22-10-2011 Self Immolation 自焚

A monk Self Immolated with Fire. Look carefully at the Onlookers/Audience!

Self Immolation

Hello Fa Shi, apa kabar? 
I have question regarding about articles that I read in newspaper yesterday.
It's about Tibetan monks’ anti-Beijing protest, by doing self-immolation. My English not good enough, den I was goggling in the search of the meaning of self-immolation. So it's religious ritual practise by burning themselves. I don't really understand why there are such practise & are committing suicide for religious practise is still be considered as suicide. The newspaper mentioned that Dalai Lama conducted prayers for these young monks. I was curious bcoz our True Buddha School's teaching is another branch of Tibetan Buddhism. My own opinion (for now) is an irresponsible act of young monks to protect their country, I think they're still too young. I'm sorry if I have this kind of thinking. Please enlighten me, Fa Shi. Thank you in advance.. 
Hugs, Van
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Hi dear, how about give me the link to this story. I will check it out n explain to u. Cheers dear. 
U r right they r irresponsible but who plant the idea into their minds?
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Err.. Fa shi, I read about it on the newspaper, not from website. 
I will try to look out for this article in the internet

Fa Shi, I think this article a bit similar with the one that I read yesterday:
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hoJTOXLXvp7W3quh8d91bZAtlBNg?docId=CNG.a746b6390d2f97862120566716983d34.561

This is the list of self-immolator monks:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/tibet/8833267/A-turbulent-year-in-Tibet-timeline.html

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Self-immolation refers to setting oneself on fire, often as a form of protest or for the purposes of martyrdom or suicide. It has centuries-long traditions in some cultures, while in modern times it has become a type of radical political protest.

Etymology
The word "immolate" is used in the English language when denoting consumption by fire, whether autonomously or imposed. The Latin-based English word immolate, which for centuries was rarely used, means sacrifice, without any reference to burning, so more generally self-immolation means suicide without specifying the method. The word itself comes from the Latin "immolare", to sprinkle with meal, in reference to the ritual sprinkling of the heads of sacrificial victims with wine and fragments of mola salsa. It was Western media coverage of Buddhist monks immolating themselves in protest of the South Vietnamese regime in 1963 that introduced the word "self-immolation" to a wide English-speaking audience and gave it a strong association with fire. The alternative name bonzo comes from the same era, because the Buddhist monks who immolated themselves were often referred to by the term bonze in English literature prior to the mid-20th century, particularly when describing monks from East Asia and French Indochina. This term is derived via Portuguese and French from the Japanese word bonsō for a priest or monk, and has become less common in modern literature.

History

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. An article entitled History of Religions, written by Jan Yiin-Hua, investigates the medieval Chinese Buddhist precedents for self-immolation.

Relying exclusively on authoritative Chinese Buddhist texts and, through the use of these texts, interpreting such acts exclusively in terms of doctrines and beliefs (e.g., self-immolation, much like an extreme renunciant might abstain from food until dying, could be an example of disdain for the body in favor of the life of the mind and wisdom) rather than in terms of their socio-political and historical context, the article allows its readers to interpret these deaths as acts that refer only to a distinct set of beliefs that happen to be foreign to the non-Buddhist.

During the Great Schism of the Russian Church, entire villages of Old Believers burned themselves to death in an act known as "fire baptism". Scattered instances of self-immolation have also been recorded by the Jesuit priests of France in the early 17th century. Their practice of this was not intended to be fatal, though. They would burn certain parts of their bodies (limbs such as the forearm or the thigh) to signify the pain Jesus endured while upon the cross. A 1973 study by a prison doctor suggested that people who choose self-immolation as a form of suicide are more likely to be in a "disturbed state of consciousness", such as epilepsy.

Find out more from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Self-immolation

Dear readers, go read up and give your viewpoints please.

Amituofo / Lotuschef / Pure Karma / True Buddha School