Xie Yanyi: An Open Letter to Pastor Wang Lin and the Brothers in Beihai’s Public Security, Procuratorate and Courts

Dear Pastor Wang Lin, as the agent representing you in your appeal and complaint regarding the Beihai Public Security Bureau’s Yincapture Notice No. (2025) 00328, in which you are allegedly suspected of the crimes of illegally using an information network, fraud and illegal business operations, I feel deeply powerless and limited in the face of the wrongful imprisonment of you and the many pastors and believers of Zion Church. Forgive my frankness: as someone who was once a legal idealist, all professional arguments concerning legal procedures, facts, evidence and the application of the law seem so pale and powerless at this moment that they are fundamentally incapable of responding to this case-handling mechanism and logic (knowing full well that there are no facts, knowing full well that there is no legal basis, knowing full well that the procedures violate the law, knowing full well that criminal law belongs to the sphere of public law while the faith-related and fellowship activities of all the co-workers of Zion Church clearly fall within the private sphere, knowing full well the constitutional provisions on freedom of belief, international human-rights conventions and universal civilization, knowing full well that power has overstepped its boundaries, or even deliberately misusing legal provisions and exploiting catch-all offenses to publicly call black white and force them to submit, brazenly defying the whole world and manufacturing wrongful imprisonments without a bottom line).

How many innocent people has the occurrence of this tragedy already imprisoned? How many families have been torn apart and how many people forced to leave their homes? How many children have been left terrified by nightmares? How many elderly people have been left with hopeless anxieties and concerns… At the same time, how many of those involved in handling the case are struggling to live with their consciences? Within and outside the system, how many people deeply lament the decline of the rule of law in the country to this point, and the fact that the legal system has no ability whatsoever to correct or resist the occurrence of wrongful imprisonments? If this tragedy continues, how can those who participate in manufacturing wrongful imprisonments not also be victims? How many people have been kidnapped into it and burdened with historical guilt? By this logic, in the face of the unchecked proliferation of public power and the wanton use of punishment, who can escape unscathed? Who can stand outside it? Here and now, who can still feel safe?

There is nothing new under the sun; what has happened will happen again and again.

Faced with such a cruel reality, I think that, because of the connection of some kind between you, Zion Church and me, apart from bearing witness to the occurrence of a wrongful imprisonment, the only thing I can do is share with you some of the thoughts and insights I have had since becoming involved in this case, attempting to explore the underlying logic behind why wrongful imprisonments (tragedies) occur. This effort is offered as a small expression of my concern for you and for my brothers and sisters, my fellow believers, and as a record of this absurd scene.

In my view, why does a wrongful imprisonment (tragedy) occur in an era and a society? Why do wrongful imprisonments (tragedies) continue to occur? There must be a context, and roots in the ideas, concepts and cognitive logic behind them. Even within the system, the public manufacturing of a wrongful imprisonment presumably requires a certain legality and legitimacy; at the very least, it must appear to be defensible and have some reasonably plausible excuse. Its legality and legitimacy may precisely depend on ideas, concepts and cognitive logic; this is so whether in terms of persuading those who manufacture wrongful imprisonments or of persuading those who suffer them and those who stand by as onlookers.

We cannot determine whether the 109 Zion Church case and the various actions against Christian house churches that have occurred across the country in recent years are purely legal actions or involve some kind of political calculation. But since the advent of modern times, there have been many precedents for politicizing and demonizing missionaries and the normal faith activities of churches, labeling them with claims of Western cultural infiltration, cultural aggression and tools of political subversion manufactured according to conspiracy theories, and replacing specific factual judgments and legal standards with abstract and hollow notions of so-called national security, political importance and nationalism. The Boxer Rebellion came first, and the Cultural Revolution later. The recently released films about catching spies have sparked heated online discussion—not because of the films themselves, but because people still have lingering fears about the ultra-left period. When a society is rife with spy-catching and everyone is endangered, and cruel acts trampling on the rule of law and violating human rights occur frequently, is it merely the misfortune of a few individuals and families? Is the entire country and nation not likewise affected? When everyone is caught in the vortex of mutual harm and internal struggle, who from top to bottom can escape?

