Reuters publishes my thoughts on Tibetan self-immolation
Reuters have published an article in which I talk about my feelings towards self-immolation. I hope that my words will go some way towards discouraging more people from engaging in such self-harm.
Of all the social justice movements in the world, the Tibetan cause has come to be known for its non-violent nature. In fact, it’s so famous for this that the leader of the Tibetans who is His Holiness the Dalai Lama has won a Nobel Peace Prize for his advocacy of non-violence and refusal to engage in violent methods. Also, the Tibetan people who are famously Buddhist, theoretically abhor violence and killing. So that is why the image of a Tibetan self-immolating is incongruous with what we have come to expect of the community.
Yet in recent years, there has been an increasing number of Tibetans expressing their desperation through self-immolations. As of 2018, over 150 Tibetans have chosen to take their own lives in the name of Tibet and it troubles me that there doesn’t seem to be an end to this. Why? Because the Tibetans who have taken their own lives claim they are doing so to draw people’s attention to the topic of Tibet, since there has not been any progress with the so-called Tibetan cause for the last 60 years. Out of desperation and lacking any other method to express themselves, they have had to resort to this. Knowing their reasons for self-immolation, the logical conclusion is that there won’t be an end to these acts of self-harm any time soon because nothing has changed in the Tibetan political landscape. The Tibetan leadership continues to criticise China, as they have done for 60 years. Likewise, as the Chinese have also done for 60 years, they continue to ignore the Tibetans and instead, befriend every other nation in the world. In this way, as time goes on, the Tibetan leadership is finding they have fewer and fewer supporters.
Instead of emphatically discouraging self-immolation, the Tibetan leadership exploits the suffering and sacrifice of their people for short-term financial gains.
Nevertheless, one of the most disturbing aspects of the self-immolations is besides the fact that people are taking their own lives, the Tibetan leadership continues to stay silent and not speak out to discourage such acts of self-harm. And when they do speak out, it’s half-hearted, not strong or firm. It is almost as though they condone and support these acts through their silence. Although the Tibetan leadership are silent however, other people ARE choosing to speak, for example Reuters, a news agency with an international reputation of providing accurate and timely articles. Their latest article brings much-needed attention to this issue. I thank Reuters from the bottom of my heart for sharing my message, one that I hope will cross many boundaries and platforms to reach all sectors of our global society. Reuters’ unbiased reporting has earned them a well-deserved reputation amongst the media and their sharing of this message is a testament to their journalistic integrity and their intent and reliability to spread news and awareness governing all walks of life.
I don’t ordinarily comment on political matters but for me, the topic of self-immolations is not a political matter. As a Tibetan Buddhist monk, when I observe other people taking their own lives, whatever their reasons, I have to do my best to say something to discourage it. Tibet is majority Buddhist therefore we believe in karma, which is the law of cause and effect. Whatever actions we commit, some are inherently negative while others are inherently positive, whatever the motivation might be. Killing oneself is considered to carry the same negative karma as destroying the life of someone else. It is heavily frowned upon and discouraged within Buddhism to take one’s own life. One should preserve one’s life as well as the lives of others, including that of animals. Therefore, the Tibetan leadership as well as high profile religious figures within Tibetan Buddhism should really produce information, pamphlets, websites and videos to educate the Tibetan populace to not harm themselves or take their lives using Buddhist principles as this will appeal to them. I would, in all humility, request His Holiness the Dalai Lama to speak much more firmly and strongly in asking Tibetans not to destroy their own lives and to achieve their cause through peaceful means. So please forgive me if I have said anything to offend you as it was not my intention.
I humbly request the Tibetan leadership and governments around the world to end needless suffering. Please be more compassionate. Please open your hearts. Please use love, compassion and wisdom to heal conflicts and make the world a better place. We can find more positive ways of making change in society. We must all educate people on this strongly and stop all acts of self-harm which cause more suffering on top of what people already face in life.
I offer my heartfelt and deepest prayers for all those who have self-immolated for a cause they strongly believe in. I send my heartfelt prayers, tears and anguish along with condolences to their families and friends.
With folded hands,
Tsem Rinpoche
Source: https://www.reuters.com/brandfeatures/venture-capital/article?id=29962.
Click on image to enlarge.
Additional thoughts by H.E. Tsem Rinpoche
As a Buddhist monk, self-immolation goes against all of my training. Monks of the Tibetan tradition hold 253 vows, but one of the four cardinal vows which monks of ALL traditions hold is to refrain from killing. Once a monk breaks their cardinal vow by taking a life, they are no longer a monk. So that is how important the vow of no killing is. This is not my rule or something I made up, but it is something the Buddha prescribed to his followers and it has been followed for centuries. This rule of not killing does not only apply to monks; it applies to all sentient beings.
So our Buddhist training teaches us that all life is precious and if we have the merits to gain a human rebirth, it is especially precious. As humans, we have the faculties and physical adaptations to learn, study and practise the Dharma to gain attainments. So on this basis, hearing about self-immolations always troubles me, regardless of however ‘good’ a person’s reasons may be.
Of course I can appreciate how someone can be so dedicated, that they would be willing to give up their lives for a cause they truly believe in. However, there’s no escaping the truth that dying in this way is extremely painful and prolonged, and very violent to look at. It leaves such a huge imprint on people who witness it, and also on the victim’s family members. I realise that it shows the individual’s conviction in his/her beliefs, which is a level of dedication I can relate to because I feel the same way about my Dorje Shugden practice, which I will always be loyal to. However, the loss of Tibetan lives deeply saddens me, not just because someone is taking their own life but because their deaths are TOTALLY preventable.
The Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), who are the Tibetan leadership in Dharamsala can definitely stop the self-immolations. It would be so easy for them but sadly, they are not attempting to prevent these deaths and the painful truth is that they do not want to. It seems that self-immolations serve a purpose for the Tibetan leadership, which is to show that their people are suffering and desperate in order to gain more support for their cause of whatever they would like to do with Tibet. I understand the purpose but sometimes the ends do not justify the means. So I always wonder exactly WHY the Tibetan leadership stays quiet or very weak in speaking up to stop this. And I guess it is because the CTA feels that with each death, it will add pressure to others to continue donating to them, which means more foreign financial aid that the CTA can take advantage of. Again, this is not something made up but has been proven by reputable newspapers such as the UK-based Guardian who investigated and exposed the monetary issue.
So for me, I see that the CTA will give up their people and their future, and exploit a person’s death for the sake of short-term financial gains. In allowing the self-immolations to continue, it actually reflects that the leadership are not doing enough to make progress in their political aspirations, because then our people would not be pushed to take such desperate measures. After more than half a century, so little has been accomplished that our people are now forced to take their lives.
There are some simple but effective ways that the Tibetan leadership can quickly stop these self-immolations:
1. The Tibetan leadership can send out a memo to all the Tibetan settlements in India denouncing self-immolations
These memos should strongly discourage self-immolations among the 120,000 Tibetans living in India and Nepal. Pamphlets, brochures and books should be distributed within India, Nepal, inside Tibet and all over the world in three languages (English, Chinese and Tibetan). In these materials, the Tibetan leadership can get the head lamas and abbots of the various sects and religious denominations in Tibet to denounce the practice of self-immolation because Tibetans tend to listen to spiritual leaders.
Dhardon Sharling, Secretary of the Tibetan leadership’s Department of Information and International Relations, is behind many official campaigns to smear the name of Dorje Shugden such as producing books, brochures and online videos. Instead of smearing people’s personal religious choices, she should put equal amount of finances and effort into stopping self-immolations.
This is not an initiative that is beyond their capabilities. In the past, they have done this against Dorje Shugden practitioners, even publishing ENTIRE WEBSITES against them. Surely Tibetan lives lost through self-immolation are a much more important issue that the Tibetan leadership should concern themselves with and to do their best to stop rather than a religious practice such as Dorje Shugden. Most recently, they gathered the 11 abbots of the main monasteries, to film videos against Dorje Shugden. So since they can publish materials against Dorje Shugden and spend vast amounts of money for this, why not do the same for self-immolations that are more serious in nature? I find it very questionable that they allow the various monastic abbots and leading lamas to remain silent on the matter of Tibetans taking their own lives, but force them to speak up against another person’s religious practice. Regardless of your religious practice or choice of faith, taking a human life (including your own) should NEVER BE PRAISED and we should always do everything necessary to PREVENT IT.
2. The Tibetan leadership can impose fines or ‘punishments’ on the families of Tibetans who self-immolate.
If potential self-immolators know their relatives will be interrogated and perhaps even kicked out of the monasteries, they will be more cautious about self-immolating. The family unit in Tibetan society is still quite strong so familial pressure will definitely have influence. The Tibetan leadership can even make people swear oaths in front of Palden Lhamo thangkas (the State Protectress of Tibet) that they will not self-immolate.
There is already a precedent for all of this. Families of Dorje Shugden practitioners were interrogated; in some cases, they even had their homes stoned, to increase the psychological pressure on their families so that they would in turn pressure their relatives to give up the practice. Monks and nuns were threatened with expulsion if they refused to give up Dorje Shugden. Expulsion is actually enforced homelessness because these monks and nuns have nowhere else to go, especially the senior or older ones who have spent their whole lives in the monastery. So the inevitable expulsion of hundreds of monks who refused to give up their Dorje Shugden practice led to the establishment of monasteries like Serpom and Shar Gaden in South India.
Similarly, monks and nuns were forced to swear out of their practice in front of a Setrap thangka (which, ironically, I had the honour to sponsor before the ban came about). So how come the Tibetan leadership does not go to a similar extent for self-immolations, which involves someone taking their own life, but they will expend so much time, energy and resources on someone’s private and personal religious choices?
