Editing Ching Hai (section)

==Corporate operations==
Ching Hai is the founder of the [[Loving Hut]] restaurant chain, which in 2017 had 200 locations in 35 countries worldwide.<ref name=childs/> The restaurants are run on a franchise basis, with devotees managing each one and most workers belonging to the movement.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Twist|first=Amanda van Eck Duymaer van|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ksoFDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA137|title=Minority Religions and Fraud: In Good Faith|date=2016-04-22|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-317-09574-3|pages=137–138|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=New religious movements: alternative religions serving up innovations in food and faith|url=https://english.religion.info/2014/11/15/new-religious-movements-alternative-religions-serving-up-innovations-in-food-and-faith/|access-date=2021-12-31|website=ReligiScope}}</ref><ref>{{Citation|last=Goldman|first=Marion S.|title=Food, Faith and Fraud in Two New Religious Movements|date=2014|url=https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315595535-8/food-faith-fraud-two-new-religious-movements-marion-goldman|work=Minority Religions and Fraud|pages=135–152|publisher=Routledge|doi=10.4324/9781315595535-8|isbn=978-1-315-59553-5|access-date=2021-12-31|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

Her organization's numerous websites are offered in 17 languages. The Celestial Shop "includes a line of Celestial apparel and Celestial jewelry designed by the Master".<ref name=thornton08/>

Liam D. Murphy, professor of [[anthropology]] at [[California State University, Sacramento|California State]] has stated that "Ching Hai is a textbook example of what [[Social science|social scientists]] call a [[Charismatic authority|charismatic prophet]]" and that the [[Religious abuse|abuse of power]] over her own members in Loving Hut is a hypothetical possibility "If anyone is in danger...it is usually their own members". Murphy states that the proper term for her movement is not "[[cult]]," but more accurately a [[new religious movement]]".<ref>{{Cite web|date=2010-12-28|title=Know thy master|url=https://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/content/know-thy-master/1896856/|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-01|website=[[News & Review]]|language=en|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210226102213/https://www.newsreview.com/sacramento/content/know-thy-master/1896856/ |archive-date=26 February 2021 }}</ref> The ''Database of Religious History'' ([[University of British Columbia]]), states regarding Ching Hai's movement "Does the religious group actively [[Proselytism|proselytize]] and recruit new members: No." with [[subject-matter expert]], anthropologist Stephen Christopher commentating "Not really. Of course Ching Hai herself uses 24 hour satellite TV programming to reach out to potential new recruits. It is more often the case that among the [[Five precepts|Five Precepts]] the [[edict]] of veganism is most actively promoted as lifestyle worth spreading among non-believers".<ref name="Christopher">{{Cite web|last=Christopher|first=Stephen|title=Supreme Master Ching Hai World Society (General Variables/Group interaction)|url=https://religiondatabase.org/browse/570/#/|url-status=live|access-date=2022-01-04|website=religiondatabase.org|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220104024742/https://religiondatabase.org/browse/570/ |archive-date=4 January 2022 }}</ref> Christopher writes "The debate about the legitimacy of Ching Hai largely plays out through [[Internet forum|cyber forums]] from [[YouTube]] videos to [[Anti-cult movement|cult warning websites]]. [[Christian mission]]ary groups are particularly interested in debunking Ching Hai even though they may have no direct contact with the organization. These online forums often devolve into misunderstanding and exaggeration and Ching Hai adherents often express hurt and disappointment when they discover such material. Conversely, some adherents have disaffiliated after encountering anti-Ching Hai material".<ref name="Christopher"/>

In 2017, [[Yahoo.com]] reported that Chuck McLean, senior research fellow at [[GuideStar]], reviewed the [[Form 990|990s]] of two of the largest American chapters of the group: Los Angeles, which reports over $1.2 million in assets -- more than any other chapter in the US -- and San Jose, the parent organization of more than a dozen chapters across the country. "Taking their Forms 990 at face value, it seems unlikely that anyone is enriching themselves financially through these organizations&nbsp;... I don't know what the associated business interests are about, but it appears that they give almost all of their money to legitimate causes."<ref name=childs>{{cite news |last1=Childs |first1=Morgan |title=The Vegan Chain That Might Be a Cult |url=https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/vegan-chain-might-cult-173156426.html |access-date=6 February 2020 |work=[[Yahoo.com]] |date=13 April 2017 |archive-date=6 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200206173837/https://www.yahoo.com/lifestyle/vegan-chain-might-cult-173156426.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

=== International organizations ===
[[File:Supreme Master Ching Hai Int'l Asso Publishing 20131120.jpg|thumb|The Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association Publishing Co. was founded on 1st Fl., No.236, Songshan Rd., [[Xinyi District, Taipei]], [[Taiwan]].]]

