in the field in Mongolia, Hai's group especially via Supreme Master Television 24 hour broadcast is influencing many Buddhists ideas on meditation and enlightenment, even though they are not sure of the authenticity of her claims.
In Prominent Nuns: Influential Taiwanese Voices, Religious studies Research associate Jennifer Eichman of the Centere of Buddhist Studies at SOAS University of London summarizes: While to some, Ching Hai's movement is considered Buddhist Heresy and to others a New Age religious organization. Accusations of being a Cult group have been made repeatedly over the years, especially in newspaper articles and by cult watchers. Ching Hai's response to this accusation is that participants were free to leave at any time.
In Eichman's own view, as infuriating as Hai's persona, her materialism and unsystematic religious synthesizing is to the Taiwanese Buddhist community and to others who have called her a cult leader, when her Buddhist roots are set aside and her work is compared to that of an ever-changing array of self-made gurus, spiritual guides and newly formed religions that make up the New Age marketplace, it becomes evident that Ching Hai's work is neither the most radical nor innovative. She states that the controversies swirling around Ching Hai should not stop us from noting just how gutsy it was for her to strike out on her own, and with her unusual prominence as a female spiritual leader, Ching Hai in effect demonstrates her ability to compete in a spiritual arena dominated largely by men. And we should be open to the idea that not all female leaders will remain within the religious mainstream.
Humanitarian aid and philanthropy
A 1996 United States Senate Committee on Governmental Affairs report states "Published criticisms of Ching Hai generally fail to credit her organization's good works. Her members reportedly are active in many humanitarian and charitable causes...Ching Hai's greatest humanitarian activity continues to be working for the more than 20,000 Vietnamese refugees still in camps dispersed throughout Southeast Asia." The report also lists humanitarian aid to the victims of: 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines, the Great Flood of 1993 in the United States and the 1995 food shortage crisis in Cambodia. According to a report issued by the Information Centre for Human Rights and Democracy in Hong Kong: Prior to the 1997 Handover of Hong Kong, Hai donated 6 million dollars to Vietnamese refugees and other people who needed help.Upon receiving the Gusi Peace Prize in 2006, Political journalist Fel Maragay wrote in the Manila Standard that while "to her disciples and admirers, she is a messenger from the world of spirituality who has set the directions their lives aright by teaching them "method of enlightenment" through meditation", to the people she provides humanitarian assistance; "she is a good Samaritan who has come to their succor during times of natural calamities. She has always carried out her charitable mission without fanfare in any country hit by major disasters.".
ReliefWeb cites Hai Humanitarian aid to the victims of 1996 Bangladesh tornado, the 2009 Namibia floods, the 2015 European migrant crisis via the Croatian Red Cross and in 2017 to South Sudanese refugees via the Sudanese Red Crescent. Humanitarian aid has also been reported in local news outlets in Florida during Hurricane Ian, 2011 flood victims in Belize 2018 Northern Province floods in Sri Lanka, 2020 COVID-19 support for Ghana Red Cross Society, 2022 Assam floods in India. In Taiwan, Hai has been active in Homeless street outreach. In 2018 Lu Wei-Ching, deputy mayor of New Taipei City stated that "the Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association has always paid attention to the disadvantaged, and usually donates all kinds of clothes and shoes to the homeless.". Hai's website chronologically lists 1663 overall donations and instances of humanitarian aid between the years 1989 to 2018.
Hai has created a series of awards under the Umbrella title "World Shining Awards", "...to recognize some of the most exemplary, generous, caring, and courageous people who walk amongst us and go beyond the call of duty to help others unconditionally". A representative of Hai Association stated to The Washington Post that "An association committee selects individuals and organizations for donations based on their efforts to help others....Hai provides the money for the awards from the proceeds of her businesses, which include jewelry, clothing and vegetarian restaurants".
Award recipients included organizations such as the Department of Environmental Affairs of its efforts to protect Seals, the Iranian Red Crescent Society, for its humanitarian aid to victims of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. and International Animal Rescue Indonesia for its work saving critically endangered orangutans in Borneo, protecting rainforest habitats and encouraging sustainable community development. Or to individuals, such as a young boy from Ohio who bought special harnesses to Police dogs, a lady from India for inventing non violent silk saris.