This article is interesting and I have highlighted some keywords/statements.
I sincerely wish that all Cultivators bear in mind your knowledge of Buddhist teachings/ philosophy and read this article thoroughly.
I wish to hear your comments thereafter.
Amituofo / Lotuschef / Pure Karma / True Buddha School
Friday, November 4, 9:21 AM
Eleven Tibetans have set fire to themselves in eastern
Tibet since March. Six have died. The Chinese government describes them as “terrorists in
disguise.”
The reality is that their desperate acts were a scathing
indictment of the People’s Republic of China’s rule in occupied Tibet. They
highlight the dramatic struggle for survival as a people with a unique culture and
identity.
Tibetans in exile
have reacted to the pain and suffering inside Tibet, particularly in the Ngaba
and Karze areas, where most of these self-immolations have occurred, with
horror and anxiety. The monks and nuns who immolated themselves were sacrificing their
bodies to draw the world’s attention to Chinese repression in Tibet.
The immolators acted on behalf of Tibet and the Tibetan people,
and their intention was to harm no one else. This painful and sad action emerges from
their anguish; they live in a climate of fear and have no other means of expressing
themselves.
The Tibetan leadership in exile does not encourage self-immolation
or protests inside Tibet because China only responds with more repression. It also heaps blame
on the protesters. Instead of dousing the fire, Chinese authorities beat the
first immolator, who died partly because of those injuries.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama has
consistently appealed to Tibetans not to resort to such desperate acts. In
2008, for example, His Holiness the Dalai Lama asked Tibetans to cease the
hunger strikes they were staging in response to China’s repressive policies.
As Tibet’s political leader, I also have appealed to exiled
Tibetans to end their unto-death hunger strikes because we need them to protect and
preserve our cultural and national identity, and to ensure the
strength of our movement worldwide.
We urge Tibetans in and outside our homeland
to focus on secular and monastic education. Highly educated professionals and
learned monks will provide the human resources and the capability to strengthen
and sustain our movement.
We must focus on the cause of the recent tragedies: the continuing
occupation of Tibet and the Chinese policies of political repression, cultural
assimilation, economic marginalization, and environmental destruction.
China risks further escalation by tightening the measures that led
to the protests. During and after the uprising of 2008, the Chinese government
imposed undeclared martial law in Tibet and carried out harsh actions,
particularly in monasteries. Following the death of 20-year Kirti monk Lobsang
Phuntsog in March of this year, the authorities cracked down even more tightly
in Ngaba, virtually occupying the monastery, banning religious ceremonies, and
imprisoning and torturing an unknown number of monks. They even forbade
possession of a photo of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
In exile, we support those in Tibet who are on the front lines of protecting their
religious and cultural integrity; we try to ensure that their voices
are heard by the world community. On Oct. 19, we organized a day-long prayer
and fast, in accordance with our Buddhist traditions, in solidarity with those
who self-immolated. It is our responsibility make sure that that the calls
those Tibetans for restoration of freedom
are heard, and their sacrifices are
not in vain.
It is clear that the root of the self-immolations is the continuing
occupation of Tibet. His Holiness the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan administration are
not the problem but the solution.
We urge the United Nations and the international community to send fact-finding delegations to Tibet and
view the situation firsthand. Independent media and liberal Chinese
intellectuals should also be allowed access. The international community
must press the government of the People’s Republic of China to
restore freedom and resolve the issue of Tibet through dialogue for the mutual
benefit of the Tibetan and Chinese peoples.
The writer is Tibet’s Kalon Tripa, or prime minister, leader of
the Tibetan government in exile.
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