If we can fully understand history, we can understand everything happening today. We cannot get around two matters: the Soviet-Russian model and the Sinicization of Christianity. Unless these two matters are explained and understood clearly, all kinds of absurdities, reversals and historical tragedies will remain difficult to avoid!

First: The Soviet-Russian Model and Our Country

By the beginning of the 20th century, the rise, expansion and prosperity of the Western industrial powers had prompted all the later-industrializing nation-states, while envying them, to strive to catch up. Nationalism’s desire to become strong, prosperous and dominant became the powerful voice of the era; at times, national salvation even overshadowed revolution (people inwardly longed for a powerful country and an omnipotent government that could stand among the nations of the world amid great changes). As we all know, for a time the Soviet-Russian model became an object of competition for imitation among later-industrializing countries in Eurasia, Africa and Latin America, including our country. Under the inspiration of a lofty utopian ideal, an omnipotent government that encompassed and omitted nothing, and a highly centralized system that treated everything, including human beings, as a means to achieve a “great ideal utopia”—a new model of society, modern totalitarianism—quietly emerged. After 74 years of rises and falls, only when history receded did people begin to understand that this historical catastrophe could never be defined simply in terms of good and evil, just as the saying goes: “The road to hell is often paved with good intentions.”

As we all know, in 1978, after our country had endured the years of the ultra-left and the Cultural Revolution, generations of elites inside and outside the system, having reflected deeply on the painful experience and working together, finally ended the history of taking class struggle as the guiding principle, personality cults, governing through political movements, “one big and two publics,” hostility toward the West and self-isolation, centralized power and autocracy. Through rectifying the chaos, they gradually restored production and people’s livelihoods, established democracy and the rule of law, and embarked on a path of reform and opening up toward prosperity, strength, the rule of law, civilization and respect for human rights. In essence, reform and opening up meant bidding farewell to and rejecting the Soviet-Russian model. This was undoubtedly a great historic choice! The Soviet-Russian model was rejected not only by our country, but also by the peoples of Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union and the world, and was discarded by history. As various historical archives in Russia and internationally have been made public in recent years, the crimes committed by individual Soviet-Russian groups of ambitious criminals, acting under the banners of revolution and justice against the people and humanity, as well as the various conspiracies and crimes they perpetrated domestically through oppression and internationally, have been exposed. They caused profound disasters to our country and all humanity.

The history of the past century has repeatedly proved that the Soviet-Russian model is against the people, civilization and humanity. Using lies and violence as its means, it practiced autocratic dictatorship in the name of lofty concepts such as revolution, doctrine and the people; destroyed all traditions; regarded universal civilization as an enemy; exhausted all good words while committing every bad deed; and brought endless trauma to the people of its own country and the world. Wherever there is the Soviet-Russian model, there are war, famine, scarcity, internal struggle, conspiracy, killing, corruption, poverty, political movements and all kinds of humanitarian disasters and human tragedies… Wherever there is the Soviet-Russian model, the people there suffer brutal rule and oppression.

Looking back at this history today, why did the Soviet-Russian model arise, and why did it become widespread for a time? Its emergence cannot be explained as merely the choice of a small number of people. It had a historical context, and was based even more on the widespread ideas and cognitive logic of the people. The evil Soviet-Russian model, established through mountains of corpses and seas of blood, poisoned human lives for a century. What lessons does this human calamity hold for us?

First, facts determine the construction of theories and ideologies, rather than theories and ideologies determining facts. From the first day of its establishment, the Soviet-Russian model constructed and imagined grand theories while disregarding facts, driven by utopian fanaticism and rational arrogance.

The Book of Songs says: “Heaven gave birth to the multitudes; there are things and their principles. The people hold to their constant nature and love this excellent virtue.” The sun, moon and stars revolve constantly; the heavenly bodies never cease their movement; spring, summer, autumn and winter alternate; plants turn toward the sun; birds and beasts avoid danger; human beings likewise pursue benefit and avoid loss. All living things possess the instinct to survive… Confucius said: “Food and sex are human nature.” Xunzi said: “When hungry, one desires food; when cold, one desires warmth; when tired, one desires rest; loving benefit and hating harm are things with which human beings are born”… Great leaders are also human beings, and all have the seven emotions and six desires… Natural principles and the facts of human nature cannot be denied.

