Buddhist Nun in New York refuses plea deal

Thanks to Arun for bringing this to attention.

Recently Ven. Hong Yuan (Baojing Li), a Buddhist Nun from Atlanta traveled to New York in hope of gathering enough donations to help support her home temple which had burned down. She stood on the street and handed out malas to people as they dropped donations in a tin can. She was arrested and detained without an interpreter, and could face a hefty fine and even jail time for being an unlicensed vendor. This is incredibly ridiculous and prejudice being displayed here is more than obvious. As Li’s lawyer has said “If this was a Catholic nun in a habit giving out rosary beads, I can’t imagine a police officer in the City of New York arresting her.”

Ven. Hong Yuan has refused a plea deal that would have her plead guilty to disorderly conduct and sentence her to 1 day of community service. So it is really up to the District Attorney at this point to realize how unjust this case really is. How can you help?

Well, the DA’s office has a Facebook account which I’m sure would welcome your comments…

And for those of you on Twitter, the DA’s office has an account: @manhattanDA

Hopefully this can be resolved soon and Ven. Hong Yuan can find her way back home to rebuild her temple once her work is complete in New York.

Cheers.