Shi Yongxin was Shaolin “Head Monk” at 34 – But Was “Expelled” from the Sangha 12-Years Earlier! The Master’s “Final Words” Were Kept “Secret” for 40-years! (28.7.2026)
Original Chinese-Language Author - “纸上见史” (Zhi Shang Jian Shi)
Translated By Adrian Chan-Wyles PhD
Translator’s Note: Master Xu Yun (1840-1959) instructed the then “new” government of China (during the early 1950s) that a) the Vinaya Discipline must be preserved as the foundation of all genuine Chinese Buddhism, and b) each aspiring monk or nun must be “legally” bound by Chinese State Law to follow and uphold the morality of the Vinaya Discipline. Although every man, woman, and child must follow State Law – the ordaining Buddhist monk or nun must also follow the Vinaya Discipline (as well as maintaining State Law). Master Xu Yun, whilst rejecting the Japanese convention of abandoning the Vinaya Discipline, effectively “merged” Buddhist Moral Law with Chinese State Law – so that the breaking of one – equalled the breaking of the other. Why was Xu Yun so strict? The purpose was to prevent “rice monks” joining the Sangha – or those just looking for a quick meal and an easy bed. Xu Yun wanted to strengthen the Dharma by strengthening the resolve of those who aspired to be Buddhist monastics. Although Shi Yongxin fell through the gaps in the system – Master Xu Yun’s instruction has once again found its way through and penetrated the worldly veil of delusion. Remember, practicing gongfu happens in many Ch’an Temples – and not just Shaolin. Even so, there are very good Shaolin practitioners in other parts of China (not just Henan) – such as Sichuan – where the martial arts are good and pure. Indeed, a number of Master Xu Yun’s disciples were Shaolin practitioners – or gongfu masters associated with other Ch’an temple styles. Whatever the case, a genuine and traditional gongfu style does not demand money or excessive amounts if some type of payment is required. As regards the Dharma – all instruction should be “free”.
ACW (28.7.2026)
At 8 p.m. on July 27, 2025, the Shaolin Temple's official website quietly posted a coldly worded announcement. The “Head Monk” of this thousand-year-old Shaolin Temple - Shi Yongxin (释永信) - is accused of criminal offenses, and embezzling temple assets. Shaolin Temple Head Monk - Shi Yongxin - is suspected of criminal offenses for misappropriating project funds and temple assets. He seriously violated Buddhist Precepts, maintained improper relationships with multiple women for a long time, and had illegitimate children. A joint multi-department investigation is currently underway. Once this news broke - the internet exploded. What truly sends chills down one's spine is not the notice itself - but rather a yellowed old letter that was later unearthed. This letter was written by Shi Yongxin's previous teacher - Shi Xingzheng (释行正) - the 29th “Head Monk” of the Shaolin Temple. The words he left before his death sentenced this disciple to metaphorical "death" nearly forty years ago—yet the content was forcibly suppressed.
If the instructions in this letter had truly been carried out as intended, then Shi Yongxin would never have had the chance to assume the role of “Head Monk”. This is the strangest part of the whole affair. How did a person expelled from the Buddhist Sangha suddenly transform into a "Shaolin CEO" – holding corporate power for 26 years? Let us rewind to the winter of 1981. At 16, Liu Yingcheng (刘应成) left his hometown in Yingshang, Anhui, and sought refuge at the Shaolin Temple on Mount Song, where he apprenticed under Shi Xingzheng, with the Dharma name “Yongxin” (永信) or “Perpetual Conviction” . At that time, Shi Xingzheng was an old monk who had preserved Shaolin relics and heritage despite the warlord wars and the flames of resistance, and his prestige within the temple was extremely high. This diligent and clever young apprentice quickly became his trusted helper.
The master and disciple were once very close, even jointly securing the independent management rights of the 'Monks Managing the Temple' for Shaolin Temple. No one could have imagined that this trust would ultimately end in the most embarrassing way. The turning point came after Shi Xingzheng fell seriously ill. He went out for medical treatment many times, entrusting temple affairs to Shi Yongxin, but this "Acting Period" became the trigger for conflict. In his letter, Shi Xingzheng stated that during his time at the Shaolin Temple, Shi Yongxin "secretly took Dharma scrolls," "claimed to be abbot in interviews," "falsely reported documents during business trips," "went to the distribution office as the second-in-command to collect things," and "took money from his room whilst he was in Beijing seeking medical treatment."