Second, natural rights determine institutional design, rather than institutional design determining natural rights.

By being born human, people possess natural rights—also known as God-given human rights—that cannot be taken away and from which they cannot be separated even for a moment, such as life, property and freedom. These are innately prescribed and self-evident; this fact can only be discovered and cannot be refuted.

“Heaven says nothing, yet the four seasons move; heaven says nothing, yet all things grow…” Natural law, or the principles of Heaven, has an innate prescriptive nature and is primary. Man-made law is subordinate to natural law and is secondary. Any institutional design, or man-made law, must take recognition of the innate prescriptions of natural rights as its premise.

Since natural rights determine institutional design, we absolutely do not need a state, government or any other organization or institution that stands above all living things—let alone its utopian, idealistic or grand goals… In secular society, there should absolutely be no value that exists prior to the natural rights of human life, freedom and property. It follows that a normal society absolutely does not need an omnipotent government like the Soviet-Russian model, standing above everything and ruling over all. To better protect and realize the individual’s rights to life, freedom and property, people cede part of their private rights to establish a government; what they necessarily demand is a limited, law-based government whose power is locked in a cage and subject to restraints. The state and public power must be positioned to guard their boundaries and act within a list of powers: regarding public power, nothing may be done without legal authorization; regarding private rights, anything not prohibited by law is permitted. For people understand that the greatest danger to humanity is not war, famine, volcanoes, earthquakes, disease or epidemics, but power that is not subject to restraint!

Third, the people have only abstract interests and not the slightest concrete rights.

The Soviet-Russian model was highly skilled at using abstract concepts—such as class, the people, the collective, the state, public ownership, the whole and the nation—to control power and deprive and control the people in order to achieve the objectives of those in power. “All power belongs to the Soviets,” “everything for the people,” “the people are masters of their own affairs”… Faced with these hollow slogans that people have grown accustomed to, one cannot help asking: Who exactly are the people? What is the state? What is a class? Who owns public ownership… As someone asked even before the Soviet-Russian model: If the proletariat seizes power, becomes the ruling class, and controls public power and the means of production, are they still the proletariat in the original sense of “not owning the means of production”? Might the few workers’ representatives who seize power become a new ruling bureaucratic class?

Collective concepts such as the people, class, nation and state, if not founded on the concrete rights of individuals and institutional mechanisms, run the risk of being emptied of meaning and abused, and of being exploited by the personal desires, greed and ambitions of those who actually hold power. Everything in the name of class, everything in the name of public ownership, everything in the name of the state and the people… At such a time, the people have power only on paper, while their actual rights are like the moon reflected in water or flowers seen in a mirror.

The root of the problem lies in the fact that when the relationship between the individual and the whole is unclear, when the abstract and the concrete are not clearly distinguished, and when specific institutional means of realization are lacking (such as freedom of speech and publication, freedom of thought and expression, the right of assembly and association, the right to vote, freedom of the press, local autonomy and other detailed and concrete political rights…), especially when power is not subject to checks and balances (when specific mechanisms and structures of checks and balances are lacking), collective concepts such as class, the people, public ownership, the state and the collective can easily become rhetoric for preserving vested interests. Individual rights and the public interest are held hostage by private desires. Apart from slogans, not only are the concrete rights of each individual impossible to realize through specific institutional mechanisms and avenues; on the contrary, the individual’s life, freedom, property and even thoughts—everything—are subject to strict suppression and control. This keeps every class and society as a whole in an atomized, fragmented state. When all rights are represented and monopolized, and the public will is usurped, all social operations can function only under the comprehensive control of the bureaucratic system and bureaucratic class. The privileged class’s unscrupulous seizure and plunder, stealing the country and robbing the people, becomes normal. A slave society characterized by comprehensive, all-encompassing deprivation, enslavement and oppression reaches an unprecedented extreme. Worse still, to preserve their vested ruling interests, those in power invoke the public will, public interest, the state and the nation, and the collective; advocate a philosophy of struggle; deliberately create contradictions and problems; incite hatred, confrontation, division and populism; launch exclusion and hostility toward outsiders; constantly require enemies and constantly manufacture internal and external enemies; and even do not hesitate to provoke war in order to divert attention and consolidate power, causing the people to adopt a pattern of mutual defense and mutual harm, with everyone living in fear as they respond to various crises.

