Tasmanian Chinese Buddhist Group Allegedly Controlling Member’s Communications

Religious leader known for ties to Beijing

Camille Kwan is doing a protest in Hobart, Tasmania on Aug. 26, 2023 to call for attention for her son's situation. Jenny Nhung/The Epoch Times

Camille Kwan never thought that the head of a Buddhist religious group she has been following for almost 30 years would turn her son away from her.

Being spiritual from a young age, the Hong Konger was going through a breakup when a friend introduced Jin-Gang-Dhyana, also known as Holy Tantra Esoteric Buddhism, to her.

She then started making regular trips to Hobart, the capital of Australia’s island state of Tasmania, where the religious group is based, for retreats and spiritual guidance from master Wang Xinde, the head of the group.

One thing that makes the group different from other Buddhist sects is that monks and nuns, including Mr. Wang, can marry and have children.

Mr. Wang, who claimed to be the 28th patriarch of Jin-Gang-Dhyana Buddhism, was once known for his miraculous healing powers in China in the 1980s. In 1989, after a short time in jail, the now 78-year-old moved to Tasmania and founded the Tasmanian Chinese Buddhist Academy of Australia.

Camille’s son Philip [pseudonym] joined her trips from 2002 at the age of two. As a boy raised by his mother alone, he enjoyed time spent with other older boys in the group.

“Everything was normal at the time,” Camille told The Epoch Times on Aug. 23.

Camille, a single mother from Hong Kong, has been taking her son to Hobart since 2002.Supplied

In 2020, desperately looking for help for Philip, who suffered from a mental health issue, Camille took him back to the group’s home base in Hobart.

That’s when things began to get hard.

During the pandemic, Philip generally decreased his communication with his mum, citing the reason that he wanted to focus on his spiritual cultivation. He would ask Master Wang for permission first before making life choices such as attending university. He also required his mother to do so before going to see him.

However, Mr. Wang frequently ignored Ms. Kwan’s requests to go to Hobart to see her son. After multiple attempts, she was only allowed to see her son privately for two hours “under extreme desperation and pleading.”

“It was truly painful, especially the first time I saw Philip in a Chinese Community Event at the end of August,” she wrote in a statement.

“That was the first time I noticed Philip was ruled by the ‘Forbidden Speech’ precept that he needed to keep no contact with his mum or the others.

“Suddenly, I found all the doors of JGD Buddhism were closed, I couldn’t get hold of Philip, and with no source to know how my son was for months. Only one channel I could reach was pleading Wang for his compassion and empathy to let my own son for the basic communications.”

‘Believers Must Abide Rules’: Mr.Wang

However, Mr. Wang denied Camille’s allegation that he has blocked her communication with her son.

“I have tens of thousands of believers. They want to learn our esoteric teachings. When believers come, they must abide by our rules,” he told Australia Broadcasting Corporation (ABC)’s 7:30 program.

Wang Xinde (second row fourth from the left) used to teach Shaolin martial arts in China.Supplied

In response to the questioning that some accused his religious group of operating like a cult, the religious head cited his group’s close tie with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

“Is it possible for a cult to hold a joint meeting in Beijing with the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party?” he asked. “Will the Communist Party accept cults?”

The Tasmanian Chinese Buddhist Academy of Australia stated that ABC’s coverage of Mr. Wang and “an individual member” of the academy contained “out-of-context and false statements that misrepresent our Academy and victimises our students.”

The Academy is currently seeking legal guidance and declined all media requests.

“We kindly request for privacy in light of the direct impact that this matter has on the life of an individual member of our Academy,” reads a statement from the group published on Aug. 10.

Australian Island Under Beijing’s Eye

It is no secret that Mr. Wang, the president of the Tasmanian branch of the Australian Council for the Promotion of Peaceful Reunification of China (ACPPRC), is close to Beijing.

Based in Sydney, the ACPPRC is a group under the umbrella of the CCP’s United Front Work Department—an agency tasked with spreading Beijing’s agenda overseas. It has also been targeted by Australian officials, with the former Head of the ACPPRC, billionaire Huang Xiangmo, denied Australian citizenship and stripped of permanent residency in 2019 due to offering political donations to Australian politicians.

Organizational structure of United Front operations. Prepared by Clive Hamilton, author of “Silent Invasion: China’s Influence in Australia.”

In a 2016 broadcast on the local radio of Hobart, Mr. Wang praised the virtues of China’s “religious soft power,” saying in Mandarin that the role of his CCP-backed Buddhist organisation was to “hold the latest policies enacted by the motherland as guidance for everything we do.”

“We will hold the teaching of the Great Holy Sakyamuni Buddha as guidance for everything we do. And we will do our utmost to requite the firm embrace of the motherland,” he said.

This is concerning for China experts like Professor Clive Hamilton.

Mr. Hamiliton, who is a professor of public ethics,  did research on the CCP’s interference in Tasmania and said any encouragement for Australians to support Beijing’s policies is concerning.

“Upholding the policies and principles of a foreign government goes against the pledge people make when they become Australian citizens,” Professor Hamilton told The Australian in 2018.

CCP Using Buddhism as a New Tool

While the CCP is widely known for having repressive policies toward religions, research in recent years suggests that the CCP is utilising Buddhism as a tool to expand its political influence internationally.

In a symposium at Georgetown University in 2020, Chinese Buddhist researchers David L. Wank and Yoshiko Ashiwa said that all religious activities carried out by Chinese Buddhist organizations overseas are part and parcel of the Chinese government’s use of Buddhism to extend its political influence.

Tibetan Buddhist monks attend class during a government-organized visit to the Buddhist College of the Tibet Autonomous Region in Qushui County, outside Lhasa, Tibet Autonomous Region, on May 31, 2021. Kevin Frayer/Getty Images

“These overseas Buddhist activities build a network of people for China abroad, which is one of the main strategies of the United Front [work], a network that includes Chinese Buddhists, prominent overseas Buddhists, heads of foreign cultural departments, and so on,” Chinese Buddhist researchers David L. Wank and Yoshiko Ashiwa told Radio Free Asia.

John Powers, a lecturer in Buddhism studies at the University of Melbourne, shared the concern.

“As you probably know, the CCP has operatives in Australia and other countries, and they take a special interest in overseas Chinese, which includes surveillance and intimidation,” Mr. Powers wrote in an email to The Epoch Times.

The Epoch Times is in no way suggesting that the Tasmanian Chinese Buddhist Academy of Australia has been or is involved in these types of activities.

Unsolved Problem Between Mother and Son 

Camille, who has talked to several local MPs, is still looking for a way to get her son back.

Camille Kwan is doing a protest in Hobart, Tasmania on Aug. 26, 2023 to call for attention for her son's situation. Jenny Le/The Epoch Times

“Although Philip and I have contacted via WhatsApp now, all his messages are limited and being watched by [the] organization,” she said.

“He is still under the suppression and restriction from the precepts unconsciously, have no sense of freedom to act and speak freely under his own will.

“I was totally heartbroken not only for the son rejected mum’s love and care from thousand miles away, but the hidden pain and fear that Philip is trapped in Mr. Wang’s hands.”