On May 10, 1987, lying sick, Shi Xingzheng wrote his “Final Words” and sent it to the Buddhist Association of China. The judgment in the letter was merciless—this apprentice was too ambitious and simply not qualified to take over. In July of the same year, Shi Xingzheng gave-up his body, but this letter did not disappear into history – as things did not end there. In 1988, the Buddhist Association of China issued an official reply regarding the Shaolin Temple-related incident. Afterwards, Dharma-Master Dechan (德禅) made the decision to “Expel” Shi Yongxin. This term refers to the act of issuing an “Expelling the Individual” (迁单 – Qian Dan) Order – which “expels” erring individuals from within the Buddhist monastic community. On April 23 of the same year, the (acting) “Honorary Head Monk” of the Shaolin Temple – Dharma-Master Dechan - made a decision: "For the honour of the Ch’an Ancestral Temple, based on Head Monk Xingzheng's Will (and Yongxin's current actions) - we will ‘Expel’ Yongxin from the Sangha."
Logically, this should be a formal disciplinary action - stamped and followed by proper procedures. A person who has been expelled from monastic status theoretically has no chance to put on the Buddhist robe again - or become Head Monk of any temple. A strange thing happened precisely at this point in the proceedings—in the approval document from the Buddhist Association of China, there was no specific name mentioned, only the vague term of a “certain monk" (某僧人 – Mou Sang Ren) is used. It is worth noting that in the material provided by "Shi Zhengyi" (释正义) - the identity of the “Expelled” person is not clearly stated - the description in the material is a "certain monk." This vague statement was later used as a shield. No one directly denied it, nor did anyone publicly admit it - the matter just hung in the air – never allowing anyone to directly address the issue. Over the next decade, Shi Yongxin rose steadily. In 1998, he was elected as a Deputy to the National People's Congress, and in the same year, President of the Henan Buddhist Association. In August 1999, he was honoured as the 30th Head Monk of the Shaolin Temple. The person who was once deemed "unfit to take over" ultimately took over.
What exactly happened in between? To this day, no official documents provide a complete answer. Looking at his later trajectory, the answer is not complicated—Shi Yongxin's true talent never lay in chanting or meditating - but in management and public relations. He realized early on that the Shaolin Temple is not just a “temple” - but a signboard that can be monetized. If Shi Xingzheng guarded the belief that "Shaolin Temple is a pure place," then what Shi Yongxin wanted to do was to turn that belief into a money-making business. After the movie "Shaolin Temple" was a hit in the late 1980s, he took the opportunity to form a troupe of martial monks, touring everywhere and turning Buddhist gongfu into a global business. This approach later proved extremely effective, and it was precisely this ability to "monetize" that allowed him to establish himself during the power vacuum. Fast forward to 2015, and the first crisis almost exploded prematurely. The whistleblower - 'Shi Zhengyi’, - made the “Expulsion” document from back then publicly available online, attempting to break the ice. In July 2015, a Buddhist disciple claiming to be "Shi Zhengyi" publicly posted online, revealing his ID number, household registration, and other information, pointing out that Shi Yongxin had not only been expelled from the status of Buddhist “monastic” - but also maintained improper relationships with multiple women.
Logically, such a clear report should have caused a huge stir. In reality, the investigation from Henan concluded that "there was no illegitimate daughters - and the Head Monk's qualifications were lawful and compliant." The early disciplinary action was classified as an “internal temple affair”, with no outside authority permitted to interfere. This narrative successfully suppressed public opinion back then, but left doubts for the next ten years.
What is truly lamentable is that in 2025, the official investigation team overturned the case and finally admitted a simple yet heavy fact—the Henan Provincial Investigation Team admitted that "the fact of the ‘Expulsion’ order cannot be denied," which indirectly confirmed the accuracy of the report at the time. In other words, the "no evidence" incident ten years ago was essentially a facade of unresolved investigation. Ten years is enough for someone who should have been eliminated to let their power and assets grow ever larger.
What is truly lamentable is that in 2025, the official investigation team overturned the case and finally admitted a simple yet heavy fact—the Henan Provincial Investigation Team admitted that "the fact of the ‘Expulsion’ order cannot be denied," which indirectly confirmed the accuracy of the report at the time. In other words, the "no evidence" incident ten years ago was essentially a facade of unresolved investigation. Ten years is enough for someone who should have been eliminated to let their power and assets grow ever larger.
At this point, his business empire was already beginning to take shape. According to media reports, Shi Yongxin has long promoted the operation of the Shaolin Temple as a brand. According to Caixin (财新), the Shaolin Temple has registered as many as 666 trademarks, covering categories such as "Ch’an Tea," "Gongfu Mobile Game," and "Shaolin Medicinal Cuisine." Behind these numbers lies a complete operational system that transforms religious symbols into commercial assets. According to the Tianyancha app, as of now, Shi Yongxin is associated with 10 institutions and organizations, of which 5 companies have been deregistered. To put it bluntly, Shi Yongxin is not the only one "Breaking the Precepts" - he seems more like a product of a whole gray governance model. Lack of transparency in monastery finances, lack of external oversight in monastic community autonomy, and severe overlap between religious and commercial identities—these structural loopholes gave him twenty-six years of operational space. This is also why the reports in 2015 were easily suppressed, but in 2025, they cannot be suppressed.
