Transcribed from the Chinese Daily News, Issue No. 7110, July 8, 1997
News Release
BLACK SECT MASTER LIN YUN BREAKS HIS OWN HALO BY SAYING, "YOU'RE BETTER OFF BELIEVING YOURSELF INSTEAD OF BELIEVING ME."
He Admits That 99.9% Of His Predictions Have Been Wrong.
July 7, 1997, Taipei, Taiwan. As this country continues to reel from back-to-back scandals involving its political leaders and their spiritual advisors, the guru of the so-called Black Sect, Master Lin Yun, surrounded by his students and followers in the Presidential Suite of the Hyatt, Taipei, admits in a shocking interview of self-denouncement, "The best advice I can offer is to tell you that you are better off believing yourself instead of believing me. I am a wandering impostor whose predictions have been 99.9% wrong."He cited his 1994 prediction that Li Deng Qui would not be renominated to the presidency of Taiwan (not only was he renominated, he was reelected). He sheepishly shrugged, "My record of successes is very poor."
"People call me the Grand Master when, in fact, I am the Grand Disappointment."
Born in Beijing, and raised in Taijung, Lin Yun studied and loosely based his Black Sect cult on Tibetan beliefs. He told of how he was ostracized in Taiwan for combining elements of Taoism, Feng Shui, Yin Yang, fortunetelling, psychology, medicine, color theory and construction into his own brand of Feng Shui. He lamented, "My biggest mistake in life was to study religion."
He would not name names, but he did add that he has given Feng Shui advice to many highly placed officials in the Taiwanese government. Although his Black Sect beliefs have been widely rejected in Asia, Lin Yun has found a more receptive following in the West, where he has a temple each in California and New York.
When contacted for comment, Lin Yun's church released a statement saying that "Westerners do not understand." When it was pointed out that the statement did not seem to have a bearing on the situation -- the article came from a Chinese paper and was transcribed by ethnic Chinese into English -- church officials were confused. Finally, the church resorted to its standard explanation that Lin Yun was once again misquoted.
This "living Buddha" (Da Shi) of the Black Sect church has a long-standing history of being misquoted. He needs to hire experienced media and communications specialists ("spin doctors"), or take a course in effective communication himself -- because the only people who seem to understand him to the church's satisfaction are his sycophants.