Video: Monks forced to swear against
Dorje Shugden’s practice (Part 1)
Or view the video on the server at:
https://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/GadenMonksSwearOut001.mp4
Video: Monks forced to swear against
Dorje Shugden’s practice (Part 2)
Or view the video on the server at:
https://video.tsemtulku.com/videos/GadenMonksSwearOut002.mp4
3. The Tibetan leadership can enshrine it in the Tibetan constitution that it is illegal to self-immolate
By constitutionally declaring Dorje Shugden practitioners to be “criminals in history“, the Tibetan leadership helmed by Sikyong Lobsang Sangay effectively opened the doors for the Tibetan people to direct violence and criticism against Dorje Shugden practitioners, which was justified as being in defence of the Tibetan constitution. Constitutionally declaring Dorje Shugden practitioners to be criminals is very reminiscent of the previous Eastern bloc Communist countries who dictated that their citizens could not practise religion and as a result, many churches were shut down, gutted or simply abandoned. For decades, religion in its various forms were restricted by the leaders of those countries.
By doing so, self-immolators are anti-Tibetan and are breaking Tibetan law. Again, the same was done to members of the Dorje Shugden faith, to discourage people from maintaining their practice. By making Dorje Shugden illegal, the Tibetan leadership also opened the doors for people to direct violence and criticism against Dorje Shugden practitioners to force them to give up the practice, which they justified as being in defence of the Tibetan constitution. So if the Tibetan leadership were really serious about stopping self-immolations, this is another method they can consider since they have already enforced it against their own Tibetan people in the past.
4. The fastest method of stopping the self-immolations is for His Holiness the Dalai Lama to denounce the practice
This can be done at every public speech and appearance he makes, and in every interview he gives, to highlight how bad the karma is. In fact, it is extremely appropriate for such a renowned monk as His Holiness the Dalai Lama to talk about the karmic consequences of killing oneself. How it breaks samaya with him if they disobey his requests not to take their own lives. How it will disappoint him if they disobey his requests. How the families of self-immolators will not be allowed to attend the Dalai Lama’s teachings. His Holiness should also tell public Tibetan institutions like Tibetan government departments, Tibetan hospitals and Tibetan schools in India and Nepal to not allow families of self-immolators to use their facilities in order to discourage people from self-immolating. Most Tibetans will not want to bring hardship onto their families and therefore will think twice before harming themselves. This is not done to turn self-immolators into some kind of criminal or to say they are bad. But this should be done in order to save Tibetan lives and it should be reiterated time and time again. After all, the majority of Tibetans will listen to His Holiness the Dalai Lama if he says this very strongly.
In fact, the very same has been done to Dorje Shugden people for the last 20 years – Dorje Shugden practitioners are not allowed to hold positions in the Tibetan civil service, like the Department of Health. Children of Shugden practitioners are bullied and expelled from Tibetan schools. Tibetan hospitals refuse to serve Dorje Shugden practitioners. And this is still happening now in the majority of Tibetan institutions in India and Nepal. How strongly the exile Tibetan leadership acts in response to the rising number of self-immolations will reflect how much they wish to save and preserve the lives of their Tibetan people. Based on the history of persecution of Dorje Shugden practitioners, we can see unequivocally that the Tibetan leadership can and will act strongly, firmly and even harshly when they really want to accomplish something i.e. stamp out the practice of Dorje Shugden, regardless of the potential backlash and negative reputation. Since the Tibetan leadership is able to take such strong actions when they set their minds to it, they should take even stronger measures to bring an end to the Tibetan self-immolations because there can be nothing more important than to save the lives of the Tibetan refugees who have given up so much, including their homeland, to follow the Dalai Lama into exile.
The four ideas I have outlined above have all been committed against Dorje Shugden people continuously for the last 20 years. It is systematic, enforced segregation and institutionalised discrimination against Dorje Shugden practitioners, to try and force them to give up the practice. So my question is, why have the Tibetan leadership stayed silent against self-immolations, and stayed silent in discouraging this horrible self-harm?
I really wish so much that His Holiness the Dalai Lama would say something against these self-immolations. By requesting His Holiness’ involvement in such a matter, I don’t mean any disrespect to him but already our Tibetan population is so small and with every death, we have one less person as a carrier for our beautiful tradition and rich culture. I wish so much His Holiness would say something because the Tibetan leadership have been silent so far. And in their silence, they have essentially condoned or approved of people committing suicide. And that is the sad truth of self-immolation which we cannot deny or ignore…it is basically suicide with a specific goal or purpose in mind.
Jampel Yeshi self-immolated on 26 March 2012. Suffering 98% burns, 26-year-old Yeshi passed away in the morning of 28 March and became the second exiled Tibetan to die from self-immolation. This statue was unveiled in Lhagyal Ri, Dharamsala in North India on 28 March 2013 to commemorate the first anniversary of his passing. It is necessary to remember the people of the past but commemorations like these should not encourage future potential self-immolations. After all, Tibetan lives matter.
Not only has the Tibetan leadership remained silent or failed to discourage these self-immolations strongly, but they have even made memorials, plaques and statues in Dharamsala to commemorate the self-immolators as heroes. They want to encourage people to feel PRIDE in these deaths and therefore ENCOURAGE EVEN MORE PEOPLE to engage in the same activities. Yes, these men and women are heroes, but their actions should not be encouraged. We should never encourage death or killing or suicide.
Think for yourself. What could possibly compel ANYBODY to stay silent when they see 152 people dying in such a horrific manner? Because it serves the Tibetan leadership’s selfish purposes. It is okay for Tibetans to harm themselves, because it makes the Tibetan leadership look politically correct, and the Tibetan people look like victims, to foster sympathy and therefore gain more financial aid. This truly is disturbing and frankly (I am sorry) despicable. Our Tibetan people are not pawns and should not be used as political pawns in someone else’s games.
I am very passionate about my Dorje Shugden practice as it has brought me and the people with whom I have shared his practice vast amounts of benefit. In our short lives, we are overwhelmed with obstacles, difficulties and disappointments, and so it is nice to have some tangible hope in the form of Dorje Shugden. Because his positive practice is being suppressed by the Tibetan leadership, I have been speaking out about this. Some people may think that I am trying to exploit the self-immolation issue by bringing up Dorje Shugden within this context but that is not my aim. My aim is to give a comparison of what the Tibetan leadership is capable of doing and the extreme measures they can employ if they really want to. The extreme, brutal and shocking methods they have employed to ban the Dorje Shugden practice should stop and the effort should be consistently, strongly and whole-heartedly applied towards self-immolations instead. I am all for the peace, prosperity and happiness of the Tibetan people as always. As to how this can be achieved is not within my capacity, but it is primarily up to the Chinese leadership to have meetings with the Tibetan leadership combined with the correct motivation. The Tibetan leadership should reach out and extend an olive branch to China’s growing powerful leaders.
I pray that His Holiness the Dalai Lama will speak against this and discourage self-immolations amongst his people whom I know he loves very much. I pray that the Tibetan leadership soon realises that by allowing self-immolations to go on, no political progress is actually made and they are wasting their people’s lives. That they must do whatever is necessary to discourage these deaths, not just by telling them self-immolations are bad, but also by becoming better leaders themselves. In fact, this is the most important item on Tibet’s agenda for the Tibetan leaders in exile — to stop Tibetan self-immolations and save Tibetan lives. They should think of new and creative ways to accomplish their political aspirations without further loss of lives. And I pray that the people who engaged in these acts take good rebirths in a place where there is Dharma free from politics. May no one else ever feel as desperate and bereft of hope as they have.
Sarva mangalam,
Tsem Rinpoche
Addendum
Central Tibetan Administration’s Website
Below is a screenshot of Tibet.net, which is the Tibetan leadership’s website. In it, they have a section with “information” about Dorje Shugden which is designed to promote hatred, negativity and direct vulgarities towards Shugden practitioners. What kind of democratic leadership has a section like this on their site targeting a religious group? Imagine the uproar there would be if the American or Canadian, or any other democratic government had sections like this on their site for the public!
The Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) website which has a section on Dorje Shugden. What kind of democratic government has sections on their website which target a religious group? Click to enlarge.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s Website
This is a screenshot of DalaiLama.com which is the official website of His Holiness the Dalai Lama. When this section exists on His Holiness’ website, it actually emboldens Tibetans to discriminate against and segregate Shugden practitioners. This section is basically the Dalai Lama’s ‘endorsement’ of such behaviour; when anti-Shugden individuals see this, they think it is okay to segregate against the practice “because the Dalai Lama said so”. I don’t think the Dalai Lama would agree with this but the webmaster and shadow writers behind his website should not put this type of anti-Dorje Shugden section which subscribes to discrimination against a group because of religion. In the 21st century, this is not fitting of a great spiritual leader like His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Do not discriminate tolerate; is the way to go.
If the Dorje Shugden ban is just advice and not a ban, then why is a section like this necessary on any website?
His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s website which has a section on Dorje Shugden. This section emboldens Tibetans to discriminate against Shugden practitioners because it is the Dalai Lama’s endorsement of such behaviour.
Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile’s Resolution Stating Government Employees Should Not Rely on Dorje Shugden
In 1996, the Tibetan leadership passed a resolution stating that all departments (and ergo their employees) should not rely on Dorje Shugden (point 8). The resolution also stated that individuals who do engage in its worship will harm the Dalai Lama’s life and the so-called Tibetan cause. That being the case, how will anyone within the Tibetan settlements and government be able to openly engage in Dorje Shugden practice after that, if their worship has been widely labelled as anti-Dalai Lama, anti-CTA and treasonous? To openly practice after that will leave them open to criticism, vulgarities, harassment and discrimination, as Dorje Shugden practitioners have been for the last 20 years. So they will be left with three options: to give up the practice (which many will not do), to practice secretly, or to give up their jobs.
Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile’s Resolution Naming Dorje Shugden Practitioners as Criminals in History
This is a screenshot of tibet.net, the Central Tibetan Administration’s official website, which shows the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile’s unanimous resolution dated 17 March 2014 naming Dorje Shugden practitioners as criminals in history (point 3, paragraph 2).
VIDEO: Dalai Lama bans Dorje Shugden practice
and expels monks
His Holiness the Dalai Lama was recorded in Drepung Monastery in 2008 clearly stating that those who refused to give up their Dorje Shugden practice should be expelled from the monasteries. His Holiness even said that if people found it difficult to fulfill this instruction, that they should say that the Dalai Lama told them to expel Dorje Shugden practitioners.
My question is this: if giving up Dorje Shugden practice is just advice, and it is up to us who we wish to rely on, then why are there such heavy repercussions for people who choose to keep the practice? As a result of His Holiness saying this, thousands of Shugden monks were expelled from the monasteries, and were forced to set up their own monasteries where they would be able to continue their Dorje Shugden practice.
VIDEO: Gaden Monastery Attacked
Since the inception of the Dorje Shugden ban 20 years ago, the CTA (Central Tibetan Administration) continues to organize a hateful campaign against Dorje Shugden practitioners. In doing so, the Tibetan leadership has gone against the very core teachings of His Holiness the Dalai Lama on compassion and tolerance and thereby, misled the world over the nature of their activities. The Tibetan leadership pursues huge sponsorship and financial aid from the West in order to run its operations but they actually channel these funds towards campaigns that suppresses religious freedom within the Tibetan communities through various means to instigate violent suppression against Dorje Shugden practitioners.
This video footage shows clearly how Dorje Shugden practitioners have lived their lives in fear for the last 20 years due to the ban on Dorje Shugden. Although the Tibetan leadership and supporters have continued to use various violent and underhanded means to segregate and discriminate Dorje Shugden practitioners, the practitioners themselves have not fought back. Instead, they continue to uphold their peaceful reliance on their Dorje Shugden lineage lamas and especially the practices and teachings they have received in relations to the protector deity. The main part of the video was filmed in 2000 and it shows 3,000 lay and ordained Tibetans heading towards Gaden Shartse Monastery in South India in order to riot against a group of Dorje Shugden practitioners.
Disclaimer: This video belongs to a third party. Permission was granted for us to upload here. This video is not being used for any commercial purposes, it is being used for educational purposes only.
VIDEO: Dorje Shugden practitioner rejected
from Gaden Shartse Monastery Guest House
A Dorje Shugden practitioner enquiring about room rates at the Gaden Shartse Monastery Guest House in Majnu-ka-tilla, Delhi was rejected by the hotel staff and asked to leave.
VIDEO: France 24 reports on the Dorje Shugden issue
France 24 is a reputable news network based in France, known for their objective reporting style. They covered the Dorje Shugden issue extensively, surely a reflection of the seriousness of the issue for them to devote so much airtime to it. In their video, France 24 captured on film the discrimination against a Dorje Shugden monk.
VIDEO: Al Jazeera reports on the Dorje Shugden issue
Based in the Middle East, Al Jazeera was formed in response to the heavy influence of Western culture on the media. They are known to cover controversial topics that other news agencies may be reluctant to cover, and provide hard-hitting, objective coverage of current affairs.
Evidence of the Ban
Over the years, my students have collected evidence of the ban against Dorje Shugden. Personally, I find it quite disappointing and sad that they have been able to collect so much evidence because it just goes to show how widespread and pervasive this ban has become. As you can see below, notices banning Dorje Shugden practitioners can be found just about anywhere in the Tibetan settlements. Whether a Dorje Shugden person is trying to access healthcare or enter a restaurant, or try to buy something from a shop, they are banned everywhere and refused service. How is this just ‘advice’ when the repercussions of practising Dorje Shugden are so violent inside the Tibetan communities and settlements?
For more interesting information:
- Reuters covers international Dorje Shugden conference 2018
- Milestone International Dorje Shugden Conference 2018 | 2018全球雄登代表大会开创历史新篇章 | ས་ཚིགས་འཛམ་གླིང་རྒྱལ་ཡོངས་རྡོ་རྗེ་ཤུགས་ལྡན་ལྷན་ཚོགས ༢༠༡༨།
- Huffington Post: When Machiavelli Dons Tibetan Robes
- Huffington Post: Shugden Acolytes Decry Ostracism Within Buddhist Ranks
- Huffington Post: Three Times as Many Buddhists as Communists in China: Dalai Lama’s Tibet Wish May Require Rapprochement with Former Adversaries
- Dorje Shugden – The Protector of Our Time
- Dorje Shugden: Our Personal Stories
- Dear Dalai Lama, please read this
- Dear Dalai Lama, With Folded Hands
- Why so rude?
- 700 Meet A Buddha (七百人幸睹佛现)
- Great Masters Speak about Tsem Rinpoche
- Dorje Shugden Retreat: A powerful practice to fulfill wishes
- Dorje Shugden People Do Not Go to the Three Lower Realms
- Why Accepting Dorje Shugden Is Good for Tibetan Democracy
- Why can’t the Dalai Lama ‘bind’ Dorje Shugden?
- H.E. Tsem Rinpoche’s first live streaming!
- The Dorje Shugden category on my blog
- Manjushri Nagarakshasa comes to KFR!
- They were not wrong
- Can Tibetan Lamas Make Mistakes?
- My plea to His Holiness the Dalai Lama
- My plea to His Holiness (Tibetan) | ངའི་༧གོང་ས་མཆོག་ལ་སྙན་ཞུ་ཞུ་རྒྱུར།
- The Fourteenth Dalai Lama & Dorje Shugden | ༧གོང་ས་ཆེན་པོ་སྐུ་འཕྲེང་བཅུ་བཞི་པ་མཆོག་དང་རྡོ་རྗེ་ཤུགས་ལྡན། | 十四世达赖尊者与多杰雄登
- The Fifth Dalai Lama & Dorje Shugden | ༧གོང་ས་ལྔ་པ་ཆེན་པོ་དང་རྡོ་རྗེ་ཤུགས་ལྡན། | 第五世达赖尊者与多杰雄登
- Dorje Shugden: My side of the story
- Should there be a separate autonomous Dorje Shugden state? Part 1
- Should there be a separate autonomous Dorje Shugden state? Part 2
- To Sum It Up
- The Buddhist Divide – An Unholy Campaign against Religious Freedom
- Tibetan Leadership’s New Anti-Shugden Video
- Updated: Dorje Shugden Teaching Videos
- The Dalai Lama Speaks Clearly About the Dorje Shugden Ban
- Nechung – The Retiring Devil of Tibet
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As of today, there are more than 160 Tibetans self-immolate in the name of Tibet. They think this action will bring international awareness to the Tibet issue and help them to achieve their goal, making Tibet an independence state. But throughout history, self-immolation does not help to achieve anything, it is a very unnecessary sacrifice.
The Tibetan leadership should stop the Tibetan to self-immolate. There are many ways to create awareness on the Tibet issue, there is no need to sacrifice lives. As Buddhists, we believe that if we commit suicide, we will go to hell. The Tibetan leadership should educate the Tibetans heavily on this.
Since Buddhism is a religion of peace, the Tibetan leadership should engage in a more compassionate and peaceful way to resolve the conflict with China. The Chinese government is not unreasonable if there is mutual respect, they will be willing to have a dialogue with the Tibetan leadership to discuss this issue. Life is precious, it should be sacrificed in this way.
Mantras are sacred verbalized words that invoke the protection and blessings of the deity to whom the mantra is ascribed. Mantras are also the manifestations of Buddhas in the form of ‘sounds’, hence the various mantras of Dorje Shugden contain the essence of the Protector.
Dorje Shugden’s main mantra 多杰雄登主要咒语
OM BENZA WIKI BITANA SOHA
Dorje Shugden’s mantra for peace 平和咒语
For gaining attainments through the energy of Peaceful Shugden, peace of environment and mind, harmony in one’s abode and dwelling area, and calming of disasters
OM BENZA WIKI BITANA SHANTI SIDDHI HUNG
Dorje Shugden’s mantra for health 福寿安康咒语
For long life, increasing life, healing of disease and protection from diseases
OM BENZA WIKI BITANA AYU SIDDHI HUNG
Dorje Shugden’s mantra for increase 增长咒语
For gaining great merits and increase of all necessary needs, both material and spiritual
OM BENZA WIKI BITANA PUNYE SIDDHI HUNG
Dorje Shugden’s mantra for control 控制咒语
Of worldly deities, negative people and nagas and for influencing friends towards the positive
OM BENZA WIKI BITANA WASHAM KURU HO
Dorje Shugden’s mantra to grant protection 庇护咒语
Visualize that you are in the Protector’s mandala, fully protected from outside interferences. Recite when in danger or for dangerous situations, for protection while travelling or when residing in dangerous/hostile places
OM BENZA WIKI BITANA RAKYA RAKYA HUNG
https://video.tsemtulku.com/videouploads/comment-1544345059.mp4
Dear friends,
Tibet has produced many powerful meditations, rituals and guidelines to help us gain spiritual protection, gain wisdom and higher states of consciousness. In general Tibet has produced many powerful methods for the growth of our spiritual evolution. Dorje Shugden is an angel, a saint, a powerful spiritual protector-warrior who originated 350 years ago when a highly awakened Tibetan Lama fulfilled his vows to become a special being to grant protection, wisdom, material needs, safety when travelling (normal and astral travel) and spiritual awakening. Both the Great 5th Dalai Lama and the current His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama composed short yet effective prayers to invoke upon the power and blessings of this special saint and protector. One can recite either one of the prayers that you feel suits you, anytime or even daily. When you feel a special need for help, you can recite either prayer anytime. When you are feeling down, afraid or just need a blessing, you can recite them. After reciting either invocation, it is good to chant the mantra of Dorje Shugden: Om Benza Wiki Bitana Soha.