Fourth, putting the individual first is the starting point and destination of a civilized society.

Public power is transferred and derived from individual rights. The natural rights to life, property and freedom cannot be transferred. On this premise, public power is established in order to better realize and protect the rights above and the well-being derived from them. Thus, the state and society are constructed according to the principle of the social contract: individual rights are the ends, public power is the means, and the latter obeys and serves the former, occupying a secondary position. Human rights are higher than state power.

Fifth, the public will and collectivism of society have no right to stand above the individual, still less to sacrifice individual rights and basic human rights for the sake of achieving the public will. The public will must be lawful, meet the conditions under which the social contract is established, and be subject to boundaries and limitations. The public will must be locked in the cage of institutions. Without individual rights, there can be no public will or public interest; the legitimacy of the state and government would then be built on sand.
Good intentions alone are insufficient for governing, and law alone cannot operate by itself! Merely proclaiming goodness, representing goodness or advertising goodness does not mean that goodness will arrive as promised. Only by recognizing and complying with the fact that each individual’s life has natural rights and that human nature seeks survival and benefit, and by constructing mechanisms and public institutions oriented toward goodness and structures, orders and mechanisms that promote good, suppress evil and realize justice, can we avoid the present situation in which the people have only abstract interests and no concrete rights. The outcome of the system must necessarily achieve the public good: protecting other people’s human rights is protecting one’s own human rights, and violating other people’s rights and interests is violating one’s own rights and interests.
Second: The Issue of the Sinicization of Christianity
As we all know, the Sinicization of Christianity is advocated by the authorities. However, from the standpoint of the mission of Christians and the church, the Sinicization or indigenization of Christianity does not conflict with its mission; on the contrary, it is an inevitable choice for realizing that mission. Of course, this indigenization is not necessarily the same kind of indigenization.
Shenzhou is an ancient name for the land of Huaxia. This land, blessed with outstanding natural beauty and a long cultural heritage, has seen sages follow one another, and its civilization of ritual and music has shone in all directions. Since ancient times, it has carried a civilization system centered on Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, upheld the virtues of giving life and the way of harmony, and traditionally revered the unity of all things and the unity of Heaven and humanity, while maintaining a character of inclusiveness.
The Huaxia people have been a nation that believed in the Mandate of Heaven since ancient times. The Book of Songs says: “Heaven gave birth to the multitudes; there are things and there are principles. The people hold to their constant nature and love this excellent virtue. Heaven gave birth to the multitudes; their mandate is not trustworthy.” The magnificent historical works of the Spring and Autumn Annals, the Book of Documents, the Records of the Grand Historian and the Comprehensive Mirror in Aid of Governance all record events involving the way of Heaven, the human heart, and the response between Heaven and humanity.
The Huaxia people have a long tradition of revering Heaven, fearing the divine and worshiping Shangdi. For example, the “Canon of Shun” in the Book of Documents says: “Thus he performed the appropriate rites to Shangdi, sacrificed reverently to the six honored spirits, made offerings to the mountains and rivers, and extended his worship to the host of spirits.” It records that ancient emperors specially established grand ceremonies to worship Shangdi, regarding him as chief of all the gods. The “Greater Odes” of the Book of Songs says: “This King Wen was reverent and careful, brightly serving Shangdi; majestic is Shangdi, looking down with awe, observing the four quarters.” The Book of Documents says: “Shangdi is not partial; he assists only the virtuous. The human heart is precarious, the way of the heart is subtle; be discriminating and single-minded, sincerely hold fast to the Mean!” The Book of Rites says: “The rites of the suburban sacrifices are the means of serving Shangdi.” The objects worshiped at the Temple of Heaven by successive dynasties were precisely Haotian Shangdi…
God has never left this land or its people. It is human separation and attachment that have divided people from God and separated people from one another.
“Everything declares and proclaims God’s word” (Psalm 19:1–4). Jehovah said: “Can anyone hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? … Do I not fill heaven and earth?” Heaven, earth and all things are filled by God; His testimony is spread everywhere. (Jeremiah 23:24)
Where can I go to escape your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence? If I rise to the heavens, you are there; if I make my bed in the depths, you are there… Your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast (Psalm 139:7–10). The Gospel of Matthew says: The sun rises on the good and the evil; rain falls on the righteous and the unrighteous.
Confucius said: “The Way is not far from people; if a person pursues the Way while distancing himself from people, he cannot be said to be following the Way.”
