Lin Xiaochieh
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Lin Xiaochieh (Chinese: 林小截) was born on 7 November 1966 in a village called Shaoshan (韶山) in Xiangtan County (湘潭縣), Hunan province of the People's Republic of China. In 1986 he joined a radical Maoist organization that advocated the revoking of Deng Xiaoping's capitalist reforms. After an assassination attempt on Deng in August of 1988, members of Maoist groups including Lin were arrested.
During his two years in prison Lin became a committed Buddhist and on his release journeyed to Tibet to join the state sponsored Patriotic Buddhists. Disillusioned by the rigid dogma and hierarchy of the Tibetan Buddhists, Lin began advocating a return to a simpler Buddhism that emphasized the brotherhood of man. In September of 1994, Lin founded the Common Weal of Asoka, an organization that emphasized the more egalitarian aspects of Buddhism. His message became popular in the urban slums of Myanmar and in 1998 he travelled to Mandalay to help spread his ideals. The Burmese military ordered all Common Weal organizations to disband in February of 2002. At the end of March, much of the poorer sections of Mandalay rose up under the encouragement of Lin Xiaochieh. The Burmese military brutally suppressed the urban revolt. Lin and the remnants of his followers fled to the rural north where he was able to convince Maoists in the area to join forces.
By 2004 Lin had formed a new army modelled after both the early Taiping and Maoist Red Army. In 2005 Lin and his Maoist allies formed the Burmese Liberation Corps and attempted to seize power. After initial gains they suffered a crushing military defeat along the Mekong River. Lin fled to the People's Republic of China where he continues to lobby for Chinese aid to rebel groups in Myanmar.
Recently Lin Xiaocheih has been heavily criticized among the international Buddhist community over comments he made concerning Tibetan Buddhism in which he stated that the hijacking of world Buddhism by the autocratic Dalai Lama was as pernicious as the feudal monarchy in Saudi Arabia's influence over Islam.