You do not have to be a Buddhist or practitioner of any religion to invoke upon the blessings and protection of this special enlightened and awakened angel Dorje Shugden. He helps all without discrimination or bias as he is filled with compassion and love. Divinity has no boundaries, they help all who call upon them.
Enclosed are the prayers in English, Chinese and Tibetan.
May you be safe, protected and blessed.
Tsem Rinpoche
More on the Great 5th Dalai Lama and Dorje Shugden – https://bit.ly/2w7KHv6
More on H.H. the 14th Dalai Lama and Dorje Shugden – https://bit.ly/2QdaL4n
Chapel (Trode Khangsar) built by the Great 5th Dalai Lama dedicated to Dorje Shugden in Lhasa – https://bit.ly/2zBTd8M
—
亲爱的朋友们，
西藏产生了许多有助于我们得到精神庇佑、取得智慧和更高层次之觉悟的强大禅修法、仪式和教诲。总括来说，西藏产生了许多有助于我们在修行上取得提升的强有力方法。多杰雄登是一个天使，一位圣人和一名护法战士。他的崛起始于350年前，当一位高度觉悟的西藏高僧履行本身的承诺，化身为特别的护法，赐予我们守护、智慧、物质需要、出入平安（平日外游和神游时）和灵修上的觉醒。任何人都可以随时随地在任何时候念诵适合自己的祈愿文。当你需要特别的帮助时，你可以随时念诵任何一篇祈愿文。当你感到沮丧、恐惧或仅是需要加持时，你也可以持诵这些祈愿文。在念诵任何祈请文后，你应该接着念诵多杰雄登的心咒：嗡 班杂 维格 毗札那 娑哈 Om Benza Wiki Bitana Soha。
要祈请多杰雄登这位特殊、觉悟和觉醒的天使赐予加持和庇佑，你无需是佛教徒或任何宗教的修行者。他总是没有分别或偏见，充满慈悲和慈爱地帮助一切众生。神圣是没有界限的，圣者会帮助有求于他的任何人。
以下附上英文、中文和藏文的祈愿文。
愿你平安，常受庇护和加持。
尊贵的詹杜固仁波切
更多关于第五世达赖尊者和多杰雄登护法的内容 — https://bit.ly/2zsC3tG
更多关于第十四世达赖尊者和多杰雄登护法的内容 — https://bit.ly/2r4aaDN
第五世达赖尊者为多杰雄登护法在拉萨建造的护法殿（布旦康萨）— https://bit.ly/2zBTd8M
Divination (‘mo’) Text by Dorje Shugden
This is an important divination (‘mo’) text composed by Dorje Shugden himself. Dorje Shugden took trance of the Choyang Dulzin oracle lama, the senior oracle of Gaden Shartse Monastery, and instantly on the spot composed this text within two hours.
The divination text contains information on how to use dice to do divination for the future and is known to be highly accurate. When practitioners use this text, they will be in direct contact with Dorje Shugden to get answers to questions about the future. It is for those who have good samaya with Dorje Shugden and are free of the eight worldly dharmas to be of benefit to others in divining the future.
Tsem Rinpoche
DS-MO-choyang.pdf
It is actually quite disturbing to see how the Tibetan leadership (CTA) glorify the self-immolators. While the Tibetans claim they are Buddhists and they are really proud of that, they should know if someone kills themselves, they will be reborn in hell. This kind of act should not be encouraged indirectly by glorying it.
It is amazing how a ‘government’ will dedicate so many pages on their official website to ban a belief. In other democratic countries, you don’t see their government putting down a faith. They allow their people to have freedom of religion. Unless the faith is harming the stability of the society or it is harming the people, the government will not restrict their people from following the faith.
The Dorje Shugden practitioners have not done any physical harm to the people, they are not a threat to the stability of the society, on what basis does the CTA impose a ban on it? If the ban is imposed on a religious basis, why doesn’t CTA stop Tibetan from self-immolation? Why the double standard? So it is quite clear that the CTA is actually using Dorje Shugden as a scapegoat to cover up their failure and incompetence in getting their country back.
Be blessed with these rare videos featuring explanation and advice about Dorje Shugden practice by His Holiness Kyabje Zong Rinpoche in his own voice. The teaching was requested by Geshe Tsultrim Gyeltsen, one of the earliest masters who taught Tibetan Buddhism in the West.
Video 1: H.H. Kyabje Zong Rinpoche Explains Dorje Shugden Initiation and Benefits (With English Subtitles)
Kyabje Zong Rinpoche was an erudite scholar, ritual master and practitioner of the highest degree from Tibet. At the request of Geshe Tsultrim Gyeltsen, one of the pioneers who taught Tibetan Buddhism in America, Kyabje Zong Rinpoche gives clear explanation and advice about the life-entrustment initiation of Dorje Shugden and how to go about the practice and get the maximum benefits in this video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzFMvlxAqtc&feature=youtu.be
Video 2: H.H. Kyabje Zong Rinpoche speaks on the History and Lineage of Dorje Shugden (With English Subtitles)
In this video, an erudite scholar, ritual master and practitioner of the highest degree from Tibet, Kyabje Zong Rinpoche talks about the incarnation lineage of Dorje Shugden and how the practice arose, with examples of Dorje Shugden’s previous lives that reveal his powerful spiritual attainments and contributions. This very rare teaching was given at the request of Kyabje Zong Rinpoche’s student, Geshe Tsultrim Gyeltsen, one of the pioneers who taught Buddhism in the West to many disciples since the 1970s.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIzKSJgK618&feature=youtu.be
For more information: https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/great-lamas-masters/kyabje-zong-rinpoches-advice-on-dorje-shugdens-practice.html
It is truly sad to know in this time of age, self-immolations are still happening . Tibetans have engaged in self-immolation, setting their bodies alight, in protesting against their desperation . Since 2009 , there have been more than 150 self-immolations reported in Tibet and else where like in India and Nepal. Most of the protesters have been monks and nuns, or ex-monks.
Its wonderful that Tsem Rinpoche have spoken up strongly against it. Like wise the Tibetan leadership continues stay silent on these issue at least to discourage such acts of self-harm. They the Tibetan Leadership should be the one to discourage this self – immolations, speaking up on behalf of the people welfare. Nothing has been done for the past 60 years since in exile .
Reuters did a good job by publishing an article in which Rinpoche had talked about his thoughts towards self-immolation. And even gave some suggestions to deal with self harm in the society. In the mean time hopefully HH Dalai will also speak up and do more to stop it before its getting worse so as the Tibetan Leadership.
Thank you Rinpoche for speaking up for the people in Tibet.
Self immolation is a wrong way to attract attention which bring no results. CTA is even more irresponsible, they didn’t even take any action to stop their people from doing so. Human life is precious, they should not simply wasted it. A government should be taking care of its people and not use them as a tool to attract the attention and sympathy of others. May the Dalai Lama and CTA have compassion and take actions to stop this.
藏人行政中央既然可以那么严厉地执行对多杰雄登护法的禁令，但是为什么却不劝阻这种自焚的自残行为？当然他们可以说他们已经针对这件事而发言，但是可以看得出， 相对与执行并阻止藏人修行多杰雄登护法的严厉管制，他们劝阻自焚的态度毫不坚定。简直就是在默许或支持这类行为。有幸得是，路透社针对这件事的报道让大众开始关注这个课题。衷心感谢路透社将尊贵的詹杜固仁波切的信息分享出去，希望它能跨越许多边界和平台， 不希望再看到藏人自毁性命。
尊贵的詹杜固仁波切呼吁藏人领导设法防范自焚事件， 比如透过新媒体的平台做沟通及派遣代表到位于印度的各个流亡藏人集居地传达信息、将信息传播到西藏，以及清楚且坚定的表示对自焚的反对立场。藏人行政中央30年来那么认真地执行禁止多杰雄登护法的修行， 这其实是妨碍宗教自由， 何不把精力放在防止藏人自毁性命？
I really hope the Tibetans would wise up already, such actions immolating serves no purpose at all. Until now people are still self-immolating and the Central Tibetan Administration is not discouraging this. In fact they publicise these poor events so that there are news about the Tibet Cause. H. H. Dalai Lama should stop the Tibetans from self-immolation, cos they will never benefit from it as they are all practictioners. Thank you Rinpoche and blog team for this important write up ??
I really hope the Tibetans would wise up already, such actions immolating serves no purpose at all. It has not done any benefit for the Tibetan cause, thus far. The Tibetans are giving up their lives so cheaply, wish the Tibetan government or elders would speak up about this senseless activity. No international press is doing coverage on such actions at all.
H. H. Dalai Lama should stop the tibetans from self-immolation, coz they will never benefit from it as they are all practictioners. Religious Freedom is a must.
