The chairman, 76, whose Buddhist monastic name is Yicheng, a new member of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), said: "We resolutely oppose the Dalai Lama's scheme to push forward the independence of Tibet."

Meanwhile, at the ongoing annual session of the CPPCC National Committee, Yicheng cited the Falun Gong as an evil cult and said it deluded people in the disguise of Buddhism and was in firm opposition to the Buddhist circle.

Yicheng from central-south China's Hunan Province, who had become a monk when new China was founded in 1949, was elected chairman of the Buddhist Association of China in September 2002 after the passing away of the former chairman Zhao Puchu.

The dedicated, highly-esteemed Buddhist sage, enjoying a very high reputation, said the Buddhist circle should, acting in compliance with the behest of late Buddhist sage Zhao, do a good job in running the education in Buddhism and he hoped that the government would attach greater importance to Buddhism education.

Moreover, a relic said to be part of a finger bone of the Buddha from Famen Tample in northwestern China's Shaanxi Province went on an exhibition show in Taiwan last year in a bid to promote the exchange along the Taiwan Straits, Yicheng said. And a Buddha tooth relic was recently taken to Thailand for worship for the sake of enhancing friendship between the two countries.

The government should attach more and greater importance to education in Buddhism, Yicheng said, urging concerted efforts of the five major religious circles in China, namely Buddhism, Taoism, Islam, Christianism and Catholicism, to contribute to social stability, national unity as well as the building of a well-off society in the whole country.

(Xinhua News Agency March 11, 2003)