China, United Front Calls for More Control of Buddhist Life Release

A conference in Beijing on April 8 confirmed that possible excesses in setting animals free are used as a pretext for a stricter control of Buddhist practices.

By Zhu Yaozu

April 17, 2025

A Tibetan monk blessing a crab about to be released. Credits.

Life release is a common Buddhist practice where followers buy fish and birds to set them free in natural habitats. Tibetan Buddhists also purchase animals to prevent their slaughter. By the way, the recently “disappeared” Tibetan Lama Humkar Dorje, who died in suspicious circumstances in Vietnam, was well-known for his mass life release gatherings.

Some CCP media recently labeled life release as a “feudal superstition” that should be strictly controlled. Some concerns about commercialization near large shrines and the environmental impact of releasing alien species may be reasonable. What is unreasonable, however, is to cite abuses to crack down on a practice with a history spanning at least 1,700 years.

On April 8, 2025, the Buddhist Association of China met in Beijing to discuss regulating life release They studied “Xi Jinping thought on ecological civilization” (there is a Xi Jinping thought on everything), reviewed related laws, and examined the “Draft Measures for Regulating the Release of Life” currently being prepared by the CCP-controlled China Buddhist Association. Its president, Master Yanjue, opened the meeting with a speech. High bureaucrats from the United Front Central Work Department were there to “provide guidance.” Tibetan representatives of the China Buddhist Association also attended.

An image of the Beijing meeting of April 8. From Weibo.

The meeting press release, posted on social media, emphasized as usual that life release should be regulated by “adhering to the guidance of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, fully implementing the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the CCP and the Second and Third Plenary Sessions of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, conscientiously studying and implementing Xi Jinping thought on ecological civilization, implementing General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions on religious work.” 

Life release, the meeting concluded, is not a question of practice but of “ideological understanding,” to be regulated by underlining “the importance of studying and implementing Xi Jinping’s thought on ecological civilization, take the socialist core values ​​as the guide, and integrate the Buddhist concept of compassion and protection of life” with Xi Jinping’s thought.

Master Yanjue opening the April 8 meeting. From Weibo.

It is thus “necessary to strengthen the concept of the rule of law and regulate the release of life. We must thoroughly study and abide by the laws, regulations and rules related to releasing life, enhance legal awareness and the concept of the rule of law, carry out releasing life in accordance with the law and regulations, consciously accept the guidance and supervision of environmental protection, agriculture, forestry, marine, quarantine and other departments, earnestly implement the rules and regulations formulated by the China Buddhist Association, and continuously improve the level of control of Buddhist affairs governance.”

While not forbidden, life release will be strictly controlled. More generally. complaints about life release seems to be used as a pretext for a stricter control of Buddhist practices by the China Buddhist Association and the United Front. 

Source: bitterwinter.org