As we all know, the three teachings of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, especially Confucianism, believe in the way of Heaven, the principles of Heaven and the will of Heaven, take the Mandate of Heaven as their responsibility, and uphold the standpoint and ideal of unity between Heaven and humanity, regarding all people as brothers and all things as companions, and the great unity of all under Heaven. At one time, Confucianism used Heaven in place of a personal God, connected Heaven with the mind, nature and virtue, and advocated benevolence as the unity of all things. The Duke of Zhou said: “Match virtue with Heaven; make virtue illustrious and be cautious in punishment.” The Book of Documents says: “August Heaven has no favoritism; it assists only virtue. The human heart is precarious, the way of the heart is subtle; be discriminating and single-minded, sincerely hold fast to the Mean!” The Analects says: “One who has offended against Heaven has none to whom he can pray.” The Doctrine of the Mean says: “What Heaven confers is called human nature; following our nature is called the Way… The Way cannot be left for an instant; if it could be left, it would not be the Way. Therefore the superior person is watchful over himself when he is alone, and apprehensive when he hears nothing. Nothing is more visible than what is hidden, nothing more manifest than what is minute; therefore the superior person is watchful over himself when alone. Thus, great virtue is sure to receive its proper position… receiving his allotment from Heaven, protected and appointed by Heaven, and having it confirmed by Heaven. Thus the person of great virtue necessarily receives the Mandate… Sincerity is the Way of Heaven; making oneself sincere is the way of humanity. Sincerity is clarity; clarity is sincerity. Only the utmost sincerity under Heaven can fully develop one’s nature… then one may form a triad with Heaven and Earth.” … The Great Learning says: “Make the mind correct and the thoughts sincere; from the Son of Heaven down to the common people, all must regard self-cultivation as the foundation. The way of the Great Learning lies in manifesting illustrious virtue…” Mencius said: “He who has fully developed his heart knows his nature; knowing his nature, he knows Heaven. Preserving his heart and nurturing his nature is the way to serve Heaven. All things are complete in me; when I turn inward and make myself sincere, there is nothing greater. The way of learning is no other than seeking the lost mind”… Turning from seeking the law outside the mind toward inner sagehood and outer kingship, toward cultivating the mind within and using the method of the mind to restrain oneself: this has been the way sages and gentlemen in this land have conducted themselves since ancient times. In fact, the Bible and the teachings of Jesus also contain the meaning of inner cultivation and the method of the mind, requiring constant inward reflection. The scriptures provide evidence:
1. Matthew 5:27–28
You have heard that it was said, “You shall not commit adultery.” But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
2. Matthew 7:3–5
Why do you look at the speck in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, “Let me take the speck out of your eye,” when there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite! First take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
3. Matthew 15:18–19
But the things that come out of a person’s mouth come from the heart, and these defile them. For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony and slander.
4. Luke 11:39–41
Then the Lord said to him: “Now then, you Pharisees clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside you are full of greed and wickedness. You foolish people! Did not the one who made the outside make the inside also? But now as for what is inside you—be generous to the poor, and everything will be clean for you.”
5. Luke 11:35
Therefore see to it that the light within you is not darkness.
6. John 14:23
Jesus replied: “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.”
7. 1 John 4:16
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.
8. 2 Corinthians 13:5
Examine yourselves to see whether you are in the faith; test yourselves. Do you not realize that Christ Jesus is in you—unless, of course, you fail the test?
9. Psalm 139:23–24
Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.
10. Matthew 7:21
Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.
In the pursuit of truth, the fullness of life or eternal life, enlightened ones, prophets, sages and messengers have, in different regions, among different peoples and in different eras, separately put forward their own claims about the true nature of life and the universe. Their successors, in order to spread the truth and save all living beings, established different religions. Several points of consensus that can be identified among the major religions are: first, the existence of God; second, that life and death are illusory appearances; third, unity without duality—that all things are one and the universe is of one mind; and fourth, karmic retribution…
These views are not difficult to derive from Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism. For example, unity without duality, or the nondual Dharma gate: Buddhism speaks of the absence of difference among mind, Buddha and sentient beings; there is no Dharma outside the mind and no mind outside the Dharma; mind itself is Buddha. For example, “There is only one road back to the source, but many expedient gateways” (Shurangama Sutra). The Tao Te Ching says: “Therefore, always without desire, one observes its wondrousness; always with desire, one observes its manifestations. These two arise together but differ in name.” Confucianism says: “Benevolence is the unity of all things; the Way cannot be left for an instant; what can be left is not the Way” (Doctrine of the Mean). Zen Buddhism says: “The moment a thought arises, one has gone astray”… because the essence of mind is one.
