In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, usable belongings were carried out by residents from the damaged building in Gedar Township of Damxung County in southwest China's Tibet Autonomous Region, Monday, Oct. 6, 2008. Two earthquakes jolted the capital of Tibet and surrounding areas Monday, killing more than 30 people and collapsing hundreds of houses, Xinhua said (AP Photo/Xinhua, Purbu Zhaxi).
- Below see "Eight Causes of Earthquakes in Buddhism"
State media said soldiers and rescue dogs were searching through rubble for people in Yangyi, the hardest-hit village in Dangxiong County, where the magnitude 6.6 quake struck late Monday afternoon.
The official Xinhua News Agency said nine people were killed in Yangyi. The 10th death was a high school student killed in a stampede in Shan'nan Prefecture, about 120 miles (200 kilometers) southwest of Dangxiong, during a quake evacuation, Xinhua said.
Nineteen people were injured in Yangyi, many with bone fractures, Xinhua said. They were mostly women, children and the elderly because the men were away harvesting and foraging for winter, it said.
About 171 homes were destroyed. Photos on the central government's Web site show piles of concrete — all that remained of collapsed houses — and the exposed roots of trees ripped from the ground.
"Almost all the buildings have collapsed in Yangyi," said Yi Xi, an employee of the Geda Township government, which oversees the village. "I went there earlier and did not see a single one still standing."
"Our efforts are focused on providing them food and shelter," she said in a telephone interview.
Tenzin Chodrak, who escaped because he was putting extra hay into the sheepfold when the quake struck and his home collapsed, told Xinhua his nephew was killed and his mother was injured.
"I can't believe it," Nyima, a Tibetan herder who lost her 2-year-old daughter, was quoted as saying by Xinhua as she wept.
According to the news agency, at least 700 rescuers were working Tuesday, with soldiers putting up more tents hoping to accommodate all the villagers by dusk. Health workers were doing medical checkups and sanitizing the area to prevent epidemics, it said.
Dangxiong County is about 50 miles (80 kilometers) west of the capital city of Lhasa, more than 1,600 miles (2,600 kilometers) from Beijing.
Many families stayed in tents Monday night because they were afraid their homes would fall down. The regional seismological bureau registered 188 aftershocks by 7 a.m. Tuesday (2300 GMT Monday), Xinhua said, including one above magnitude 6.0.
Authorities said Lhasa airport and the Qinghai-Tibet railway — which stretches from western Qinghai province to Tibet — were still operating. Chinese media reports said none of Lhasa's landmarks, such as the Potala Palace and Jokhang Temple, appeared to be damaged.
But schools in the capital were closed Tuesday for safety reasons, Xinhua said. Shops and hotels in Dangxiong County reached by telephone said they were open and business was normal.
China's far west is fairly earthquake-prone. On Sunday, a magnitude-5.7 earthquake shook the Xinjiang region, which borders Tibet, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, which also suffered a 6.6-magnitude quake hours later. At least 60 people were killed when a village collapsed.
A 7.9 magnitude earthquake on May 12 devastated parts of Sichuan province, just east of Tibet, killing 70,000 people and leaving 5 million homeless.
China says Tibet has been part of its territory for centuries but many Tibetans say their homeland was essentially independent for most of that time. On March 14, monk-led protests against Chinese rule turned violent in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa, and ethnic Chinese residents were attacked.
Why do earthquakes happen in Buddhist terms? For the real answer, approach a master or a monk who has attained the fourth jhana and fourth arupa (eight lokiya-samapatti). [That would mean all eight attainments -- the form and formless jhanas.]
Eight Causes of Earthquakes in Buddhism
"This great earth is established upon liquid, the liquid upon the atmosphere, and the atmosphere upon space. And when mighty atmospheric disturbances take place, the liquid is agitated. And with the agitation of the liquid, tremors of the earth arise. This is the first reason, the first cause for the arising of mighty earthquakes.
"When an ascetic or holy person of great power, one who has gained mastery of mind, or a deva (demigod) who is mighty and potent, develops intense concentration on the delimited aspect of the earth element, and to a boundless degree on the liquid element, one, too, causes the earth to tremble, quiver, and shake. This is the second reason, the second cause for the arising of mighty earthquakes.
"When the Bodhisatta [Buddha-to-be] departs from the Tusita Realm and descends into his mother’s womb, mindfully and clearly comprehending; and when the Bodhisatta comes out of his mother’s womb, mindfully and clearly comprehending; and when the Tathagata becomes fully enlightened in unsurpassed, supreme enlightenment; when the Tathagata sets rolling the excellent Wheel of the Dharma; when the Tathagata renounces his will to live on; and when the Tathagata comes to pass away into the state of Nirvana in which no element of clinging remains — this great earth trembles, quivers, and shakes.
"These are the eight reasons, the eight causes for a great earthquake to arise."
(Posted by Sofital)
EDITORIAL: Given the utter rarity of buddhas on earth, if this list were exhaustive, the earth wouldn't have many earthquakes. Or it may be that the first two reasons are the primary causes. Obviously the Buddha was making known how significant it was for a buddha to be present. Beyond that, it stands to reason from what seismological evidence that, in fact, the continents are not on solid ground but on liquid or molten earth. Atmospheric disturbances could include any reverberations.
More interestingly, however, is the potential that Tibetans (Buddhist or Bön) are utilizing iddhi (supernatural powers derived from misuse of jhanic attainments, i.e., "meditative absorptions") to harm or send a harmless but potent message to Beijing. Practicing or misfiring could conceivably have led to an earthquake in Tibet itself. However, there is no evidence of this whatsoever, merely a speculation on the possibility to try to begin to make sense of this tragic event and the recent shocks experienced throughout Asia lately. Free Tibet!
May ALL living beings be well and happy (even the Chinese).
Send complaints, protest-letters, and Sharon Stone style hate-mail for the audacity of editors to so much as suggest the possibility that any Tibetan protester would even dream of following in Milarepa's footsteps in defense of his/her country and the unique Dharma preserved there to: mythinskin@myemail.com
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