PEKING More than 500 novice monks and nuns underwent ritual head-shavings Friday in the largest religious initiation ceremony in China since the 1949 communist revolution, the official Xinhus News Agency said.
The record number of participants in the ceremony of tonsure, marking the end of apprenticeship for the SI8 novice monks and nuns, signal’s the extent of religious freedom in China,” Xinhua said,
All religions, including Buddhism, were banned during the 1966-77 Cultural Revolution, which began 20 years ago. There are an estimated 10 million Buddhists in China.
The elaborate ceremony was held in a monastery that was built 1,500 years ago, the temple is a center for tonsure ceremonies and draws Buddhists from India, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and the United States, Xinhua said.
Taking vows Friday were Buddhists from Hong Kong and Singapore as well as from all over China, Xinhua said. The new monks and nuns will return to their own temples Saturday.
The first graduating class of the newly opened Qixia School of the China Buddhist College attended the ceremony, Xinhua said.
Article extracted from this publication >> May 23, 1986