This is very wrong happening in the Tibet , Nepal and many more countries around the world by monks and lay people, people who we see them as Dharma practicner, Not good as we know so many lives have been sacrificed . Tibetan Government doing nothing to stop it. CTA use this perfect time to use for political gain.
Tibetan people will not will never benefit from self-immolations It is just a wast of a people’s life.
We hope His Holiness the Dalai Lama stop the Tibetans from self-immolation and Dorje Shugden issue must resolve so people have freedom of speech and religion . After all CTA supposed to be have democratic parliament to solve it..
For the first time available, Dorje Shugden and his entourage of 32 asssistants of his mandala.
Dorje Shugden is a powerful protector deity who is also an emanation of Manjushri, a wisdom bestowing Buddha. Therefore, he has great ability to help us to progress further on the spiritual path. He does this by helping us to overcome obstacles and problems for the modern individual.
Due to his enlightened nature, Dorje Shugden is able to manifest 32 deities and within the same abode resides Setrap and Kache Marpo:-
1. 5 Dorje Shugden families or emanations. They consists of the following:-
– Dulzin Dorje Shugden, which performs activities to eliminate inner and outer obstacles.
– Shize, which performs activities to pacify all illnesses and disease.
– Gyenze, which performs activities to increase all desirable material and spiritual wealth.
– Wangze, which performs activities to control difficult people and circumstances.
– Trakze, which performs activities to wrathfully eliminate all insurmountable obstacles and life-threatening situations.
2. 9 Mothers. They represent protection of the five senses and developing control of the four elements. These are all attributes that signify their ability to assist tantric practitioners with their higher meditations.
3. 8 Guiding Monks. They represent the Eight Great Bodhisattvas (Avalokitesvara, Manjushri, Vajrapani, Samantabhadra, Maitreya, Kshitigarbha, Akashagarbha, Sarva-nivarana-viskambini) and they bring about the growth of the Dharma, through the Sangha, Dharma practitioners and Dharma establishments.
4. 10 Youthful & Wrathful Attendants. They represent the ten wrathful attendants to avert inner and outer obstacles. They are beings who are from Mongolia, China, Kashmir, India, Bengali, etc.
5. Setrap. He is a senior Dharma Protector from India and an emanation of Amitabha Buddha. He had enthroned Dorje Shugden as an authentic Dharma Protector. Therefore, he also resides within the same mandala of Dorje Shugden.
6. Kache Marpo. He is not an emanation of Dorje Shugden but he is still an enlightened Dharma Protector in his own right. He was originally known as Tsiu Marpo of Samye Monastery. However, he has placed himself under the service of Dorje Shugden as his chief minister, performing many activities in order to protect and benefit practitioners. Therefore, he stands guard at the main entrance of Dorje Shugden’s mandala. He often takes trance of qualified mediums to speak.
7. Namkar Barzin. He is the reincarnation of an old Mongolian monk and when he passed away in Phari area of Tibet, his spirit was placed as a powerful assistant of Dorje Shugden. He guards and protects buildings and great institutions especially those that benefit others. He rides on a mythical Gyaling animal that resembles a goat but with scales.
These sacred images are available on *Vajrasecrets. They are made of high quality alloy and are one of a kind. They are based on the lineage of His Holiness Panchen Rinpoche’s monastery, Tashilhunpo in Shigatse, Tibet. In fact, the iconography of these statues are based on detailed photographs taken by H. E. Tsem Rinpoche during a trip to Tashilhunpo’s protector chapel. These are based exactly as the 10th Panchen Lama’s personal collection.
Dorje Shugden mandala: https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/?p=131570
Dorje Shugden’s benefit and practice: https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/?p=62422
Dorje Shugden’s origins: https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/?p=106424
Dorje Shugden chapel in His Holiness Panchen Rinpoche’s Tashilhunpo Monastery in Tibet: https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/?p=68698
*Stand not included
这是多么的可悲的讯息 !
感谢路透社报导关于尊贵的，詹杜固仁波切对于自焚的看法 ! 自焚对于每一个人来说都是那么的痛心与悲伤，尤其是他们的家庭成员。这件事都是不应该发生的，但为何直到现在已经超过一百五十位包括僧人和僧尼了，那是多么的可悲呀 !
自焚事件发生一直到现在，西藏流氓政府都没有正视这问题发生的严重性，才会导致年复一年，人民自焚人数日益增加。如果西藏流氓政府日后还是不正视此事，那么自焚人数上升是无法完结的 !
60多年前到现在，多杰雄登持修者和其家庭成员，一直饱受折磨，被歧视，被侮辱，被贬低等等，那是不应该发生的~只因他们持修多杰雄登法门 ! 为何呢 ? 多杰雄登护法法门在60多年一直以来都协助许多德高望重的高僧弘扬佛法， 消除障碍，利益众生，也得到众多的高僧证实，多杰雄登护法乃是文殊菩萨的化身。希望其禁令能够尽早解除，自焚事件不再发生，人民能够安乐的生活和进行他们的灵修路程 !
感谢尊贵的詹杜固仁波切提出几项希望能够减低自焚事件发生的建议，但是也必须能够得到有关当局如西藏流氓政府一起实行，效果才会实现 !
慈悲的尊贵的达赖尊者，观世音菩萨化身的您，自焚事件已经失去很多宝贵性命，这也不是您想要的，希望自焚能够得到完结的一天 !
OM MANI PEDME HUM
???
With Folded Hands
Yeo Kwai Gin
感謝路透社發佈詹杜固仁波切对藏人自焚的看法。希望这些文章能发挥劝阻更多人做出这类自残行为的作用。
目前，藏人自焚变成了一个各方面都不知道如何应对的难题。我衷心希望更多人能夠閱讀這個非常重要的文章，並從本文中獲得一些認識或教育。每個人都應該知道，尤其是那些計劃進行自焚行為的西藏人必須知道並且必須學會不要用这么痛苦偏激的方法来表达他们的绝望!! 这样做根本无效。。。!!!
祈愿藏人领导们即刻实行一个方案来制止藏人自焚，挽救藏人性命和寻新方式来达成他们的政治愿望，而不是一再地让他人为他们牺牲!!
自焚这行为真是让人痛心。生命是可贵的,我们需要多少世的轮回，才能投胎成为人类。请珍惜我们宝贵的生命。
这事件报道，西藏僧人自焚抗议，西藏流亡政府，领导层的所做所为，误导藏民对多杰雄登的见解，让藏民吃尽了苦头，就如人间地狱似的，让藏民对西藏流亡政府，失去信心，无奈，用自焚或自杀的方式来表示不满。西藏流亡政府领导层也视而不见，听而不闻的。
西藏流亡政府呀！请爱惜自己的藏民，不要颠倒是非，大家都希望有个更好的明天。
藏民呀！请停止自残，不要再做无谓的牺牲，领导层不改变，情况是不会改善的。佛陀的教法是珍惜生命的每分每秒。
尊贵的达赖尊者，请慈悲??
