The Columbia Headquarters Building of the Star Flag State.

In the brightly lit office, Edward Dutt, director of Asia Pacific, asked Wilson, director of publicity and distribution, "Wilson, have you arranged our plans?"

"It's all arranged. Wilson's brown eyes were full of smiles: "Three Weibo influencers with more than 3 million Weibo fans, 8 newspapers and magazines, 11 portals, 7 of China's most influential film forums, and what is the 'Chinese Buddhist Association'...... We can act together at any time. ”

Edward Dutt nodded with satisfaction, looked at Wilson with a smile and said, "What do the Chinese call these friends of ours?

Edward Dutt pronounced a Chinese pronunciation with ease.

"Comprador!!" Wilson said the Chinese term, and also laughed, "it's the one who took our money and then did things for us......"

"Okay, let's get our comprador friends moving!!" said Edward Dutt, snapping his fingers triumphantly.

On the morning of June 26th, when people opened the newspaper and website, many of the front-page headlines were large

"Profiting by wantonly slandering other people's religious beliefs, "Journey to the West" is a shady movie that smears Buddha, monks, and monks!"

"Distorting the values of the Buddhas, the evil of human nature in "Journey to the West"!"

"Moral degradation, free to spoil the commercial blockbuster of the Buddhist faith. ”

Although the sensational headlines are different, the content of the articles is reprinted from a lengthy commentary on WeChat.

The author of the review is Wei Dechang, the president of the "Chinese Buddhist Association", the largest group of non-governmental Buddhist believers in China, the White Lotus layman.

In his comments, he did everything he could to attack and smear.

"After watching "Journey to the West", people can't hate the 'flower monk' who spends all day drinking and doing mischief, but it will make you question the monks who are pious and faithful and abide by the rules and precepts, this is definitely a movie that misleads everyone to hate Buddhism! It tries to use a so-called love cloak to hide the attack and slander against our Buddhist believers. ”

In the article, the details of the movie "Journey to the West" are explained one by one on how to "smear" Buddhists.

"First of all, Tang Sanzang in history is a very respectable monk, even in "Journey to the West", Tang Sanzang's heart has been distorted to a certain extent, but on the surface, Tang Seng is still a respectable monk. But in "Journey to the West", Tang Seng was portrayed as a monk who was both verbose and spoofed, completely destroying the image of the monk, giving people the impression that the Buddhist monk was nothing more than that.

Secondly, in "Journey to the West", you can see the alienation and ridicule of Buddhas and Bodhisattvas like Guanyin everywhere, and Buddhism has become the object of ridicule in this movie and even a big buying point in the movie.

And when such literary and artistic works are widely watched by the public across the country in a short period of time through film and television media, young people and people who do not understand Buddhist culture will regard the image of the Buddha and Bodhisattva in "Journey to the West" as the real image of the Buddha and Bodhisattva, and the damage to Buddhist culture caused by it is immeasurable.

Finally, and most crucially. "Journey to the West" uses the story of the four Tang monks and apprentices to learn scriptures in the west, telling a so-called romantic love story. But at the heart of this story, it is said that if you convert to Buddhism (the Supreme Treasure wears a golden hoop is the intention to take refuge), you will never have love, you will have to be cold-blooded and ruthless, and even eventually cause the death of a fairy like Zixia.

For many young people, it is very likely that Buddhism will leave the impression in their hearts that Buddhism is so cold, cruel, and impersonal, so as to cut off the source of Chinese Buddhism to expand its followers, and start with young people to attack the development of our Buddhism in China.

It can be seen how heavy the poisonous heart of "Journey to the West" is to my Buddhism, this is to cut off the foundation of my Buddhism in China......"

This series of vicious and sharp accusations, through major media and online platforms, stirred up the emotions of Buddhist believers across the country, and viciously impacted the movie "Journey to the West".

……

What's more serious is that the largest group of folk Buddhist believers in China, the "Huaxia Buddhist Association", also officially announced last night that it would issue a solemn protest to Huaxia ****:

""Journey to the West" seriously distorts the teachings and image of Buddhism, beautifies Buddhist monks who do not abide by the rules of Buddhism, and does not respect the religious beliefs of more than 100 million Buddhist believers in China, causing serious harm to the development of Buddhism in China!

At the same time, the legal department of the "Chinese Buddhist Association" is preparing to go to the Kyoto Intermediate Court to appeal against the Chenjing Film Company.

The film is accused of slandering and smearing Buddhism, seriously affecting the development of Buddhism, and is suspected of violating the Constitution's legal stipulation that no state organ, social group, or individual may discriminate against citizens who believe in religion.

On the same day, in various online video interview programs, many Buddhist believers and Buddhist monks came out to attack "Journey to the West" and insult Buddhism.

In just a few hours, these videos were spread all over QQ groups, Weibo, and forums.

Looking at the netizens who originally praised "Journey to the West", it seems that their faces have suddenly changed.

A large number of netizens suddenly emerged to make all kinds of insults to "Journey to the West", and all their accusations were either about the quality of the movie itself, or around "Journey to the West" disrespecting Buddhism, low morality, grandstanding, etc.

On Tianya Online, there is a post in the comprehensive section that is held high at the top, which is very typical.

A netizen with an ID named "Buddhist Believer" posted: "After watching "Journey to the West", I would like to pay tribute to the director, actors, and all the staff of the crew! This is indeed a good film, with wonderful special effects!

