Ching Hai

Ching Hai (born Trịnh Đăng Huệ; 12 May 1950), commonly referred to as Suma or Supreme Master Ching Hai, is a Vietnamese-born British spiritual leader of the Guanyin Famen (Chinese) or Quan Yin method transnational cybersect.

The practice had existed predating the common usage of the internet.

Based out of Taiwan, she is estimated to have 2 million followers worldwide.

Ching Hai founded the Loving Hut vegan restaurant chain and vegan Celestial Shop fashion company under Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association.

Ching Hai was born to a Vietnamese mother and an ethnic Chinese father, on 12 May 1950 in a small village in the Quảng Ngãi Province in Vietnam.

At the age of 18, she moved to England to study and later to France and then Germany, where she worked for the Red Cross.

In 1969, she began a relationship with a German scientist.

They married, but separated after two years to focus on spiritualism and she moved to India to study different religions.

In 1979, she met a Buddhist monk in Germany whom she followed for three years, but his monastery denied entry to women.

Ching Hai attempted to buy a copy of the Bhagavad Gita from a bookshop near the Ganges.

Despite the shopkeepers' assertions that they did not have a copy, an extensive search revealed one in a sealed box.

This led to rumours of her having a third eye circulating by 1982.

In 1983, she met a Vietnamese Buddhist monk in Taiwan named Jing-Xing, who ordained her in 1984 as "Thanh Hai", meaning "pure ocean".

According to her official biography, Ching Hai was born to a well-off naturopathic family in Âu Lạc, Hanoi, Vietnam.

Though raised as a Roman Catholic, she learned the basics of Buddhism from her grandmother.

A Himalayas spiritual teacher showed her a particular meditation method which she named Quan Yin method.

According to Ting Jen-Chieh (Ding Renjie), assistant research fellow in the Institute of Ethnology, Academia Sinica, by the early 1990s Ching Hai was at odds with the Buddhist establishment in Taiwan.

Rather than submit to their demands, she severed all connections to Buddhist organizations, abandoned the traditional robe, grew out her hair, dressed fashionably, and set out to create her own independent group.

Currently, Ching Hai doesn't operate under the guise of traditional Buddhism.

Her home page calls her "Supreme Master Ching Hai, a renowned humanitarian, artist, and spiritual leader" (lingxiu daoshi 領袖道士).

Her current irreverence for religious traditions in general, have made her more synonymous to a Zen master.

Transpersonal psychologist, Timothy Conway writes: "Though Ching Hai can be stern from time to time with her disciples, she often can be seen happily singing simple, romantic folksongs with them for hours at a time. This attractive blend of power and simplicity, virtue and joy, has many people revering Ching Hai as a manifestation of Guan-yin Bodhisattva".

Ching Hai calls her meditation method the Guan Yin (Chinese) or Quan Yin method because She gave her first public teachings in Taiwan.

Quan Yin is a Chinese term that means "observation of the inner vibration".

Her meditation centres in American cities such as Los Angeles benefit from tax-exempt status as religious organizations.

She presides over an organization which owns restaurants and sells her jewellery and clothes.

In late 2008, Ching Hai launched a media campaign in Australia and New Zealand asking people to "Be Green, Go Veg, Save the Planet".

The Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association has made submissions to the Garnaut Climate Change Review, advocating large cuts to livestock production.

Hai is in favor of a meat tax.

Ching Hai is the founder of the Loving Hut restaurant chain, which in 2017 had 200 locations in 35 countries worldwide.

The restaurants are run on a franchise basis, with devotees managing each one and most workers belonging to the movement.

Her organization's numerous websites are offered in 17 languages.

The Celestial Shop "includes a line of Celestial apparel and Celestial jewelry designed by the Master".

Liam D. Murphy, professor of anthropology at California State has stated that "Ching Hai is a textbook example of what social scientists call a charismatic prophet" and that the abuse of power over her own members in loving hut is a hypothetical possibility “If anyone is in danger...it is usually their own members". Murphy states that the proper term for her movement is not “cult,” but more accurately a new religious movement".

The Database of Religious History (University of British Columbia), states regarding Ching Hai's movement "Does the religious group actively proselytize and recruit new members: No."

with subject-matter expert, anthropologist Stephen Christopher commentating "Not really. Of course Ching Hai herself uses 24 hour satellite TV programming to reach out to potential new recruits. It is more often the case that among the Five Precepts the edict of veganism is most actively promoted as lifestyle worth spreading among non-believers".

Christopher writes "The debate about the legitimacy of Ching Hai largely plays out through cyber forums from YouTube videos to cult warning websites. Christian missionary groups are particularly interested in debunking Ching Hai even though they may have no direct contact with the organization. These online forums often devolve into misunderstanding and exaggeration and Ching Hai adherents often express hurt and disappointment when they discover such material. Conversely, some adherents have disaffiliated after encountering anti-Ching Hai material".

In 2017, Yahoo.com reported that Chuck McLean, senior research fellow at GuideStar, reviewed the 990s of two of the largest American chapters of the group: Los Angeles, which reports over $1.2 million in assets-more than any other chapter in the US-and San Jose, the parent organization of more than a dozen chapters across the country.

"Taking their Forms 990 at face value, it seems unlikely that anyone is enriching themselves financially through these organizations ... I don't know what the associated business interests are about, but it appears that they give almost all of their money to legitimate causes."

Ching Hai has founded organizations including the Supreme Master Ching Hai International, World Peace Media, Oceans of Love Entertainment and Supreme Master Television.