所有生命都是宝贵，越来越多藏人透过自焚来表达 对西藏流亡领导层和多杰雄登禁令不满。
自焚却不能改变什么，而且西藏流亡领导层却对自焚问题无动于衷，非常可悲。藏人领导不仅对自焚行为保持沉默，不仅劝阻自焚无效
什么事情导致藏人要杀生或是自尽来表达对
杀生西藏流亡领导层。
西藏流亡领导层一直打压修行多杰雄登著，修多杰雄登难道错了吗？宗教没选择的自由。
争取自己前景难道也错了吗。一个国家没有办法给藏人前景希望。
一直打压藏人，活在恐惧绝，每天在恐惧绝望中度过一天又一天一年望最后走上绝望之路。以生命来换起希望，宗教修行的自由和藏人的前景…………….。对西藏流亡领导层的不满。
可惜藏人自焚行动却没引起西藏流亡领导层的关注反而无动于衷，可悲可悲。
在佛教杀生或是自尽都不鼓励，生命是可贵希望藏人珍惜生命。
请求达赖尊者和西藏流亡领导层可以多多关注这件事，不要让藏人白白的牺牲。
而你们却无动于衷。
希望你们可以用慈悲，爱心，宽容来解决一切的事给藏人希望，自由和公平的待遇。
谢谢仁波切分享这篇文章，让世界各地的人们更关注，藏人自焚 的实际情况。
在佛教来说，人身可贵，自焚等同犯了杀生戒，累积恶业。无论居于什么理由，都不该牺牲宝贵的生命！
藏人行政中央不应该保持沉默，视之不理。更不应该鼓励类似极端的方式，以伤害自己的生命来解决问题。就如仁波切所说的，凡事应该以和平，温和，中庸的方式，去解决藏人所面对的问题。别让无辜的生命牺牲了，藏人回归西藏的问题依旧裹足不前。
感恩尊贵的詹杜固仁波切针对藏人自焚事件的新闻发表声明，呼吁藏人停止牺牲自己宝贵的性命，反而应该采取更和平的方法来面对政治的危机。毕竟自焚或自杀在佛教教义是不被允许，因为人人都可成佛，如自杀就好像是杀佛，所以也是违背佛教戒侓。
而且近来多数的藏人自焚事件都是针对或抗议对西藏流亡政府的不满。
第一，西藏流亡政府已经度过60年了，但面对独藏大业还是寥寥无期，今藏人绝望和遗憾。
第二，多杰雄登禁令课题也令藏族被隔离和欺压，藏人活在水深火热里
，渐渐的对西藏流亡政府很厌倦。
还有西藏流亡政府也没有特别关注和阻止自焚事件的发生，也没有对藏区社会作出很好贡献和服务，藏人感到受欺骗。
还有很讽刺的，我们时常见闻获得若贝尔和平奖的达赖尊者，常在国际舞台巡回和平演说和佛法开示，而且还呼吁全世界提倡人权和宗教自由。但为何在自家的管理政策且有种种的偏差。令人怀疑和大跌眼镜。这也令到国际新闻界的关注。简直是 牛头不对马嘴。
祈愿达赖尊者可以给予藏人的尊严让他们有宗教自由和和平对待，道出政治的真相和方向，还原藏人以往的多杰雄登修持法门。让藏人走出政治和宗教的阴影。
我虽然是凡人也不是藏人，但他们的遭遇令我很难受和感同情。何况达赖尊者还是观世音的化身，难道祂没有感受吗？
佛陀的教诲是教导我们，所有生命都是宝贵的，佛教徒们坚守不要伤害、杀害他人或者自杀。
然而针对新闻报道僧人提出自焚以抗议流亡藏人政局的事件，由此可见藏人们已经对西藏流亡领导层失望万分，才以自焚来换取更好的领导层。可悲的是西藏流亡领导层却对自焚问题无动于衷，这令人感到震惊和悲伤。一直以来达赖尊者向世界各国宣扬佛教教义并推广和平与道德理论，以达赖尊者为首的西藏流亡领导层，怎么可以放弃了佛法教义而且还鼓励他的人民自杀？
人民确实对西藏流亡领导层失去信心，西藏流亡领导层也是绝对有能力阻止人们自焚。西藏流亡领导层可以温和地以教育的方式教导人民自焚不是解决问题的方法，也可以惯例强制执行规则和条例强迫其人民放弃自焚，就有如22年前强制执行实施多杰雄登禁令那样。无论人们如何抗议，西藏流亡领导层都能坚持实施多杰雄登禁令长达22年之久，为什么西藏流亡领导层却没发表声明或执行规则和条例来阻止他的人民实施自焚？到底是什么隐藏的议程导致领导层保持沉默并放弃其人民宝贵的生命？
无论是什么宗教，我们绝不应该鼓励伤害、杀人或自杀。虽然西藏人民饱受六十年难民之苦，他们也得明白，自残并不一定能达到预期的效果。只有以理性来争取更美好的变革才是最明智的方法。珍惜自己的生命，继续和平发言，这将号召更多有心人士同心协力地改善并创造更光明的未来。
His Holiness the 10th Panchen Lama
Tibetans commonly refer to His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama and His Holiness 10th Panchen Lama as the “sun and moon” of Tibetan Buddhism. They are the center of Tibetan Buddhist civilization, which draws to its sphere of influence millions of non-Tibetan practitioners. The Panchen Lama’s incarnation line began with the 16th abbot of Tashi Lhunpo Monastery, Lobsang Chokyi Gyeltsen (1570 – 1662). He was bestowed the title of Panchen Lama by His Holiness the 5th Dalai Lama after being declared as an emanation of Amitabha.
After being given the title, his three previous incarnations were posthumously also bestowed the title, making Lobsang Chokyi Gyeltsen the 4th Panchen Lama. He became a teacher to many Tibetans, Bhutanese and Mongolian religious figures, including His Holiness the 4th and 5th Dalai Lamas, and the 1st Jetsun Dampa of Mongolia. A prolific author, Chokyi Gyeltsen is credited with over a hundred compositions, including a number of commentaries and ritual texts that remain central in the Gelukpa tradition today. Along with his role as a teacher of the Dharma, the Panchen Lamas are usually responsible for the recognition of the rebirths of the Dalai Lamas, and vice versa.
The 10th Panchen Lama, Lobsang Trinley Lhundrub Chokyi Gyeltsen (19 February 1938 – 28 January 1989) continued both the spiritual and political roles of his predecessors. His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, his contemporary, was even heard to say and echo the Panchen Lama’s own words that the Dalai Lama would safeguard Tibet from the outside while the Panchen Lama would safeguard Tibet from the inside, as he never left Tibet after the political troubles of 1959. He was truly loved by the Tibetans, all the way until his passing. When he taught, thousands of people would attend, not only from his own Gelug lineage, but masters and practitioners from all traditions of Tibetan Buddhism.
At his sprawling monastery of Tashi Lhunpo, he has a special chapel specifically dedicated to Dorje Shugden, where prayers and rituals are performed on a daily basis. In his great omniscience the Panchen Lama held Dorje Shugden as the principal Dharma protector of the monastery. He also personally propitiated Dorje Shugden among other Dharma protectors, and even wrote extensive prayers and rituals to Dorje Shugden. These rituals and prayers are contained within his ‘sung bum’ or collected works, which are provided here. As such a great lama, with an erudite and clear understanding of the Buddhist scriptures, a teacher to millions in both Tibet and China, from an established incarnation line and an emanation of the Buddha Amitabha, he could not be mistaken about his practice of Dorje Shugden.
His Holiness 10th Panchen Lama is known for his composition of commentaries and practice texts that are still in use by contemporary Buddhist practitioners both in Tibet and across the world. One of these is a powerful ritual composition propitiating the compassionate Dorje Shugden.
Upon the request by Acharya Lobsang Jangchub to compose a shorter version of the prayer (sadhana) for the exhortation of activities of Dorje Shugden, Panchen Lama immediately composed an abbreviate form of Dorje Shugden’s Kangsol. This text is entitled “Manjunatha’s (Tsongkapa) Lineage protector Dorje Shugden and five forms wrathful propitiations and confessional prayers and fulfilment of activities rites” or “Melodious sound of Accomplishment of the Four Activities” for short. Once the prayers were completed, he had signs and strong feelings that Dorje Shugden has been working hard to protect the Buddhadharma in general and the lineage of Lama Tsongkhapa specifically.
Mirroring the abilities of one of his earlier incarnations, Khedrub Je, a disciple of Lama Tsongkhapa and master of both sutra and tantra, the Panchen Lama used his compositional skill and poetic prowess to create a masterful sadhana. Worthy of note is a praise in which the first letter of each verse is a Tibetan vowel. Such compositions are rarely seen, and have historically only been used when propitiating senior Dharma protectors such as Palden Lhamo and Kalarupa.
The Panchen Lama also stated that while composing the Dorje Shugden sadhana (prayers) he was filled with a sense of happiness and bliss. He ends the composition with not only his official title but his ordination name, Tenzin Trinley Jigme Choje Wangchuk, endorsing the validity of his work. He composed the sadhana in his own Tashi Lhunpo monastery while in the Hall of Clear Light and Bliss.
See the Panchen Lama’s writings and download: https://bit.ly/2KIfeXb
DON’T MISS THIS! FANTASTIC NEW GREAT STUFF! High quality videos redressing the misinformation about Dorje Shugden practice and people and the current sad Tibetan situation and why they are losing ground in the world. Powerful and truthful – CLEAR VIDEOS – https://bit.ly/2LJbo35
“If the Dalai Lama, if His Holiness the Dalai Lama can be harmed by Dorje Shugden, then we might as well not practice Buddhism anymore. If His Holiness the Dalai Lama can have his life shortened by a so-called evil spirit, any evil spirit, then can he be Avalokiteshvara? So on one hand you say, we say, I say, everybody says, he is Avalokiteshvara; on the other hand you’re saying that he can be harmed by an evil spirit… Which one is it? Can he be harmed by an evil spirit or is he Avalokiteshvara? Do you think Avalokiteshvara, Manjushri, Vajrapani, Tara all take refuge in something else to protect themselves from Dorje Shugden? How illogical is that? How illogical of people to say His Holiness the Dalai Lama can be harmed by an evil spirit, any evil spirit or “Dorje Shugden” evil spirit. How is that possible?” – Tsem Tulku Rinpoche
Photo: His Holiness the Dalai Lama, young Tsem Tulku Rinpoche and Tsem Tulku Rinpoche’s tutor Kensur Rinpoche Jampa Yeshe
This elderly & innocent monk in India was brutally attacked, find out why. Shocking – https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/?p=163953
Amazing post!!!!!
Dear friends, For months we have been working on this BEAUTIFUL and meaningful mural in Kathmandu, Nepal. Please click here to enjoy the many stunning pictures of this mural: https://bit.ly/2LgOj8J
Tsem Rinpoche
Sakya tradition’s thangka of Dorje Shugden sitting on a throne within his palace with his four emanations and high Sakya Lamas nearby. Tsem Rinpoche
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing this article, I didn’t know so many lives have been sacrificed for the Tibet Cause. I can understand the frustration of the Tibetan people that after 60 years there is still no progress in their cause. However, I think they should throw their frustration at CTA, not at the Chinese government or try to draw attention from the world. They have to think why after 60 years CTA is still not able to fulfill their promise? why is China going everywhere to make friends with other countries and being friendly to them but not CTA? Is it because CTA is too arrogant? Is it because CTA has no intention to fulfill their promises?
It is very disturbing that a leadership can glorify the act of self-immolation. By making statues of the self-immolators and commemorate them as heroes, they are indirectly encouraging the Tibetans to kill themselves. What a way to distract people from scrutinising the efficiency of CTA. Not only that, CTA also takes advantage of the self-immolation tragedy to gain sympathy from the western world for money. To CTA, not only self-immolation distracts people’s attention away from their incapability to bring a better future for the Tibetans, it is also a good tool for them to make money.
I totally agree with Rinpoche that if CTA can be so harsh on Dorje Shugden followers in order to stop them from following their belief, they can also do the same to stop Tibetan from self-immolating.
Antique Pelden Lhamo thangka with sacred Dorje Shugden at the bottom right. Can see Tsongkapa and Guru Rinpoche on the top also. Beautiful and holy.
