BEIJING — China's burgeoning #MeToo movement saw its most explosive allegations yet this week after one of the country's top Buddhist monks was accused of using his position to threaten and coerce nuns into having sex with him.

Abbot Xuecheng and his temple have vehemently denied accusations that he sent explicit text messages and used "mind control" over his disciples.

Xuecheng and the Longquan Temple, where he is based in Beijing, said the whistleblowers who reported the allegations had "forged materials, distorted the facts, disseminated false reports and framed the eminent Buddhist monk."

Xuecheng, 51, is president of the Buddhist Association of China and an adviser to the government. He has more than 1 million followers on China's Twitter-like Weibo social network.

Like most Buddhist monks he has taken a vow of celibacy.

The allegations came to light after one of the nuns allegedly showed some of the text messages to two monks from the temple. The monks, Shi Xianjia and Shi Xianqi, subsequently compiled a 95-page report and sent it to government officials. It was widely circulated online Wednesday.