According to the material, on Feb. 4, the Buddhist monk Shi Jingjue of Guihui Temple in Wuchuan, Zhanjiang, Guangdong, left a letter and jumped from a bridge, dying in the incident. The letter alleged that Chen Jingshou, head of the local religious affairs bureau, and Shi Shengchi, abbot of Guihui Temple, jointly accused him of “fabricating evidence” and forced him to leave. Shi also alleged that at about 8 a.m. on Jan. 31, Shengchi, his cousin Chen Yanjun and others expelled him from the temple and threw out his luggage. The allegations could not be independently verified.
A Jan. 30 notice from Guihui Temple said Shi Jingjue had been removed from the temple for violating Buddhist precepts, then refused to cooperate with registration and forcibly entered the temple. The notice said a Jan. 26 meeting of the local religious affairs bureau and Buddhist association unanimously decided that he could not remain at the temple, which then removed him.