After the incident of the enshrinement of war criminals by the Japanese invaders in Xuanzang Temple in Nanjing, it caused an uproar. The Nanjing authorities issued a notification late yesterday (July 24), stating that the identity of the woman “Wu Aping”, who was originally enshrined as a war criminal, had been identified.
Wu Ahping claimed that following learning regarding the atrocities of the four war criminals, she kept insomnia and nightmares, and felt that their ghosts were haunting her, so she hoped to “resolve grievances and knots” by worshipping them. She said: “I especially want to repent to everyone. I don’t know what to do to make up for it. I am also willing to accept any legal sanctions.”
“Wu Ah Ping” enshrines the receipts of Japanese war criminals.Video screenshot
The Nanjing authorities stated in the notification that the woman involved, Wu Aping, was born in September 1990 and has a university degree. She used to work as a nurse in a hospital. In September 2019, she resigned and went to the Wutai Mountain temple to become a lay Buddhist. The memorial tablet for war criminals, Wu Ahping, was enshrined as early as December 2017. At that time, she filled in the registration form “Matsui Ishigen, Tani Hisao, Noda Takeshi, Tanaka Junyoshi, Mukai Toshiaki, Hua Qun (that is, American missionary Weitlin)” 6 names. The monk Lingsong on duty (born in September 1979, dropped out of junior high school) asked if the enshrined was a relative or a friend, but Wu Ahping lied that it was his friend.
The tablet is placed in the highest row 15, regarding 3 meters above the ground.Video screenshot
According to the standard of 100 yuan per year for each tablet, the temple charges a total of 3,000 yuan for 5 years of worship. The spiritual tablet has a receipt, indicating the worship time “2018-2022″, and then wrote on the yellow tablet paper (9 × 4 cm) marked ” The names of the six people with the character “Friends” and the inscription “Wu Aping” were plastic-sealed and placed in the 15th row, No. 7-12, in the “Lotus of Rebirth” area of the Ksitigarbha Temple, regarding 3 meters above the ground. At the end of 2018, Xuanzang Temple repaired the Ksitigarbha Temple, and successively removed all the tablets. After the repair of the Tibetan Temple in December 2021, the tablet will be returned to its original place.
The incident was only exposed following tourists took pictures of the tablets of war criminals of the Japanese invaders.
On February 26, 2022, a female believer went to the Tibetan Temple of Xuanzang Temple to look for the tablet she enshrined. The monks Qingxuan and Luxuan helped with the search together with several tourists. During the discovery, the tablet of the war criminals of the Japanese invaders was found. A tourist took a photo. . Qingxuan immediately took down the tablets of the five Japanese war criminals who invaded China. He informed the abbot of the incident by fax that night, and the fax demanded that it is strictly forbidden to spread the word. Since then, he has not reported it to the competent authorities. On July 21, tourists who took photos posted their photos on social platforms, which were widely forwarded and attracted great attention from the society.
After learning regarding the incident by fax, it requested that it be strictly forbidden to spread it, and it has not been reported to the competent authorities since then.Video screenshot
After the incident was exposed, the public security organs investigated and determined that Wu Ahping’s enshrining the tablet of the war criminals of the Japanese invaders was a personal act. According to Wu Ahping’s confession, following knowing the five war criminals, she had a psychological shadow and was haunted by nightmares for a long time; wrong idea. As for the reason for worshipping the American missionary Weitlin, she said that during the Nanjing Massacre, Weitlin took the initiative to protect Chinese women.
Xuanzang Temple.
The authorities emphasized that, out of her own misunderstanding of causality and selfish motives, Wu Aping paid money to set up memorial tablets for her at religious venues even though she knew that the five enshrined were war criminals of the Japanese invaders. Violating the Buddhist teachings and rules of promoting good and punishing evil, seriously disrupting public order, seriously hurting national sentiment, and causing bad social impact. He is suspected of the crime of picking quarrels and provoking trouble. He has been criminally detained by the public security organs, and the case is under further trial.
The Nanjing authorities mentioned that the abbot had since been relieved of several positions and had been punished by several officials. The authorities bluntly stated that the incident of enshrining the memorial tablets of Japanese war criminals in the religious activities site has seriously impacted the bottom line of social morality and seriously hurt the feelings of the nation, which is shocking and outrageous. The authorities will be deeply vigilant and reflect, learn lessons, draw inferences from one case, make comprehensive rectification, and resolutely prevent similar problems from happening. “Nanjing has witnessed the suffering and glory of the Chinese nation rising from its fall. We will resolutely punish the behaviors that provoke historical conclusions and challenge the righteousness of the nation. We will protect historical memory with practical actions, defend the dignity of the nation, and maintain peace and justice.”
