Two Tibetan monks in China die after self-immolations

[bangbros]

Two Tibetan monks have died after setting themselves alight in southern China's Sichuan province, reports say.

The monks, aged 20 and 23, set themselves on fire at the Kirti monastery in Aba county, said Radio Free Asia and Free Tibet.

The monastery has been a focal point of protests in recent months.

More than 100 Tibetans, mostly young monks, have set themselves on fire since 2011 - many fatally - in apparent protest against Chinese rule.

The monks, who reports identify as Lobsang Dawa, 20, and Konchog Woeser, 23, set themselves on fire on Wednesday, US-based Radio Free Asia and London-based Free Tibet said.

The monks at the monastery held prayers for the two who died and their bodies were to be cremated on Thursday, Radio Free Asia added.

The majority of the self-immolations since 2011 have taken place in ethnic Tibetan areas outside Tibet, many in Aba county.


Most involved Buddhist monks or nuns calling, Tibetan activist groups say, for greater religious freedom and the return of their exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.

The Chinese government accuses the Dalai Lama of orchestrating the protests, a charge he strongly rejects.

Foreign media are banned from the region, making verifying the self-immolation cases difficult. Chinese state media have confirmed some but not all.

In January, China found two men guilty of inciting immolations in Sichuan, believed to be the first cases since a legal ruling stipulating that anyone aiding immolations would be charged with murder.

Tibetan activists said the men, one of whom received a commuted death sentence and the other 10 years in jail, were forced to confess to the charges.

 

[baajey]

whats so bad about the chinese rule that they need to burn themselves.
sorry i know i m being insensitive, but i am curious .... ppl dont burn themselves until they are in a very ugly situation.
RIP to the dead.
maybe chinese bros cud help my curiosity@Chinese-Dragon

 

[danger007]

every one should condemn chinese expansionism thinking

 

[xuxu1457]

The pics are not from China, look at the Store plaque and Bearded shortest man, Window style are not from China;

Then I search the pics on google, the pics are at Nepal
Breaking: Tibetan monk self-immolates in Nepal - www.phayul.com

 

[qwerrty]

real buddhists do not get involved in politics. those morons are fakes. they can keep on burning themselves..

 

[baajey]

The pics are not from China, look at the Store plaque and Bearded shortest man, Window style are not from China;

Then I search the pics on google, the pics are at Nepal
Breaking: Tibetan monk self-immolates in Nepal - www.phayul.com

so are they protesting against the chinese govt. or nepalese gvt. ??? i m confused.
btw, @xuxu1457, can u explain why all these resentment taking place. i have heard a lot about politics n this n that, but burning oneself (just like suicide bombing but even more painful n gory) needs a huge amount of motivation and reason. I suppose that u are an insider and u would know more about than most of other non-chinese members here.
thanks in advance.

 

[baajey]

real buddhists do not get involved in politics. those morons are fakes. they can keep on burning themselves..

fakes DONT burn themselves to prove a point. they maybe dumber than the dumbest to self immolate, but not fakes. Please dont troll to collect a few thanks.

 

[qwerrty]

fakes DONT burn themselves to prove a point. they maybe dumber than the dumbest to self immolate, but not fakes. Please dont troll to collect a few thanks.

go read about bhudism first. what they do are the opposite of buddha teaching..

 

[xuxu1457]

so are they protesting against the chinese govt. or nepalese gvt. ??? i m confused.
btw, @xuxu1457, can u explain why all these resentment taking place. i have heard a lot about politics n this n that, but burning oneself (just like suicide bombing but even more painful n gory) needs a huge amount of motivation and reason. I suppose that u are an insider and u would know more about than most of other non-chinese members here.
thanks in advance.

Do you believe that: police, Rescue team and a younger's mother at one temple door， confrontation with temple, for one younger want Self-burning at one eld monk's persuasion， his mother call for police;
Self-burning happened in Sichuan nere one temple, the former Abbot of the temple was the secretary of Dalai Lama, has Continuing impact to the temple, and even spend money to buy Self-burning and take video, pictures, send to abroad.

They are told that their name will stay on Self-immolation Heroes Monument in India, Dalai will pride them as hero. in 2013.02.19, 3 children Self-burning again, one 15 years old, one 16 years old died, another 17 years old children regreted and call for police, police arrested the 15 years old child's uncle and another monk
http://www.chinapeace.org.cn/2013-03/19/content_7045851.htm

Who take the photos???? So nere, see one live self-burning????

Dalai should stop advising people to self-immolation, and stop declare that self-immolation is in line with Buddhist teachings

 

[baajey]

go read about bhudism first. what they do are the opposite of buddha teaching..

sorry to quote you. if u have nothing to add to this sensitive issue then plz dont quote me. wat u said in ur earlier post was clearly offensive.