Christianity is the same. The name of God, Jehovah or Yahweh, according to the Hebrew meaning, is “I am,” meaning “self-existent and eternal.” The Bible says: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God.” The Lord Jesus said: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me”… The Lord Jesus said: “Love your enemies”… because there is originally no duality. God cannot be described; the Holy Father, Holy Son and Holy Spirit are three persons in one. What could not be within this unity? God is in the world; God is the world itself. God is everywhere, and is both present and absent from no place.
The Lord Jesus Christ said: “I am in the Father and the Father is in me; all living beings are in me and I am in all living beings”… the Gospel of John. Many passages in the Old and New Testaments record that God is with me and the Lord is with me. God is love; whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him (1 John 4:16). This may be a religious expression similar to the unity of Heaven and humanity, benevolence as the unity of all things, and the nondual Dharma gate in Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism.
Do you not know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst? The life of a believer is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit; He remains within people. (1 Corinthians 3:16)
The Pharisees asked: “When will the kingdom of God come?” Jesus replied: “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.” The Gospel of Luke
This is perhaps similar to what Lu Xiangshan, a great Confucian of the Southern Song, and Wang Yangming, the great synthesizer of the learning of the mind in the Ming dynasty, expressed: “My mind is the universe, and the universe is my mind. The mind is principle; extend innate knowledge; innate knowledge and the principles of Heaven are nondual; benevolence is the unity of all things.”
The Confucian, Buddhist and Taoist response between Heaven and humanity and interaction between response and the Way, which transcend experience and reason, may have something in common with the Christian filling of the Holy Spirit.
God is revealed not only in all things but also among the Gentiles, as the scriptures testify:
Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law. They show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness. (Romans 2:14–15)
Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy. (Acts 14:17)
The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything. Rather, he himself gives everyone life and breath and everything else. (Acts 17:24–25)
May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face shine on us—so that your ways may be known on earth, your salvation among all nations. (Psalm 67:1–2)
The Avatamsaka Sutra, the Mahavaipulya Mahasamnipata Sutra, the Manjushri Treasury Dharani Sutra and the Buddha’s Abhiseka Sutra all contain prophecies and records that in the land of Zhendan (ancient China), there would be the atmosphere of Mahayana Buddhism, that its people had planted good roots in previous lives, and that when the conditions for transmitting the Dharma were complete, Buddhism would be propagated in China. For this reason, Buddhism entered the Han lands more than 2,000 years ago, during the Eastern Han period. When Buddhism first arrived, it took root by combining with Confucian and Taoist culture. During the Northern and Southern Dynasties, Bodhidharma, the first patriarch of Zen, came from the West; from then on, Zen was propagated in China and reached its height during the Tang and Song periods. The successful propagation of Buddhism in China is worthy of consideration by Christianity. When Buddhism entered Huaxia, it used Confucianism and Taoism as its foundation, drawing Confucianism and Taoism into Buddhism, bringing the three teachings into communication, integrating the three teachings, following sentient beings, and using skillful means. It was effectively expounded and, by combining with local culture, gave rise to Chinese Buddhism, namely Zen, bringing comfort and liberation to countless lives. By contrast, although Christianity entered China in the Tang dynasty under the name Jingjiao, it has traveled an exceptionally difficult path to this day.
Because God cannot be described, from ancient times to the present, prophets and messengers in every region, era and ethnic group of humanity have understood and proclaimed God’s will according to their own cultures, histories and languages. Some have emphasized a personal God, while others have emphasized a God of nature, a God of principle or a God of will…
From the day monotheism emerged, it has continuously evolved. The Egyptian sun god and Zoroastrianism were early forms of monotheism; Judaism became the first mature monotheistic religion. After the birth of Jesus Christ and the spreading of the Gospel by his disciples, because Judaism held differing positions on the Messiah and preaching to the Gentiles, Christianity became a universal monotheistic religion in the true sense. People have understood and recognized doctrine differently, and Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy and Protestantism subsequently emerged in different places and periods… The Islamic prophet Muhammad founded Islam among the Arab people. Within monotheism there are different testimonies, expositions and expressions.
Even though there are differences in doctrine and core doctrine, Christianity and Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism still share much common ground at the levels of transcendent existence, reverence, the sacred, and universal ethical virtues such as benevolence, forgiveness, integrity, justice and harmony.