How can a nun curse someone they do not even know and wish the person to die quickly and be born in hell? What kind of nun is this? Shocking! What more she’s cursing a Buddhist teacher and a monk?! Is this the face of Bhutanese Buddhist?
This is so shameful for her as a nun, her teacher, her monastery, her country and her King. A sangha should not behave in such a manner. A Sangha should carry enlightened Buddha’s teachings of compassion and wisdom to benefit all sentient beings.
A Sangha is not supposed to promote hatred and certainly should not be cursing or wishing another person to die. That wish itself is already breaking one of the vows.
A Sangha is one of the 3 Jewels, an object of refuge. They should not behave like an uncivilized person with so much hate. This is how bad the Tibetan Leadership has spread their lies and hate about Dorje Shugden and Shugden Buddhist practitioners.
In line with the recent de-escalation in Asia, such as the reset of Sino-Indian ties, an article about His Eminence the 25th Tsem Tulku Rinpoche offering his strong prayers and thanksgiving was published on Reuters.
Share and read the good news here: https://www.tsemrinpoche.com/tsem-tulku-rinpoche/current-affairs/reuters-publishes-my-reconciliation-prayers-for-asia.html
A true democracy allows everyone the freedom to exercise their human rights, including the freedom to practise any religion they want. In democratic countries, the government does not interfere with this right. Neither are democratic governments prejudiced against their citizens’ choice of religious belief. They do not force people to stop their religious practice or pass legislation criminalising people because of their religion.
The Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), the Tibetan leadership who are based in Dharamsala are the exception. They are the only so-called ‘democratic’ leadership that puts a stranglehold on its people, persecuting them for their religious beliefs. They deny the rights of Dorje Shugden practitioners for simply practicing their religion as they have done for the past 400 years. Dorje Shugden practitioners are ostracised from their own community, denied medical care, education or even employment in government offices. The CTA definitely does not live up to the right to be called a democratic administration, especially when in it inflicts suppression of people’s freedom and disrespects basic human rights.
https://video.tsemtulku.com/videouploads/comment-1523903366.mp4
I feel very happy to read Tsem Rinpoche’s thoughts about this matter, the immolation does not benefit Tibet, does not benefit the family of the deceased, does not help in any way. It is just a waster of a good life. I hope with the heavy price of immolation it can wake more Tibetan up that this immolation plays right into the needs of CTA and a waste of a Tibetan life. CTA has not much bullet to keep their themselves relevant so they will keep on keeping mum and quiet about the immolation and wishing more to come so CTA stays relevant.
Thank you Rinpoche for voicing out for the people in Tibet, it is much needed to be heard by the world.
It is truly sadden to know in this time of age, self-immolations are still happening in the corner of Tibet by monks, whom are seen by the world as the symbol of peace and zen. What even sadden to discover is that even though so many lives have been sacrificed and yet their representative government (CTA) does nothing at all to stop it from happening again. Rather, the gov CTA views this as an golden opportunity, a political tool to gain sympathy and money from other nations. Sacrificing your own people’s blood to get bloody money, I wonder how great the karma can be! And this is truly heartsick!
CTA, could you please just get back to the root and start working on it, via peaceful means? How many more lives need to be sacrificed before you guys (CTA) start taking action? CTA, you ‘may be’ able to ‘fool’ the world for 60 years, but you know one day people will turn back and say to your face “Wait a minute, enough is enough.” and they just walk away. Don’t you guys think that it all will be too late at that point of time? Wake up and do something!
Thank you to Reuters for published an article in which Rinpoche had talked about his feelings toward self-immolation. Thank you Rinpoche for speaking out about this self immolation. I hope Rinpoche’s message can reach to all Tibetans and stop the act of self immolation.
I felt so sad and shocked that there are over 150 Tibetans had sacrificed their life to draw people’s attention to the topic of Tibet. Furthermore, this act is totally failure because there has shown no progress at all for the Tibetan cause for the last 60 years.
It is so true what Rinpoche has said, we are Buddhist and we were taught that all life is precious. Buddhist are suppose to save life and NOT killing. The rule of not killing is applies to all sentient beings and of course there is big NO for self harm or suicide or self-immolation.
The worst part is CTA have even made memorials, plaques and statues in Dharamsala to commemorate the self-immolators as heroes. This is totally against the Buddha’s teaching whereby they are encouraging even more people to engage in self immolation instead STOPPING this cruel act.
CTA has spent vast amount of money to publish materials against Dorje Shugden, why don’t they use the money to do the same for self-immolations to publish materials discourage of self-immolation? If the CTA is truly love their people, they should find a peaceful way to resolve the Tibet issue. That the responsible for the real leader.
I pray that His Holiness the Dalai Lama will speak against and stop the Tibetans for self-immolation. I also pray that whoever plan for self-immolation, please do think about their love one and family, don’t make them suffer and sad due to their lost.
Tibetans who self-immolate? I read about this news for many years ago, in my mind i was thinking ( Tibetans who self-immolate ), is this the right thing to do to free Tibet? Or just for support CTA to show the world this is the spirit of Tibetan People? In worldly thought : If you don’t give me this and that , i’ll threatening you by killing myself?
When read about this article, that’s make me more clear of ( Tibetans who self-immolate ). As a Buddhist, i would like to highlight few sentences of ours Guru wrote :
Written by ours Guru ( H.E. Tsem Rinpoche ) :
As a Tibetan Buddhist monk, when I observe other people taking their own lives, whatever their reasons, I have to do my best to say something to discourage it. Tibet is majority Buddhist therefore we believe in karma, which is the law of cause and effect. Whatever actions we commit, some are inherently negative while others are inherently positive, whatever the motivation might be. Killing oneself is considered to carry the same negative karma as destroying the life of someone else. It is heavily frowned upon and discouraged within Buddhism to take one’s own life.
Sincerely request : CTA and H.H.Dalai Lama, please advice Tibetan peoples don’t do this ( Tibetans who self-immolate ) anymore.
With folded hands _/\_
Eric kksiow
Malaysia
Tibetans have more options to resolve issues and hope there is none who needs to use self-immolation. No one should have to take these extreme measures to be heard or enact change. The CTA needs to listen to people as they are supposed to be “heads of a Democracy for the people.” It’s sad to see people taking their own lives this way. I hope legislation can change, and many people can be heard, and less discrimination occurs
I have been following the Tibetan self-immolation news and I am truly sadden Tibetans had to sacrifice their lives in vain for their Tibetan cause. I share the same thoughts as HE Tsem Rinpoche on tibetan self-immolation and not only is self-immolation a sacrilegious act but also it brings on severely negative karma for the self-immolator. While it is apparent that the Central Tibetan Administration is subtly encouraging and glorifying self-immolation for their selfish reasons, one cannot fathom the repercussions CTA will certainly bear for this extreme violence of their people.
I implore to the CTA, if you genuinely care about the welfare of your people and is serious to stop self-immolation please reenact the same set of methodology employed to stop Dorje Shugden practice so your people will not be harmed unnecessarily.
My sincere prayers to all Tibetans: I urge you to contemplate – as we all know our human body is such a precious form for gaining the highest goal which is enlightenment why waste on politics? Buddhadharma is supreme. Why divert to extremism which lead you to become a loser. For all we know, today you are a Tibetan fighting the Chinese for your country but in the next life you might be a Chinese fighting the Tibetans. Life on earth is seemly borderless.
H.H the Dalai Lama used to travel around the globe promoting Buddha teachings. Buddha teachings taught us all life is precious and Buddhists hold vows not to harm or kill oneself or others. Therefore, it is shocked and sad to know that the Tibetan Leadership does nothing regarding self-immolation issue. How can the Tibetan Leadership themselves ignore their vows and encourage his people to suicide for the country?
The Tibetan Leadership are so capable to impose Dorje Shugden ban for 20 years, by strongly implementing rules and regulations to force his people to give up Dorje Shugden practice no matter how the people protested. Why not now The Tibetan Leadership makes statements or implementing rules and regulations to stop his people from committing self-immolation? What is the hidden agenda that cause the Tibetan Leadership to stay quiet and forgo his people’s precious life?
It doesn’t matter what religion we are, we should never encourage death or killing or suicide. The depressed Tibetan people who have been refugees for 6 decades, they should understand that self-harm does not necessarily bring results as expected. Whereas adopt a rational way to deal with such impotent governance by appreciate their life and continue to voice out, bring together people who genuinely care for their community and make revolution for better future.
究竟为什么要用自焚这么惨烈的方式？一个鲜活的生命，用一种如此极端的、惨烈的方式消失了, 一个不断看到自己的人民自焚的政府， 为何没大力 的阻止他的人民自焚？他们的修行去了哪儿？也许这就是整日忙于争权夺势，哪有时间和心灵的空间修行？
从历史的角度来看西藏的问题是很复杂的，可是直到今天为止，藏人自焚牺牲却没带来改变，甚至可以说是失败了，而世界各国在这个问题上也保持沉默， 此时此刻感谢慈悲尊贵的詹杜固仁波切所说“应停止自焚，现在是时候藏人寻找其他的方式让世界能真正的看到和听到他们的困境”. 我支持所说。
感谢路透社的发表!