 

[DESERT FIGHTER]

Suicide = cowardice.

 

[baajey]

Do you believe that: police, Rescue team and a younger's mother at one temple door， confrontation with temple, for one younger want Self-burning at one eld monk's persuasion， his mother call for police;
Self-burning happened in Sichuan nere one temple, the former Abbot of the temple was the secretary of Dalai Lama, has Continuing impact to the temple, and even spend money to buy Self-burning and take video, pictures, send to abroad.

They are told that their name will stay on Self-immolation Heroes Monument in India, Dalai will pride them as hero. in 2013.02.19, 3 children Self-burning again, one 15 years old, one 16 years old died, another 17 years old children regreted and call for police, police arrested the 15 years old child's uncle and another monk
??????????? _??

this is preposterous ........
nothing...n i mean nothing should be reason enuf to burn children.
i would rather burn the monument which glorifies self immolation in such ways.
still.....why do u think the series of self immolations began??? were they protesting the chinese occupation or incitement of the tibetan leaders to gain political mileage???

Suicide = cowardice.

yes definitely. whether they are the monks in tibet or in dusty roads of afghanistan.

 

[djsjs]

bad news .only two.those who want to suicide should act together.
their lives worth nothing for me.

 

[JSCh]

Self-immolation - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Self-immolation refers to setting oneself on fire, often as a form of protest or for the purposes of martyrdom. It has centuries-long traditions in some cultures, while in modern times it has become a type of radical political protest. Michael Biggs compiled a list of 533 "self-immolations" reported by Western media from the 1960s to 2002, though in this work his definition is generalized to any intentional suicide "on behalf of a collective cause."

Self-immolation is tolerated by some elements of Mahayana Buddhism and Hinduism, and it has been practiced for many centuries, especially in India, for various reasons, including Sati, political protest, devotion, and renouncement. Certain warrior cultures, such as in the Charans and Rajputs, also practiced self-immolation.

Self-immolation has a long history in Chinese Buddhism. The relevant terms are: wangshen Chinese: 亡身 "lose the body" or Chinese: 忘身 "forget the body", yishen Chinese: 遺身 "abandon the body", and sheshen Chinese: 捨身 "give up the body". James A. Benn explains the semantic range of Chinese Buddhist self-immolation.

But "abandoning the body" also covers a broad range of more extreme acts (not all of which necessarily result in death): feeding one's body to insects; slicing off one's flesh; burning one's fingers or arms; burning incense on the skin; starving, slicing, or drowning oneself; leaping from cliffs or trees; feeding one's body to wild animals; self-mummification (preparing for death so that the resulting corpse is impervious to decay); and of course, auto-cremation.[9]

Jimmy Yu has shown that self-immolation cannot be interpreted based on Buddhist doctrine and beliefs alone but the practice must be understood in the larger context of the Chinese religious landscape. He examines many primary sources from the 16th and 17th century and demonstrates that bodily practices of self-inflicted violence, including self-immolation, was ritually performed not only by Buddhists but also by Daoists and literati officials who either exposed their naked body to the sun in a prolonged period of time as a form of self-sacrifice or burned themselves as a method of procuring rain [19] In other words, self-immolation was a sanctioned part of Chinese culture that was public, scripted, and intelligible both to the person doing the act and to those who viewed and interpreted it, regardless of their various religion affiliations.

The widespread coverage of the self-immolations of the Buddhist monks in western media established the practice as a type of a political protest. Self-immolations are often public, dramatic, political, and thus newsworthy. They can be seen as a type of altruistic suicides for the collective cause. Unlike suicide attacks, self-immolations are not intended to inflict physical harm or material damage.

The practice continues with India leading – as many as 1,451 and 1,584 self-immolations have been reported in 2000 and 2001, respectively.[25] A particularly high wave of self-immolations in India has been recorded in 1990 protesting the Reservation in India.[1] Tamil Nadu has the highest number of self-immolations in India till date.It is considered to be the capital of Self-immolation in India

Since 2009, at least 101 [26] Tibetans have self-immolated, more than 40 have died [27][28][29] in parts of China since 2011.[30] [31] [32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39][40][41] The Dalai Lama has said he does not encourage the protests, but he has praised the courage of those who engage in self-immolation. However, the Chinese government claims that he and the Tibetan exiled government are inciting these acts.[42]

A wave of self-immolation protests occurred in conjunction with the Arab Spring protests in the Middle East and North Africa, with at least 14 recorded incidents. These actions helped inspire the Arab Spring, including the 2010–2011 Tunisian revolution, the main catalyst of which was the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi, the 2011 Algerian protests (including many self-immolations in Algeria), and the 2011 Egyptian revolution. There have also been self-immolation protests in Saudi Arabia, Mauritania, and Syria.[43][44]

 

[A1Kaid]

This may inspire many young Indians to join their cause.