Monday, March 21, 2011

Tibetans voting; Self-immolation protest



(WQ) The child novice (not monk) who set himself on fire protesting China's invasion and five decades of occupation and commemorating the third anniversary of the Tibetan riots was cremated on Saturday as the world continued to roil in turmoil. Suicide under any pretext is not advocated by Buddhism. But a Mahayana text may inadvertently cause people to imagine it a heroic act.

Toronto Tibetans vote for new gov't
CBC News (March 21, 2011)
Tibetan Buddhist monks and exiles are voting during the final round to choose the next exile Tibetan prime minister as well as the members of the Tibetan parliament-in-exile in Dharmsala, India. More than 1,000 Canadian-Tibetans took to the polls on yesterday in Toronto's west end to vote for a new government in exile, a move that comes only weeks after the Dalai Lama announced he is stepping down as political leader. The 76-year-old Nobel Peace laureate has said he will continue to be the Tibetan Buddhist spiritual leader but wants a new political leader to take up the Tibetans' cause. More>>

Cremation for Tibetan protester
PTI/MSN, (March 19, 2011)
BEIJING, China - A 16-year-old Tibetan Buddhist monk, who died after setting himself on fire in China during an anti-government protest coinciding with the third anniversary of the Lhasa riots, was cremated today.

Rigzin Phuntsog, a [novice following Ten Precepts, the first of which is not to kill and if one does, one immediately takes oneself out of the Buddhist monastic Order] at Kirti Monastery, set himself on fire in Aba Tibetan-Qiang Autonomous Prefecture in southwest Sichuan Province was cremated in accordance with Tibetan rituals, the official Xinhua news agency reported.

Rigzin Phuntsog was rushed to a nearby hospital after setting himself on fire. However, a group of monks from Kirti Monastery forcibly took him out and hid him inside the monastery, the report quoted officials as saying. The monks finally allowed Rigzin Phuntsog's mother to take him to hospital again, after long hours of negotiations.

The [novice, since one needs to be 20-years-old to receive full ordination as a Buddhist "monk"] died on early Thursday, the officials said."The hospital tried its best. Five or six doctors gave him emergency treatments. But it was too late since the treatment was delayed for 11 hours," the report quoted monk's father... More>>

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