The changes in between are not just about running out of luck. The Buddhist Association of China issued an announcement stating that it recently received a request from the Henan Buddhist Association to cancel Shi Yongxin's Ordination Certificate. After careful consideration, it was agreed to cancel and support the investigation and handling according to law. The cancellation of the Ordination Certificate meant he had completely lost even the last layer of monk status. Some lawyers have analyzed that if there are cases where one abuses power to lure women, provides illegal financial support, or uses temple assets to maintain private relationships, it could implicate crimes such as embezzlement and misappropriation. Once private morality issues are linked to temple property, the nature of the matter changes completely. Looking back at Shi Xingzheng's letter that had been sealed for nearly forty years, one cannot help but feel a sense of delayed justice. The old Head Monk exhausted all his efforts in his later years, trying to uphold a bottom line of morality for Shaolin, but he could not stop the collusion of power and interests. He probably never expected that his final judgment would be proven correct decades later.
Simply reducing this matter to "one bad person fooling everyone" actually underestimates the complexity of the issue. Shi Yongxin's rise to the position of Head Monk was not only due to personal means but also a series of institutional gaps in a specific era - financial transparency in religious organizations - lack of internal oversight, and entanglements of interests between local and religious groups. Without these gaps, even the most ambitious person might not be able to get in, let alone after twenty-six years
The Shaolin Temple incident left behind more than just one person's downfall and a legendary final letter. It is more like a mirror, reflecting how easily the boundaries between traditional beliefs meet commercial capitalism, and how the supervisory mechanisms that should have upheld the bottom line can quietly fail amid human relationships, interests, and institutional silence. The bell will still ring on Mount Song, but whether it can truly “awaken” the next "Shi Yongxin" from his delusion is probably the question everyone must carefully consider about this matter.
Chinese Language Text: https://baijiahao.baidu.com/s?id=1871577886531028188&wfr=spider&for=pc
34岁坐上少林方丈宝座，谁知12年前已被开除僧籍！师父绝笔压了近40年才曝光
纸上见史
2026-07-26 15:49 浙江
2025年7月27日晚八点，少林寺官网悄然挂出一份措辞冷硬的通报。这座千年古刹的住持释永信，被指涉嫌刑事犯罪，挪用侵占寺院资产，且长期与多名女性保持不正当关系并育有私生子。少林寺住持释永信涉嫌刑事犯罪，挪用侵占项目资金寺院资产；严重违反佛教戒律，长期与多名女性保持不正当关系并育有私生子。目前正在接受多部门联合调查。消息一出，全网炸锅。
