Shi Yinle

Venerable Shi Yinle^[1] was born in southern Henan's Tongbai county in 1966 and was ordained at the Tongbai Mountain Temple at the age of 16. In 1986, after training at the Qixia Temple in eastern China, he went on to study at the Chinese Buddhist Academy. Shi Yinle then joined the Henan Provincial Buddhist Association, eventually assuming the position of deputy secretary-general, as well as becoming vice-secretary of the Chinese Buddhist Association and a deputy to the National People's Congress. ^[2] In 2003, the Henan association appointed him to serve at the historic site of the White Horse Temple, know by scholars as the oldest Buddhist temple in China, where he was promoted to abbot two years later.^[3][4]

Shi Yinle's belief that the monks at the temple have strayed away from focusing on a spiritual path and as he has stated "We're now neither properly practicing or properly working !." Due to this ideology he immediately introduced a rigorous "Buddhist 996 schedule", named after China's intense tech industry work hours, and announced sweeping reforms within the monastery and to monastic life, encouraging self-sufficiency through the production of food and farming, bringing a halt to commercial performances including the banning of high-priced consecration public rituals, and removing temple shops and merchandise.^[5]