The classics of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism and the Christian Bible not only do not conflict with or contradict one another; they may also provide good mutual confirmation. The classics of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism may be filled with God’s revelation, God’s message and news of salvation, while enlightenment, liberation, fulfillment and compassion may likewise be found in the Bible. The Diamond Sutra says: “All conditioned phenomena are like dreams, illusions, bubbles and shadows; like a dewdrop or a flash of lightning. Thus should you view them.” The Lotus Sutra says: “To whatever form a being may be saved, in that form he appears and teaches the Dharma.” The salvation of God and Buddha is inconceivable!

Jehovah said: “My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8–9)

The secret things belong to Jehovah our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law. (Deuteronomy 29:29)

Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! “Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” (Romans 11:33–34)

Conclusion: Chinese traditional culture, modern universal civilization and Christian faith are compatible and mutually adaptable; the Gospel for all humanity will ultimately arrive.

Confucianism’s principles of Heaven, Taoism’s Great Way and Buddhism’s true suchness and Buddha-nature all point to the ultimate reality that encompasses and governs all things. This provides a metaphysical basis for dialogue with the supreme source sought by Christianity. Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism tend toward immanent transcendence, advocating cultivation in the world to reach unity between Heaven and humanity; Christianity teaches justification by faith, placing trust in God and the Lord Jesus Christ to obtain the hope of eternal life in the world beyond. The paths are different, yet both respond to humanity’s common questions about eternal destiny and the meaning of life. They can complement one another at the level of spiritual settlement. The immanent-transcendent character of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, and their position of cultivating the mind, following the Way, helping the world and saving and enlightening all living beings, also provide intellectual soil for Christianity to take root and grow.

Christianity is a religion of love, a religion of universal civilization, and even more a religious faith that calls people to cast aside separation and become one in love. From the first day of its birth, Christianity has transcended politics, ethnicity, nationality, class and culture… “Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate” (Mark 10:9). “There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28).

Christianity was also the first advocate of the separation of church and state: “Give back to God what is God’s, and to Caesar what is Caesar’s.” Its mission is to redeem souls and has nothing to do with worldly authority. The Lord Jesus Christ once warned his disciples: “What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, yet forfeit their soul?” Christianity shows compassion to the unfortunate and assists widows, orphans, the lonely, the disabled and the weak, spreading the benevolence and compassion of God and the Lord Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth. Since modern times, Christian churches in our country and around the world have established countless schools, hospitals and welfare institutions and undertaken various charitable endeavors. Christians follow the teachings of the Lord Jesus, remaining humble, loving mercy and acting justly! From ancient times to the present, they have saved and purified countless lives and souls. It can be said that without Christianity there would be no world of love.

Chinese civilization, with Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism as its cultural foundation, is readily compatible with the modern institutional civilization of constitutional democracy, the rule of law and human rights, and is also readily compatible with the civilization of faith in the Christian God. Unfortunately, over the past century, the Soviet-Russian model interrupted the process by which the Chinese people embraced modern civilization and welcomed the Gospel of the Christian God. The decline of morality and justice in our people and country, and the loss of distinction between good and evil, began with the Soviet-Russian model; the prevalence of material desire and the collapse of morality began with the Soviet-Russian model; the abandonment of ethics and the slaughter of kin began with the Soviet-Russian model; disregard for living beings and the wanton infliction of harm began with the Soviet-Russian model; disbelief in cause and effect and persistence in wrongdoing began with the Soviet-Russian model; shamelessness and treachery being treated as virtues began with the Soviet-Russian model; the powerful committing violence and preying on the common people began with the Soviet-Russian model; disrespect for the divine and widespread deceit began with the Soviet-Russian model…

