How China's Shaolin ‘CEO monk' suffered a great fall? Under probe for ‘improper relationship' with women, illegitimate kids, and embezzlement
, the abbot of
China
's iconic
Shaolin Temple
, is under investigation for alleged
embezzlement
and violations of Buddhist conduct, the temple's administration confirmed in a statement on Sunday, July 27.
The statement said Shi is suspected of misappropriating project funds and temple assets. He is also accused of violating Buddhist precepts by maintaining improper relationships with multiple women over an extended period and fathering at least one child, which the temple authority called illegitimate in their WeChat post, a serious breach of
monastic vows
that require celibacy.
Explore courses from Top Institutes in
Please select course:
Select a Course Category
Data Science
Technology
CXO
others
Artificial Intelligence
Operations Management
Data Analytics
Public Policy
Healthcare
MCA
Project Management
Design Thinking
PGDM
Digital Marketing
Management
Degree
healthcare
Finance
Leadership
Data Science
MBA
Cybersecurity
Product Management
Others
Skills you'll gain:
Duration:
10 Months
IIM Kozhikode
CERT-IIMK DABS India
Starts on
undefined
Get Details
Skills you'll gain:
Duration:
11 Months
E&ICT Academy, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati
CERT-IITG Postgraduate Cert in AI and ML India
Starts on
undefined
Get Details
Skills you'll gain:
Duration:
11 Months
IIT Madras
CERT-IITM Advanced Cert Prog in AI and ML India
Starts on
undefined
Get Details
Skills you'll gain:
Duration:
10 Months
E&ICT Academy, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati
CERT-IITG Prof Cert in DS & BA with GenAI India
Starts on
undefined
Get Details
Skills you'll gain:
Duration:
30 Weeks
IIM Kozhikode
SEPO - IIMK-AI for Senior Executives India
Starts on
undefined
Get Details
Also Read:
At 58, Adam Sandler revisits Happy Gilmore, but his most personal work still honors his Russian-Jewish heritage
by Taboola
by Taboola
Sponsored Links
Sponsored Links
Promoted Links
Promoted Links
You May Like
This Could Be the Best Time to Trade Gold in 5 Years
IC Markets
Learn More
Undo
Several government departments are jointly conducting the investigation. The temple administration said, 'Relevant information will be announced to the public in a timely manner. " Shi has not commented publicly, and CNN has been unable to reach him.
Who is Shi Yongxin?
Live Events
Shi Yongxin, 59, has led the Shaolin Temple since 1999. Known in Chinese media as the 'CEO monk,' he is widely recognized for commercializing the temple and expanding its global presence.
He is the first Chinese abbot to hold an MBA and has been active in politics, serving as a delegate to China's National People's Congress for two decades.
He was frequently spotted traveling around the world with an iPhone in hand, meeting influential figures such as the late Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain, the late South African President Nelson Mandela, Henry Kissinger, and Apple CEO Tim Cook. In February 2025, Shi led a delegation of monks to meet Pope Francis at the Vatican.
Under his leadership, the temple licensed its name to films, games, and cartoons, staged Shaolin kung fu performances globally, and entered into publishing, traditional Chinese medicine, tourism, and real estate ventures.
Past criticism
Shi's efforts to brand and commercialize Shaolin drew criticism over the years, with some accusing him of undermining the temple's spiritual role.
According to a CNN report, in 2006, he accepted a 1 million yuan car from a local government to promote tourism, which sparked backlash. At the time, he told Chinese state media, 'Monks are also citizens… we have fulfilled our duties and made contributions to society.'
In 2015, Shi Yongxin faced a wave of allegations posted on Chinese social media by an anonymous user claiming to be a former disciple.
The accusations included embezzlement, having multiple identities, and fathering children, charges that made national headlines.
The Shaolin Temple denied the claims, calling them 'fabricated and malicious,' and authorities launched an investigation.
According to Caixin Global and CNN, the probe concluded in 2017 with no evidence to support the allegations, and Shi was cleared of wrongdoing.
Despite that, Shi remained influential and was re-elected in 2020 as deputy head of the
Buddhist Association of China
.
