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.
MORE VISITORS: The Tourism Administration said that it is seeing positive prospects in its efforts to expand the tourism market in North America and Europe Taiwan has been ranked as the cheapest place in the world to travel to this year, based on a list recommended by NerdWallet. The San Francisco-based personal finance company said that Taiwan topped the list of 16 nations it chose for budget travelers because US tourists do not need visas and travelers can easily have a good meal for less than US$10. A bus ride in Taipei costs just under US$0.50, while subway rides start at US$0.60, the firm said, adding that public transportation in Taiwan is easy to navigate. The firm also called Taiwan a “food lover’s paradise,” citing inexpensive breakfast stalls
US PUBLICATION: The results indicated a change in attitude after a 2023 survey showed 55 percent supported full-scale war to achieve unification, the report said More than half of Chinese were against the use of force to unify with Taiwan under any circumstances, a survey conducted by the Atlanta, Georgia-based Carter Center and Emory University found. The survey results, which were released on Wednesday in a report titled “Sovereignty, Security, & US-China Relations: Chinese Public Opinion,” showed that 55.1 percent of respondents agreed or somewhat agreed that “the Taiwan problem should not be resolved using force under any circumstances,” while 24.5 percent “strongly” or “somewhat” disagreed with the statement. The results indicated a change in attitude after a survey published in “Assessing Public Support for (Non)Peaceful Unification
PLUGGING HOLES: The amendments would bring the legislation in line with systems found in other countries such as Japan and the US, Legislator Chen Kuan-ting said Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Legislator Chen Kuan-ting (陳冠廷) has proposed amending national security legislation amid a spate of espionage cases. Potential gaps in security vetting procedures for personnel with access to sensitive information prompted him to propose the amendments, which would introduce changes to Article 14 of the Classified National Security Information Protection Act (國家機密保護法), Chen said yesterday. The proposal, which aims to enhance interagency vetting procedures and reduce the risk of classified information leaks, would establish a comprehensive security clearance system in Taiwan, he said. The amendment would require character and loyalty checks for civil servants and intelligence personnel prior to
The China Coast Guard has seized control of a disputed reef near a major Philippine military outpost in the South China Sea, Beijing’s state media said, adding to longstanding territorial tensions with Manila. Beijing claims sovereignty over almost all of the South China Sea and has waved away competing assertions from other countries as well as an international ruling that its position has no legal basis. China and the Philippines have engaged in months of confrontations in the contested waters, and Manila is taking part in sweeping joint military drills with the US which Beijing has slammed as destabilizing. The Chinese coast guard