Follow Up: Buddhist Nun Arrested for Handing Out Prayer Beads

When I saw this story for the first time back in June, I was so shocked and angry at the unjust treatment of Buddhist nun Venerable Hong Yuan (she is referred by most news media by her non- Buddhist name, Baojing Li) at the hands of the NYPD. On June 2, 2011 the NYPD arrested in Chinatown on the busy street corner of Canal and Motts for handing out prayer beads to supporters who donated to her fund to rebuild her burned down temple back in Georgia (they claimed she was "hawking costume jewelry"-the NYPD at its finest). Though Venerable Hong Yuan could not speak English, many bystanders explained to the police the true nature of what she was doing, but all of the witnesses' pleas fell on deaf ears. Hong Yuan was subsequently detained for at least four hours without having anyone in the department explain to her what she had done wrong. For more on the original story go here.

FOLLOW UP: On July 8th, 2011 Venerable Hong Yuan refused to take a plea bargain that would require her to perform one day of community service and has asked the judge for the case to be dismissed. As of now the DA has not dropped the case yet. For the full update go here.

Baojing Li, 48, refused to plead guilty to disorderly conduct after she was arrested for selling prayer beads on Canal St. (DNAinfo/Shayna Jacobs)

Read more: http://www.dnainfo.com/20110708/downtown/buddhist-nun-refuses-take-plea-deal-for-selling-prayer-beads#ixzz1STwVfJrf

This case can really be defined by how her lawyer Robert Brown bluntly states it: "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."

So kudos to the Venerable Hong Yuan for standing up for herself, because its not she who needs to do community service but obviously the NYPD that needs to be educated about diversity in the community! Hopefully the DA wills top wasting tax payer money to prosecute an innocent person on the count of the NYPD's mistakes.