Since the advent of modern times, during the early development of Western commercial and industrial civilization, there was indeed a period of survival of the fittest, colonial expansion backed by strong ships and powerful guns. But that was only a historical stage. After two world wars, as modern commercial and industrial civilization matured, Western countries and civilized societies had long since discovered that, rather than relying on occupying land and colonial wars, they could better realize the immediate interests and long-term well-being of their countries and peoples by relying on advanced science and technology, commerce and industry, institutional civilization, free trade, and division of labor and cooperation. This also accords with the values of universal civilization.

If, in the early 20th century, under the pressure of imperialist aggression and national peril, China’s demand for national salvation and survival temporarily overwhelmed social transformation and intellectual enlightenment, causing China, in seeking a way forward, to fail to hold fast to its own traditional inner cultivation, lose the restraint of the mind, and be seized and carried away by the Soviet-Russian model, taking the wrong path of seeking the law outside the mind, then here and now our Chinese sons and daughters should take this as a lesson, return to tradition, embrace modern institutional civilization, and undertake the mission belonging to this era through the truth, love and responsibility manifested by the Christian faith. The true great awakening of this land will certainly be a profound process of renewal of human nature, reconstruction of morality and return of divinity.

Trust in truth and diligently follow the righteous path. May the land of China renew itself through awakening and move forward in hope; may every life find freedom in truth and peace in love; may justice surge like a mighty river, may truth shine like the sun and moon, may the human heart turn toward goodness, and may darkness ultimately be overcome by light!

A Hymn to China’s Emergence and Revival Through Tribulation

Heaven and earth, dark and light; the Great Way shines resplendently. The sun and moon trace their courses; it has shone brightly through the ages.

The universe is vast; the mountains and rivers are boundless. The nine regions of Huaxia; its cultural heritage is long and enduring.

Our ancestors revered Heaven and cultivated virtue and character. The Poetry and the Classics, rites and music, educated and transformed all under Heaven.

Yao and Shun set examples; Zhou and Confucius established the guiding principles. Laozi and Zhuangzi upheld the Way; compassion has passed down its fragrance.

Confucianism inherited the principles of Heaven; Taoism followed nature. Buddhism transmitted awakening and wisdom; its vessel of compassion has no bounds.

All rivers return to the sea; the myriad teachings share one source. Chinese civilization, with profound virtue, bears up Heaven.

A hundred years of wind and rain; the mountains and rivers endured tribulation. The world’s path was difficult; the common people were covered in snow.

Saving the nation and preserving its existence; seeking a way to strengthen the country. The road was tortuous; by examining the past we understand the present.

History as a mirror; the Great Way is clear. Righteousness does not perish; the torch is passed on.

May justice be like a river, surging through the human world.

May truth be like the sun, illuminating the universe.

May benevolence fall like rain, nourishing all living beings.

May compassion come into the world and comfort all souls.

May those who wield power know reverence and uphold the law and justice.

May life be respected and freedom protected.

The state is established by the people; power endures through righteousness.

Civilization takes virtue as its foundation; a flourishing age takes love as its soul.

China’s rejuvenation does not lie in force.

It does not lie in striving for victory, nor in sharpness.

It lies only in the awakening of the human heart and the return of virtue’s radiance.

We inherit the wisdom of the sages and receive the light of civilization.

We preserve the roots of the East and follow the Great Way under Heaven.

With truth as our lamp and benevolence as our vessel.

May the sons and daughters of China revere Heaven and illuminate virtue.

Uphold what is right, practice justice, aid the world and bring peace to the nation.

At last the mountains and rivers will see the sun; the Great Way will surely shine again.

China, tempered by tribulation, will ultimately revive and flourish.

Heaven and earth in harmony; all nations at peace and in good health.

May the Great Way be followed forever; may this Way prosper forever.

I respectfully offer this hymn to the land of China, and to all who, despite suffering, continue to await the truth, hold fast to their consciences and seek the light.

Xie Yanyi
July 8, 2026