KUNMING - "Chen Fen", a 43-year-old woman who has been fighting HIV for 16 years, projects an image of energy and vitality, despite being weakened by her affliction. The source of her strength isn't a new pill or medication, but an ancient religious belief.

"I simply practice what the Buddhist monks suggest: to keep a peaceful mentality and never make futile efforts to worry about the future," she says.

Chen lives in the Xishuangbanna Dai autonomous prefecture in southwest China's Yunnan province. The province registered 83,925 HIV carriers and AIDS patients as of the end of last year, the most of any Chinese province or region.

In Xishuangbanna, more than 300,000 residents, most of whom belong to the Dai and Blang ethnic groups, believe in Theravada, a prevalent school of Buddhism. The prefecture has a total of 1,784 HIV/AIDS patients, and the number is expected to rise in coming years.

Chen and other HIV/AIDS patients in the region have benefited from a local program in which Buddhist monks have been mobilized to provide care for patients and promote knowledge of the disease in order to curb new infections.

The "Home of Buddha Glory" program was launched in 2003 with funding from the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund and the assistance of the prefecture's Buddhist association.

Through the program, hundreds of HIV/AIDS patients, including both Buddhist believers and non-believers, regularly gather to listen to the preaching of monks and chat with each other at Zongfo Monastery, located in Xishuangbanna.

"The place really feels like a home," Chen says, adding that although she is not a believer, she has learned how to live a positive life from the monks.

Guidance for sufferers

Du Hanting, the deputy abbot of Zongfo Monastery and a senior participant in the program, first heard about AIDS when he was studying in Thailand 20 years ago.

At that time, he noticed that his counterparts in Thailand often volunteered to provide funeral services to a group of "special" deceased.

"I was shocked when I was told they all died of an incurable disease called AIDS. Because of it, many elders had to watch their children die," ?he said.

Later, he learned that the epidemic can cause societal burdens, leaving many families impoverished and robbing children of their parents' care. Du joined Home of Buddha Glory in 2003 after returning to Xishuangbanna.

"Monks serve as people's spiritual leaders and should guide them through hardship," Du said in response to doubts over monks' involvement in secular affairs.

A key part of the monks' job is to reduce stress and anxiety for HIV/AIDS patients. People with the disease often deal with significant amounts of stress and mental anguish. In extreme cases, some patients even intend to seek revenge by passing on the virus to others or harming those who transmitted the disease, according to Du.

"I told them that if you do harm to others, you have no way of escaping the consequences," he said.

The monks also help families to treat their HIV-positive members with an open mind and reduce their fear of being infected. A lack of HIV/AIDS knowledge has led to some patients being chastised by their families or even driven out of their homes.

"We often talk and have dinner with patients in front of their family members to show that the virus won't be transmitted through daily behavior," he says.

To reduce the families' economic burden, program employees have been trying to link patients up with existing social welfare programs and offer them job opportunities.

Anti-AIDS education

In addition to offering mental care to patients, the monks are also engaged in anti-AIDS education and awareness-raising programs in rural areas in Xishuangbanna, where 70 percent of HIV patients became infected through sexual contact.

Since talking about sex is taboo for Buddhist monks, they are only expected to give a general admonition and leave secular employees of the program to discuss preventive measures against HIV/AIDS.

The monks try to convince people to stay away from risky sexual behavior by citing Buddhist disciplines.

"We educate people with two of the five basic disciplines of Buddhism - not to be lustful and not to drink," Du says.

The work of educating the populace about HIV/AIDS is tireless, according to Ai Hanen, the head of Home of Buddha Glory's operations.

"Many Dai (ethnic minority) people who live in remote villages are so poorly educated that they can read neither Chinese words nor Dai words," Ai said.

Employees of the program are working on a compact disc that will include educational songs and lectures recorded in plain language. They believe the practice will be well-received by the Dai people, who generally have trouble understanding intricate medical terminology.

The role of religion in anti-AIDS efforts can also be seen in northwest China's Ningxia Hui autonomous region, which is home to the country's largest Muslim community.

Imams from mosques in Ningxia preach about the dangers of risky behavior, such as contact with commercial sex workers and drug abuse, by defining them as violations of Islamic doctrine. ' ?

"The imams once traveled all the way to our monastery to see what they could learn," Ai said.