Consequences
On Monday, July 28, the Buddhist Association of China announced, citing the Shaolin Temple Management's situation report, that Shi had been stripped of his ordination certificate.
In a statement quoted by CNN, the association said his actions were 'of an extremely egregious nature, severely tarnishing the reputation of the Buddhist community.'
The Shaolin Temple, founded over 1,500 years ago (AD 495) in Henan province, is revered worldwide for its connection to Zen
Buddhism
and Shaolin kung fu. It is the birthplace of Chan Buddhism, a precursor to the meditative Zen tradition, and is famous for its 'warrior monks.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
&w=3840&q=100)
Business Standard
22 minutes ago
- Business Standard
Nayara Energy moves Delhi HC against Microsoft for suspending key services
Indian oil refining and marketing company, Nayara Energy, which is backed by Russian investment, has taken legal action against Microsoft. The company said the US-based tech firm had abruptly and unilaterally suspended essential services without any prior warning. "Microsoft is currently restricting Nayara Energy's access to its own data, proprietary tools, and products --despite these being acquired under fully paid-up licences," stated Nayara. Petition filed in Delhi HC The company has filed a petition in the Delhi High Court. It is seeking an interim injunction and immediate restoration of services to protect its rights and ensure continued access to important digital systems. According to Nayara, Microsoft did not discuss or notify the company before cutting off services. "This action has been taken unilaterally, without prior notice, consultation or recourse, and under the guise of compliance," the statement added. Sanctions lead to disruptions Nayara, which purchases large volumes of Russian oil, was recently sanctioned by the European Union. The company is mostly owned by Russian entities, including oil giant Rosneft. Although the sanctions are from the EU, Nayara claims that Microsoft -- a US-based firm -- is not legally required to enforce them under American or Indian law. Despite this, sources said Microsoft suspended Nayara's services last Tuesday. Since then, email accounts and Teams access for Nayara employees have been unavailable. Microsoft has not commented on the matter. Following the sanctions, at least two ships avoided loading refined products from Nayara's Vadinar facility. One crude tanker carrying Russian Urals was also diverted. In addition, Nayara's CEO resigned and was replaced by Sergey Denisov. Key role in India's energy sector Nayara Energy highlighted its important role in India's fuel economy. The company contributes around 8 per cent of the country's refining capacity and 7 per cent of its petrol pump network. It is also developing about 8 per cent of India's polypropylene capacity. While facing these challenges, Nayara said it remains committed to maintaining uninterrupted supply across India. Focus on domestic market and growth Operating under the motto 'In India, for India', Nayara mainly serves the domestic market through retail outlets, institutional sales, and partnerships with other oil marketing companies. The company is also investing in petrochemicals and clean energy, generating thousands of jobs. Nayara added that it complies fully with Indian regulations and continues to work closely with Indian authorities to maintain transparency and accountability.
India Today
22 minutes ago
- India Today
AI is not replacing our IT engineers, it is making them more productive: Zoho CEO
In the middle of chatter about AI replacing jobs in the tech sector, there is one company that is sounding a note of optimism for software engineers. This one is Zoho. When asked if AI can replace engineers at Zoho, the company CEO Mani Vembu says that the answer for now is No. That is because even though Vembu sees productivity gains coming from AI tools he doesn't believe that AI can replace engineers and software developers at his company. advertisementIn a conversation with India Today Tech, Zoho CEO Mani Vembu clarified that job cuts due to AI are not on the horizon at Zoho because it is not yet capable enough. 'If you ask the (AI) system to summarise a deal or generate content, it can do that pretty well. But replacing someone's role entirely? I don't think AI is ready for that yet,' he to emphasise his points, the Zoho CEO adds, 'To be clear, we haven't reduced any headcount due to AI. In fact, we are planning to hire more support engineers because our support volumes are increasing.' Vembu made his comments at Zoholics in Bangalore recently. At the event Zoho unveiled its very own large language model (LLM) called Zia. This new AI model is pitched as India's first enterprise-focused, home-grown AI system. While it's not meant for the general public, the model is pitched to businesses and it comes integrated with Zoho's productivity and enterprise platforms. Available in three parameter sizes (1.3B, 2.6B, and 7B), the LLM is designed to handle tasks like structured data extraction, summarisation, and prompt-based is becoming part of the workflowVembu believes that AI can be an enabler at work, helping employees do more. But it is not capable enough to do the entire A-Z of tasks. 