但真正让人后背发凉的，不是这份通报本身，而是随后被翻出的一份泛黄旧信。写信人是释永信的师父、少林寺第二十九代方丈释行正。他在临终前留下的这份文字，早在近四十年前就已经给这个徒弟判了“死刑”——却被硬生生压了下去。
如果这份信当年真的被执行到底，释永信根本不可能有机会站上方丈的宝座。这就是整件事最诡异的地方：一个被逐出佛门的人，怎么又摇身一变，成了掌权26年的“少林CEO”？
时间拉回1981年冬天。16岁的刘应成从安徽颍上老家出走，投奔嵩山少林寺，拜在释行正门下，法号永信。彼时的释行正，是历经军阀混战、抗战烽火依然守住少林文物和传承的老僧，寺内威望极高。这个勤快机灵的小徒弟很快成了他倚重的帮手。
师徒二人一度关系亲密，甚至一同为少林寺争取到了“僧人管寺”的自主经营权。没有人能想到，这份信任最终会以最难堪的方式收场。
转折发生在释行正病重之后。他多次外出就医，寺内事务交由释永信打理，谁知这段“代理期”成了矛盾的爆发点。释行正在信中称，在少林寺期间，释永信“偷拿法卷”、“对外接受采访时自称方丈”、“出差虚报假单据”、“以二当家的身份到流通处拿东西”，还有“趁自己去北京看病到房间拿钱”。
1987年5月10日，病榻上的释行正提笔写下绝笔信，寄往中国佛教协会。信中的判断毫不留情——这个徒弟野心太大，根本不具备接班资格。同年7月，释行正圆寂，这封信却并未随他一起沉入历史。
事情并没有到此结束。1988年，中国佛教协会公函对少林寺相关事件作出回复。随后德禅法师作出释永信迁单的决定。所谓“迁单”，就是佛教僧团内部的开除僧籍。同年4月23日，少林寺名誉方丈德禅作出决定：“为了禅祖庭的荣誉，根据行正方丈的遗嘱，和现在永信的所作所为，对永信作出迁单的处理。
按理说，这已经是盖了章、走了程序的正式处分。一个被开除僧籍的人，理论上再无可能重新披上袈裟，更别说当上方丈。可诡异的地方也恰恰在这里——中国佛教协会的批复文件里，从头到尾没有点名，只用了“某僧人”这个模糊的说法。值得说明的是，在“释正义”提供的这份材料中，并未明确被迁单的人是谁，材料中的表述为“某僧人”。
一个模糊的表述，成了后来最好的挡箭牌。没人正面否认，也没人公开承认，事情就这样悬在半空，不了了之。接下来的十年，释永信一路高升：1998年当选全国人大代表，同年当选河南省佛教协会会长，1999年8月，释永信荣膺少林寺第三十代方丈。那个曾被判定“不堪接班”的人，最终还是接了班。
这中间到底发生了什么，至今没有官方文件能给出完整答案。但从后来的发展轨迹看，答案其实并不复杂——释永信真正的本事，从来不在念经打坐，而在经营和公关。他早早看懂了一件事：少林寺不只是一座寺庙，更是一块能变现的招牌。
如果说释行正守护的是“少林寺是清净地”这个信念，释永信要做的，恰恰是把这个信念改写成生意。1980年代末电影《少林寺》热映之后，他顺势拉起武僧团，四处巡演，把佛门功夫做成了全球生意。这套打法后来被证明极其有效，也正是这种“变现”能力，让他在权力真空期站稳了脚。
时间快进到2015年，第一次危机差点提前引爆。举报人“释正义”把当年那份迁单文件公开在网上，试图捅破这层窗户纸。2015年7月，一个自称叫“释正义”的佛家弟子，在网络上公开发帖，并公布身份证号、户籍地等信息，指出释永信不仅早已被开除僧籍，还与多名女性保持不正当关系。
按常理，这么明确的举报应该能掀起大浪。可现实是，河南方面的调查结论却是“无私生女，方丈资格如法合规”，早年处分被定性为寺院内部事务，外界无权干涉。这套说法当年成功压住了舆情，却也把疑点留到了十年之后。
真正让人唏嘘的是，2025年官方调查小组重新翻案，最终承认了一个简单却沉重的事实——河南省调查小组才承认“被遷单的事实不容否认”，这也间接证实了当年举报的准确性。换句话说，十年前那次“查无实据”，本质上是一次不了了之的护航。十年，足够让一个本该被清理出局的人，把权力和资产盘子越滚越大。
商业帝国这时候已经初见雏形。据媒体披露，释永信长期推动少林寺品牌运作。据财新报道，少林寺注册商标多达666项，涉及“禅茶”、“功夫手游”、“少林药膳”等类别。这些数字背后，是一整套把宗教符号转化为商业资产的操作体系。天眼查APP显示，截至目前，释永信名下共关联着10家机构组织，其中5家企业均已注销。
说白了，释永信不是一个人在“违规”，他更像是一整套灰色治理模式的产物。寺院财务不透明、僧团自治缺乏外部监督、宗教身份和商业身份高度重叠——这些结构性漏洞，给了他二十六年的操作空间。这也是为什么2015年的举报能被轻易压下，而2025年却压不住了。
这中间的变化，并不只是运气用尽。中国佛教协会发布公告表示，日前收到河南省佛教协会的请示，要求注销释永信的戒牒。经研究决定，同意注销，并支持依法调查处理。戒牒被注销，意味着他连僧人的最后一层身份也彻底丢了。有律师分析指出，若有利用职权诱骗女性、提供非法经济支持、动用寺院资产进行私人关系维系的情况，则可能牵连贪污、挪用、职务侵占等犯罪。私德问题一旦和寺产挂钩，性质就完全变了。
回头再看释行正那封压了近四十年的信，多少让人感到一种迟到的正义。老方丈用尽晚年心力，想给少林守住一道底线，却没能挡住权力和利益的合谋。他大概也没想到，自己临终前的判断，要等到几十年后，才被证明是对的。
但把这件事简单归结为“一个坏人骗过了所有人”，其实是低估了问题的复杂性。释永信之所以能一路走到方丈的位置，靠的不只是个人的手段，更是特定年代里，宗教组织财务不透明、内部监督缺位、地方与宗教团体利益捆绑等一系列制度缝隙。没有这些缝隙，再有野心的人也未必能钻得进去，更别说钻上二十六年。
少林寺的这场风波，最终留下的，不该只是一个人的落马和一段绝笔信的传奇。它更像一面镜子，照出了当传统信仰遇上商业资本之后，那道界限有多容易被模糊，那些本该守住底线的监督机制，又有多容易在人情、利益和沉默中悄悄失效。钟声还会在嵩山响起，但能不能真正敲醒下一个＂释永信＂，恐怕才是这件事留给所有人最该想清楚的问题。