Briefly stated--- there is an issue involving a new, large statue of Padmasambhava, at Samye. Below are references to both sides of the story.
Here is the "official" line:
Samye Monastery made bold to erect a copper statue of Buddha Padmasambhava in the open air donated by a related enterprise's principal, which disobeyed the Law of the People's Republic of China on Protection of Cultural and the Notice of Illegally Building Open Statue of Buddha jointly issued by the State Administration for Religious Affairs of People's Republic of China, Ministry of Construction of the People's Republic of China and China National Tourism Administration.Relics Samye Monastery then self moved the open-air statue forwardly.
Democratic Management Committee of Samye Monastery,
Lhoka Prefecture,
Tibet Autonomous Region, China
June 8th, 2007
Here is the other version.
I do not want to comment on the concept of "illegally building open statue of Buddha" beyond stating that even in the U.S., you would still need to observe certain laws before erecting a large statue of this type.
If they need a place to put the statue they "self moved forwardly," they can send it here. We'll pull the permits.