But as a Buddhist, after watching this movie, I can't help but feel very sick and uncomfortable, because the whole film is distorting the teachings of Buddhism and the image of Buddhist monks and bodhisattvas.

Nowadays, even the laws of the country protect our freedom of belief, but Peng Yichen continues to slander and slander the Buddhist faith because of his own selfishness, disrespects the feelings of our Buddhists, and makes movies like "Journey to the West" to collect wealth and satisfy selfish desires.

As a Buddhist, I am here to make a formal declaration. In the future, I will resolutely not watch the movies of Peng Yichen, Gao Jing, Huang Bo, Zhao Jianguo and others!!

Especially Peng Yichen, who is also a screenwriter, director, and starring, must be very hostile to Buddhism, and he won't be able to watch any of his movies in the future!!

I call on all Chinese Buddhist believers to unite and resolutely resist the films of such people!"

A large wave of angry and uncontrollable Buddhists under the post, as if they had said it, collectively replied to the accusation, all of which were aimed at the problem of insulting Buddha in "Journey to the West".

……

On Weibo, a big V who claims to be a disciple of Zen Buddhism - "Fade Zen Master", as well as Liu Xiaoqin, a famous Buddhist star believer and a sister of Lido Film and Television Company, all called for a huge "boycott of "Journey to the West" activity on Weibo.

Even the Zen master Fade called on all believers who follow him to practice meditation to "completely boycott all of Peng Yichen's film and television works!"

This kind of condemnation from the moral high ground made all the fans who supported Peng Yichen dare not refute anything for a while, after all, people who don't know much about Buddhism, it is really unclear whether "Journey to the West" is an insult to Buddhism......

For fans who have watched "Journey to the West", of course, these remarks will not affect their judgment, and they will firmly stand on Peng Yichen's side to support him.

But after all, these people are still a minority on the Internet.

For those who are ready to watch, or are neutral, these abuses can be hugely misleading.

You must know that "Journey to the West" is currently in theaters, and many people who have not seen the film originally planned to go to the cinema to watch this movie.

But when I suddenly saw the vast majority of the media and netizens saying that a movie was "morally corrupt" and "insulting to Buddhism", even if they were not necessarily Buddhist believers, they were still afraid that they would be said to be watching "insulting Buddha movies", and they would have the mentality that more is better than less, and they were no longer willing to watch "Journey to the West".

It seems that in just one day, "Journey to the West" and Peng Yichen were pushed to the opposite side of everyone, and Chen Jing Film Company was caught off guard by this sudden change.

This is exactly what the black hand behind the scenes wants to achieve, that is, to completely stink you from the moral level, even if your movie is good, the audience will not want to watch a movie with bad morals!

……

"It's over! It's over! What the hell is going on?" In the conference room of Chen Jing Film Company, Huang Bo's face was full of excitement.

You must know that he is not only a shareholder of Chen Jing Film Company and one of the leading actors of "Journey to the West", but Peng Yichen is his most iron buddy.

In just one day, the public opinion environment of "Journey to the West" has undergone a 180-degree reversal, and everyone has begun to scold them?

This made Huang Bo really unacceptable.

This is not the most deadly, the real problem is that Gu Jiahui has just called, and the leader of **** has already spoken, asking them to deal with the negative public opinion in society quickly.

Otherwise, once Buddhists get out of control of public opinion, radio and television are likely to forcibly ban the release of "Journey to the West"!

This made Sun Yizou, Yu Jing, and Huang Bo who were present anxious like ants on a hot pot, but Peng Yichen didn't seem to have any mood fluctuations at all, and still sat firmly on the sofa and smiled to see where the other people were in a hurry.

Sun Yizou, who is usually the most calm, is the most anxious at this time.

Because he had been in the Star Flag Country for a long time, he knew how serious it was for a celebrity or a company to be involved in insulting religious beliefs.

Many superstars who have been in the limelight for a while have even been knocked down into the clouds because of this kind of thing, and they will never be able to live forever.

"If this continues, "Journey to the West" may really be suspended. We must find a way to get the 'Chinese Buddhist Association' to withdraw the appeal...... The cost of this movie, we have already recovered it, and it will be stopped when it is stopped. But what I'm most worried about is your reputation......" Sun Yizou said again.

Peng Yichen knew what he wanted to say, because this time those people didn't just say whether the movie "Journey to the West" itself was good or not.

Instead, he directly attacked this movie and insulted Buddha, which has risen to the moral level to condemn the film's main creators, and Maotou even pointed at Peng Yichen himself, who is the screenwriter, director, and starring.

This kind of attack is the most deadly, and it doesn't talk about the level of the movie itself at all, which is to morally condemn you, discredit you, and make the public disgusted with you as a person.

Therefore, now Sun Yizou no longer cares about how much box office "Journey to the West" can get, what he is most concerned about is how to keep Peng Yichen's public image and prevent his reputation from being fatally hit!

What Sun Yizou didn't expect was that at this time, Peng Yichen's face was still calm, with a smile on his face, and said, "Old Sun, now we can make movie copies in large quantities." It is estimated that in the next two days, our box office and film schedule will increase again. This is really a wish-fulfillment, and a good thing is coming!" Peng Yichen said with a smile.

Everyone at the scene looked at him, but no one believed his words, thinking that he was mad.

……