'So far (at Zoho) we definitely haven't seen AI replacing employees,' he says. 'What we are seeing instead is that it's (helping) some of the roles. For instance, say a support rep typically handles 20 tickets a day, can we help them manage 25 instead? That's a 20 per cent productivity increase.'This is a point further explained by Ramprakash Ramamoorthy, director of AI at Zoho, in an exclusive conversation with India Today Tech. He says that Zoho not only uses the AI tools internally before releasing them to its customers, the company is also finding that productivity gains due to AI are real. 'We dogfood all the AI projects that we are about to launch,' says Ramamoorthy. 'A lot of impactful areas are in summarisation or finding relevant information. For example at Zoho, a new recruit comes in and wants to find out which form to fill for a night care request. Previously, you'd have to ask somebody or your boss. Now, we have (internal) HRMS products with these bots that can guide them.'advertisementAccording to Zoho, a similar impact is also being seen in customer-facing roles. 'Even for a salesperson, aggregating information across the system is crucial. This is where we see the most impact,' says asked if AI had in any way impacted Zoho's hiring practices, Ramamoorthy categorically says no. 'For Zoho, not yet,' he says, and highlights that the company continues to hire actively and sees AI as a tool for augmentation, not challenges remain for Indian companiesWhile AI is helping Zoho to grow its business and make employees more productive, the company admits that Indian tech firms still face big challenges in building advanced AI systems such as Zia. Though impressive, in its capabilities Zia does not seem comparable to the likes of ChatGPT or Gemini. Ramamoorthy shares that for Indian companies like Zoho there are mostly three major challenges in the AI space: compute, data, and expectation management.'The first challenge is compute. It's an expensive affair, and even if you put the dollars on the table, there's a six-month lead time to it. And then there are import caps (on GPUs) for countries like India,' says Ramamoorthy. 'The second is the availability of data. Consumer AI models work on consumer data, which is abundant. But in the enterprise, you can't replicate that because businesses can't just give away sensitive information. The third challenge is the over-hyping of technology. It's not artificial, it's not intelligence. Managing expectations is just as critical.' - Ends
Time of India
22 minutes ago
- Time of India
Huawei shows off AI computing system to rival Nvidia's top product
China's Huawei Technologies showed off an AI computing system on Saturday that one industry expert has said rivals Nvidia's most advanced offering, as the Chinese technology giant seeks to capture market share in the country's growing artificial intelligence sector. The CloudMatrix 384 system made its first public debut at the World Artificial Intelligence Conference (WAIC), a three-day event in Shanghai where companies showcase their latest AI innovations, drawing a large crowd to the company's booth. The system has drawn close attention from the global AI community since Huawei first announced it in April. Industry analysts view it as a direct competitor to Nvidia's GB200 NVL72, the U.S. chipmaker's most advanced system-level product currently available in the market. Dylan Patel, founder of semiconductor research group SemiAnalysis, said in an April article that Huawei now had AI system capabilities that could beat Nvidia. Huawei staff at its WAIC booth declined to comment when asked to introduce the CloudMatrix 384 system. A spokesperson for Huawei did not respond to questions. Huawei has become widely regarded as China's most promising domestic supplier of chips essential for AI development, even though the company faces US export restrictions. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told Bloomberg in May that Huawei had been "moving quite fast" and named the CloudMatrix as an example. The CloudMatrix 384 incorporates 384 of Huawei's latest 910C chips and outperforms Nvidia's GB200 NVL72 on some metrics, which uses 72 B200 chips, according to SemiAnalysis. The performance stems from Huawei's system design capabilities, which compensate for weaker individual chip performance through the use of more chips and system-level innovations, SemiAnalysis said. Huawei says the system uses "supernode" architecture that allows the chips to interconnect at super-high speeds and in June, Huawei Cloud CEO Zhang Pingan said the CloudMatrix 384 system was operational on Huawei's cloud platform.