Ching Hai has founded organizations including the Supreme Master Ching Hai International, World Peace Media, Oceans of Love Entertainment and [[Supreme Master Television]].

In late 2008, Ching Hai launched a media campaign in Australia and New Zealand asking people to "Be Green, Go Veg, Save the Planet".<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/bleak-days-at-cape-grim-as-beef-bashed/story-e6frg6ox-1225791165315| title = Bleak days at Cape Grim as beef bashed | work= [[The Australian]]| date = 26 October 2009| access-date  = 15 December 2009}}</ref>

The Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association has made submissions to the [[Garnaut Climate Change Review]], advocating large cuts to livestock production. Hai is in favor of a [[meat tax]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=3 December 2011 |title=Go vegan, save the world |url=https://www.news24.com/news24/go-vegan-save-the-world-20150429 |access-date=2023-06-11 |website=[[News24 (website)|News24]] |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Animal-people Meat Tax Is Critical for a Vegan World - English |url=https://suprememastertv.com/en1/v/203171981606.html |access-date=2023-06-11 |website=suprememastertv.com |language=en-US}}</ref>

According to political scientist Patricia Thornton at the [[University of Oxford]], the Ching Hai World Society's heavy reliance on the internet for text distribution, recruitment and information-sharing, marks the group as a transnational [[cybersect]].<ref name=thornton08/> Thornton claimed that the source of income behind Hai's numerous business ventures is unknown<ref name=thornton08/> and that much of the media produced by her television programmes is heavily self-referential and promotional and aims to "build a public record of recognition for group activities."<ref name = thornton08/>

Anthropologist Saskia Abrahms-Kavunenko at [[Max Weber Center for Advanced Cultural and Social Studies]] stated that similar to the [[Ravi Shankar (spiritual leader)|Ravi Shankar]] movement, Ching Hai's group generally does not self identify as a religion and are very [[ecumenical]]. Abrahms-Kavunenko has also noted that while in the field in [[Mongolia]], Hai's group especially via ''[[Supreme Master Television]]'' 24 hour broadcast is influencing many Buddhists ideas on meditation and enlightenment, even though they are not sure of the authenticity of her claims.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Abrahms-Kavunenko |first1=Saskia |title=Enlightenment and the Gasping City: Mongolian Buddhism at a Time of Environmental Disarray |date=2019 |publisher=Cornell University Press |isbn=978-1-5017-3766-4 |pages=187, 193 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i-KEDwAAQBAJ&q=+%22ching+hai%22&pg=PA193 |access-date=3 February 2020 |language=en}}</ref>

In ''Prominent Nuns: Influential Taiwanese Voices'' ([[CrossCurrents]] 2011), Religious studies [[Research associate]] Jennifer Eichman of the ''Centere of Buddhist Studies'' at [[SOAS University of London]] summarizes: While to some, Ching Hai's movement is considered Buddhist [[Heresy]] and to others a [[New Age]] religious organization. Accusations of being a [[Cult]] group have been made repeatedly over the years, especially in newspaper articles and by cult watchers. Ching Hai's response to this accusation is that participants were free to leave at any time.<ref name=eichman/>

In Eichman's own view, as infuriating as Hai's persona, her materialism and unsystematic religious synthesizing is to the Taiwanese Buddhist community and to others who have called her a cult leader, when her Buddhist roots are set aside and  her work is compared to that of an ever-changing array of self-made gurus, spiritual guides and newly formed religions that make up the New Age marketplace, it becomes evident that Ching Hai's work is neither the most radical nor innovative. She states that the controversies swirling around Ching Hai should not stop us from noting just how gutsy it was for her to strike out on her own, and with her unusual prominence as a female spiritual leader, Ching Hai in effect demonstrates her ability to compete in a spiritual arena dominated largely by men. And we should be open to the idea that not all female leaders will remain within the religious mainstream.<ref name=eichman/>