Despite accusations of abuse and neglect, a spokesperson of a Buddhist-run psychiatric ward in Kaohsiung County says the center is far from being the "black jail" that lawmakers and the local press have made it out to be.
"I never thought that after we took such good care of them, they would turn around and do this to us," said Lungfatang's (龍發堂) Master Hsinhsien (新賢法師), referring to five patients who recently ran away from the facility.
Concern over conditions at Lungfatang -- home to over 600 psychiatric patients -- was pricked last Friday when DPP lawmaker Yu Jan-daw (余政道), four other lawmakers and five patients who had run away, held a press conference.
The five patients, who said they had risked their lives to escape, alleged that while at Lungfatang they had regularly been stripped and tied to beds -- with iron chains in some cases -- and left to urinate without any help.
Others were beaten with bamboo sticks on the soles of their feet by disciples at the temple, they said.
Hsinhsien, who now runs the temple -- having taken over for its founder, Master Kai Feng (釋開豐) -- said that she, along with the other 19 disciples who run Lungfatang, do not have the energy to implement such iron-fisted control.
"There are so many people here, how could I beat them all?" she said. "How could I use punishment to control them?"
"Patients beat each other up, but not the disciples," said one volunteer worker.
One patient who had been at the center for 10 years also agreed, saying that patients were the greatest source of conflict, not the disciples.
"As long as you don't make any trouble with the other patients, you'll be fine," he said.
However, while the ability to teach control is the source of Lungfatang's public success -- allowing psychiatric patients to learn how to play musical instruments, and even eventually travel abroad to perform -- it is also a great source of controversy.
Most patients at Lungfatang spend their days at the temple's fly-infested chicken farm -- which raises one million chickens -- helping collect eggs and feed chickens, as well as turning excrement into fertilizer.
While questions have been raised over the use of mental patients' labor -- the patients are unpaid -- the use of "chains of compassion," as Lungfatang calls them, to "teach control" to the mentally ill has been strongly criticized.
During a visit to the chicken farm, Hsinhsien stood next to two shorn patients to explain how the chain helps teach control.
"This is not some type of abuse," she said, pointing to a middle-aged women, surnamed Lin, who stood alert and chained to a pudgy younger woman. The younger woman stood fidgeting at the end of the three-foot chain, her eyes darting up for quick glances, her head bowed and shoulders slouched.
"The more stable patient is leading the other one, who's stupid," Hsinhsien said. When patients learn control they are then given the opportunity to escort others, she added.
For many patients Lungfatang is the last resort, Hsinhsien said.
Some patients arrive after years of moving in and out of government asylums, when police are unable to locate their family members or even when convicts cannot be handled in prison, she said.
Hsinhsien said that the use of "free labor" is actually a necessity, because the government will not support the temple and many of the families of patients are unable to donate very much money.
The patients who escaped and local press have said that donations of up to NT$2.5 million are required before families can leave their children at the temple.
Hsinhsien says the patients are really to blame, adding that such behavior is typical of the five who escaped. She said the patients had previously been heavy drug addicts and have violent tendencies.
The five escapees have even threatened their parents, who originally were going to hold a press conference on Monday to express their support of the temple, Hsinhsien said.
"Previously, no one could bring them under control, so naturally they don't like it here and looked for any opportunity to run away," she said.
The patients who spoke out could not be reached yesterday. Yu's office said their lives were now in danger and that they had gone into hiding.
GEARING UP: An invasion would be difficult and would strain China’s forces, but it has conducted large-scale training supporting an invasion scenario, the report said China increased its military pressure on Taiwan last year and took other steps in preparation for a potential invasion, an annual report published by the US Department of Defense on Wednesday showed. “Throughout 2023, Beijing continued to erode longstanding norms in and around Taiwan by employing a range of pressure tactics against Taiwan,” the report said, which is titled “Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of China (PRC) 2024.” The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) “is preparing for a contingency to unify Taiwan with the PRC by force, if perceived as necessary by Beijing, while simultaneously deterring, delaying or denying
PEACEFUL RESOLUTION: A statement issued following a meeting between Australia and Britain reiterated support for Taiwan and opposition to change in the Taiwan Strait Canada should support the peaceful resolution of Taiwan’s destiny according to the will of Taiwanese, Canadian lawmakers said in a resolution marking the second anniversary of that nation’s Indo-Pacific strategy on Monday. The Canadian House of Commons committee on Canada-Chinese relations made the comment as part of 34 recommendations for the new edition of the strategy, adding that Ottawa should back Taiwan’s meaningful participation in international organizations. Canada’s Indo-Pacific Strategy, first published in October 2022, emphasized that the region’s security, trade, human rights, democracy and environmental protection would play a crucial role in shaping Canada’s future. The strategy called for Canada to deepen
TECH CONFERENCE: Input from industry and academic experts can contribute to future policymaking across government agencies, President William Lai said Multifunctional service robots could be the next new area in which Taiwan could play a significant role, given its strengths in chip manufacturing and software design, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) chairman and chief executive C.C. Wei (魏哲家) said yesterday. “In the past two months, our customers shared a lot of their future plans with me. Artificial intelligence [AI] and AI applications were the most talked about subjects in our conversation,” Wei said in a speech at the National Science and Technology Conference in Taipei. TSMC, the world’s biggest contract chipmaker, counts Nvidia Corp, Advanced Micro Devices Inc, Apple Inc and
LEAP FORWARD: The new tanks are ‘decades more advanced than’ the army’s current fleet and would enable it to compete with China’s tanks, a source said A shipment of 38 US-made M1A2T Abrams tanks — part of a military procurement package from the US — arrived at the Port of Taipei early yesterday. The vehicles are the first batch of 108 tanks and other items that then-US president Donald Trump announced for Taiwan in 2019. The Ministry of National Defense at the time allocated NT$40.5 billion (US$1.25 billion) for the purchase. To accommodate the arrival of the tanks, the port suspended the use of all terminals and storage area machinery from 6pm last night until 7am this morning. The tanks are expected to be deployed at the army’s training
RSS