It is not so much about translating Chinese Buddhist classics. The real purpose is using religion as a tool for Belt and Road’s global propaganda.
by Hao Jianyu
On July 3–5, the government-controlled China Buddhist Association held the “2024 Buddhist English Training Course” at Putuo Temple in Zhuhai, Guangdong, in cooperation with an organization called the Buddhist English Exchange Base. In addition to leaders of the China Buddhist Association, the course was attended by United Front Work Department bureaucrats specialized in controlling religion.
The speeches at the opening of the training course deserve attention. The CCP wants more Buddhist monks, nuns, and lay leaders to learn English. One can believe that the aim is to promote Chinese Buddhist culture internationally and translate more Chinese Buddhist classics into English. This is indeed part of the project, as the Venerable Ming Sheng, Vice President of the Buddhist Association of China and director of the Buddhist English Exchange Base, explained in his speech. However, he said, this is not the only reason the Buddhist English Exchange Base was established in 2020.
To understand its purpose, Ming Sheng said, Chinese Buddhists should look at the progress of the Belt and Road initiative. As Xi Jinping himself repeatedly advocated, all Chinese should be mobilized to tell “the Chinese version of history” to their counterparts in Belt and Road countries and spread Xi Jinping Thought on Chinese Culture. They should also counter anti-Chinese propaganda, Ming Sheng insisted, and persuade foreigners that religious liberty reigns in China. To do this, Buddhists who receive foreigners in their temples and take part in exchanges with foreigners should learn English, he said.
Speakers, including Master Hongdu, Deputy Secretary General of the Buddhist Association of China, also emphasized that the next Sixth World Buddhist Forum will be a golden opportunity to spread “the Chinese version of history” globally. Chinese Buddhists who will attend as speakers and translators will be selected not only on the basis of their command of the English language but of their “political awareness” as well.
