Welcome home! Please contact lincoln@icrontic.com if you have any difficulty logging in or using the site. New registrations must be manually approved which may take several days. Can't log in? Try clearing your browser's cookies.
Another Tibetan monk sets himself on fire.
Cinorjer
Veteran
From The Raw Story, http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/10/03/another-tibetan-monk-sets-himself-on-fire-in-china-report/
A young Tibetan monk tried to set himself on fire in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan on Monday while holding a photograph of the Dalai Lama, AsiaNews said, citing sources in the Tibetan government in exile in India...As he burned, Kalsang, 17 or 18 years old, was holding a photograph of the Dalai Lama and calling for rights and religious freedom in Tibet. The police put out the flames, but the conditions of the young monk from Kirti are still unknown,” it added.
It goes on to point out this is the fifth monk that has set himself on fire this year. A young man, really still a boy? And the spokesman for the "Free Tibet" movement had the usual political "It's unfortunate, and we hope it stops...but it can only be stopped if the international community puts pressure on China." What nonsense! Do the monks take vows of obedience or don't they? The senior monks need only order them not to do this.
What is the Dalai Lama thinking? He needs to immediately issue a stern command that no more monks set themselves on fire in his name or the name of Tibet. Instead, we get excuses and young men try to kill themselves.
The world needs live monks, not dead ones. We have enough urns full of ashes. The Dalai needs to do more than make an occasional comment that "suicide is wrong". He needs to step up and stop letting people blame China for suicide. That is not Buddhism, either, to blame others for your actions.
A young Tibetan monk tried to set himself on fire in the southwestern Chinese province of Sichuan on Monday while holding a photograph of the Dalai Lama, AsiaNews said, citing sources in the Tibetan government in exile in India...As he burned, Kalsang, 17 or 18 years old, was holding a photograph of the Dalai Lama and calling for rights and religious freedom in Tibet. The police put out the flames, but the conditions of the young monk from Kirti are still unknown,” it added.
It goes on to point out this is the fifth monk that has set himself on fire this year. A young man, really still a boy? And the spokesman for the "Free Tibet" movement had the usual political "It's unfortunate, and we hope it stops...but it can only be stopped if the international community puts pressure on China." What nonsense! Do the monks take vows of obedience or don't they? The senior monks need only order them not to do this.
What is the Dalai Lama thinking? He needs to immediately issue a stern command that no more monks set themselves on fire in his name or the name of Tibet. Instead, we get excuses and young men try to kill themselves.
The world needs live monks, not dead ones. We have enough urns full of ashes. The Dalai needs to do more than make an occasional comment that "suicide is wrong". He needs to step up and stop letting people blame China for suicide. That is not Buddhism, either, to blame others for your actions.
0
Comments
I've read on a times article that the Dalai Lama also urged rich Tibetans to spend less money on funding more temples, but start using some of it to build hospital etc.
I suppose like most cases, we change our circumstances to change from bad to good. My personal opinion is that adapt is a better option than fighting.
At the end of the day, world opinion and hippie/musician activists won't be the important factor that improve the situation for the Tibetans. It's the local Chinese opinion that can improve the Tibetan situation. If more Chinese people can rediscover their Buddhist roots, the whole opinion for Tibet would change.
The opinion of ordinary Chinese has been slowly changing in favor of Tibet. The Dalai Lama has said more Chinese are coming to Dharamsala to see him, and they approach him in other parts of the world when they see him. Also, during the crisis in 2008, the protests throughout Tibetan areas of China, there were mainland Chinese who were blogging from outside China, in favor of Tibet. But as in the US, I think whose opinion ultimately matters is the government leadership's. US citizens were not for the wars in the Near East, but the government started and continues those wars anyway. It's not enough to win over public opinion.
Countries behave like people, how many people admit their mistakes and advice that they need to change or their views are not the healthiest option?