As revealed in the blog that as of 2018 it was totally known that 150 Tibetans have chosen to self -immorlate themselves for Tibet cause. It was said to be out of desperation and lacking any other method to express themselves, thus finally leading them to resort to such desperate end. Secondly, as revealed, it was mentioned that one of the most disturbing and disgusting reasons for the self-immolations of these self sacrificing tibetans, is that the Tibetan Leadership continued to turn deaf ears and blind eyes to discourage such acts of desperate self-destructions, but continued to stay silent instead of speaking out, or to implement acts of compassion to discourage such disparate acts of self-sacrifices. It has to require a kind-hearted outside third party, an international news agency, Reuters to bravely, timely and unbiasedly provide accurate informations to enlightened all sectors of the global society of Tibetan people of such serious happenings. Reuters, truly do deserve well known journalistic integrity to spread news of such truths and awareness governing all walks of life! Self-immolations, as said goes against all monks’ training. A Buddhist monk of the Tibetan tradition hold 253 vows, But one of the four cardinal vows which monks of all traditions hold is to refrain from killing. Once monks break their cardinal vow by taking a life, he is no longer a monk. So that is how important the vow of no killing is! (As said, this rule of not killing does not only apply to monks; it applies to all sentient beings.) As said by our Guru, Tsem Rinpoche, self immolations of late for whatever reasons is heavily frowned upon with Buddhist’s practice to take one’s own life, which represents “extremely heavy negative Karma.” Irreplaceable gratefulness and deep hearted thanks should be accorded to Reuters for so compassionately informing, as well as publishing what our Rinpoche has pointed out on the Website. We indeed feel eternally grateful! May whatever our Guru Rinpoche has prayed for, may it also be as if like our prayers and wishes too, so as to represent our deep concern for the matter! Om Mani Padme Hung.
Thanks Rinpoche and the blog team for sharing this article. Thanks Reuters for publishing this and bring Tsem Rinpoche’s kind message to more readers.
I like how Rinpoche explains on how a Buddhist should not take life including oneself, and self immolation is something not only taking one’s life, but also the impact of people seeing it is rather terrifying.
Unfortunately the international attentions that these self immolations attract is something the Central Tibetan Administration want as it will strengthen the Tibetan’s victim story against China. These lime light would bring “income” to CTA in certain way when people pity on the self immolation people.
What more unfortunate is the CTA values income more than their people as you can see they take zero actions in preventing more self immolation cases. If they do care about their people, many actions they can implement as listed by Rinpoche in the article.
“How strongly the exile Tibetan leadership acts in response to the rising number of self-immolations will reflect how much they wish to save and preserve the lives of their Tibetan people.” I agree very much.
It is still a question why the CTA refuses to think of ways to solve it? They have such great ability to put down Dorje Shugden practice, why not use the resources to stop self immolation as it is something hurting and disturbing their own people.
I hope Dalai Lama and CTA would seriously look at self immolation as a problem not a glorification, and to take action to protect their own people.
Thanks.
Rinpoche is a very compassionate monk, he cares for everyone’s well being and totally disagree with any sort of harming to either oneself or others. I agree with what Rinpoche said, it is not difficult, in fact, it is very easy for CTA or Dalai Lama to stop this self immolation act, but it just depend on whether they want to do it or not.
Tibetans are looking up to Dalai Lama very much and if Dalai Lama say just a word, they will definitely follow, but why Dalai Lama do not want to stop this with his great influence.
In another hand, CTA being the leaders of Tibetans, they represents all Tibetans and they have the right to look after the welfare of their own people, all the citizens are just like their children, how can someone seeing their own children getting burn and say nothing or do nothing? CTA should look into the reason of them committing self immolation and solve it for once and for all, but they did not do anything. Being a leaders of their citizen, when they do not work towards reducing or stopping the suffering of their citizen, then what are their aims? Money? self gain? They are the government, they suppose to care for the benefit of their citizens or their own benefit?
Really hope Dalai Lama or the CTA will do something soon to stop self immolation cases.
Thank you to Reuters for publishing H.E. the 25th Tsem Rinpoche’s thought on this matter. It’s very important and I hope many would read this very important message and gain some realisation through proper channels and gain some realisation or education from this article. Everyone should know, especially to the Tibetan people who are planning to perform self-immolation act must know and must learn not to waste their lives by performing this very painful ineffective act.
As of 2018, over 150 Tibetans have chosen to take their own lives in the name of Tibet and the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) nor HHDL is doing nothing to stop or prevent this cruelty. Why?
Why would a government continue to do nothing and keeping quiet to prevent its citizen from something so drastically wrong?
Could it be because of every Tibetan sacrifices their own lives CTA the government-in-exile of Tibet will receive certain amount sponsorships from various government bodies around the world?
It’s been 60 years since the Tibetan government declared free Tibetan movement against the Chinese. And 60 years it’s a very long time and in order to mask or distract their failure for obtaining independence, they need reasons to justify why and one of the reason is by blaming the worshipping of Dorje Shugden which has been one of the main protector practice of Gelug lineage since 400 years ago.
Monks, friends and families were separated since Dorje Shugden practice has been banned due to different opinions. All these chaos and movement were created purposely to distract the Tibetan people from the CTA failure of independence.
60 years, I believed the younger generation of the Tibetans who grew up in the overseas would not even understand why gaining independence from China is such an important issue comparing to their forefathers as these younger generations already have established their own life in the countries they have grown up in.
And do you think the members of CTA still have the burning desires and intentions to sacrifice their own comfortable lifestyles in overseas and rolling up their own sleeves to march along with the Tibetans who still believed and fight for independence after all these years?
So please stop this self-immolations act as CTA will not stop you from harming yourself because the more people are burning themselves to death the better as this fit perfectly into their strategy of making use of human emotions which is called ‘Compassion’.
In this case, “Compassion” will make CTA rich.
Please STOP #selfimmolation at once. Very important.
Thank you, H.E. the 25th Tsem Rinpoche and Reuters for this very beneficial article to the world. People must know and must not waste their lives unnecessaries anymore.
It is most timely now that a reputable international news agency have published an article on self immolation. Sadly, a law against self immolation does not exist. If the ruling government of the Tibetans were to enforce a rule to punish the act of burning themselves alife, many would think twice before attempting such act.
The people should also view such act as foolish instead of glorifying the self immolators. Hopefully they would wake up to the fact that even though 150 people have died from this act, they are getting no where nearer to the cause they are fighting for and the number of Tibetans are getting less.
Since the Tibetans have the highest respect to HH the Dalai Lama, I pray that HH the Dalai Lama would also speak to the Tibetans to discourage them from such act and instead use another method to bring attention to their cause.
Self-immolations is a very desperate and harmful way to get the attention of people in position. For Tibetans to express their desperations in such harmful way, it goes to show the lack of capability of their leader to do so on their behalf. What is alarming is that this is the leadership that worships the Dalai Lama, who is a monk, who therefore, naturally follows Buddhist practices that is against any action that leads to self-harm (or harming of others). It is also the same leadership that took money from the west under the disguise of democracy and free Tibet from the clutches of Communism from the old China. Now this same act is used to protest against the abuse and corruption of CTA, how irony!
Yet, this same leadership feel nothing about the actions of self immolations by keeping silence. The silence of the CTA leaderships and His Holiness is a statement of endorsement to self harm and greatly shows that they value themselves more than the lives of Tibetans because they choose to ignore the protest. A great leader and his think-tank would had immediately find ways to stop the self harm. The four ways outlined by His Eminence the 25th Tsem Rinpoche are good ways to stop the self immolations, if CTA care to implement. Once the leaders start to think of Tibetans as people and not pawns in their political games, then the lives of many people will suffer less and not ended up in self immolations. I hope Tibetans will wake up from this nightmare soon.
This is so sad to hear that over 150 Tibetans have chosen to harm their lives through self-immolations. The victim suffered from the physical pain or more seriously the lost of victim, may result the victim’s family suffer from emotional distress. In Buddhism, killing is one of the non-virtuous deeds that may cause a Buddhist in breaking vows and at the same time creating very heavy negative karma in next life. Besides, we learned and understand that this is not easy to have this precious human body to learn and practice dharma. Therefore, we should not encouraged and death, killing or suicide.
Nevertheless, what we see now the Tibetan leadership did not show any positive actions to resolve the issue. It is said that there is no improvement by the Tibetan leadership since 60 years ago to protect the public interests but continue to criticize China and caused the Dorje Shugden issue.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing your precise thoughts about this self-immolations. This is so great that Rinpoche’s precise thoughts published by Reuters which is very much beneficial and letting the people from all over the world to see the real identity of Tibetan leadership.
Thank you Reuters for bring this much needed topic! We really need the attention of many, not just because of the self immolation but because of the injustice and unfairness the CTA has caused many.
I really don’t understand why HHDL and CTA not say something and put a stop to it. They CAN do something to stop the inhumane act. They can put so much time, effort and resources into segregating, spreading lies, discriminate and hurt Dorje Shugden practitioners, why can’t they put the same amount of effort into this issue? Human lives is more precious than soliciting donations? CTA is truly incapable of doing something right for their people. So many negative things are spoke of about them, they should be ashamed and do something right rather than creating more negative karma. I feel sad for the Tibetans and the refugees for they have to put up with such a non functioning administration.
Whether one is Buddhist or not, we shouldn’t throw away our life like that. I cannot imagine the pain, sadness and disappointment the family have to go through. I feel very sad to hear about people ending their life be it for a cause or for personal reasons. We shouldn’t just ‘run away’ from our problems like that. Imagine what will happen to those we leave behind.
To whom it may concern,
The crux of the matter here is LIFE vs. DEATH.
Many wars, some of which are still ongoing, have resulted in DEATH. There is enough of DEATH already. We need LIFE.
In the context of the Dharma, each and every human life is regarded as precious, as it should be, for it is through life as an intact and well- functioning human being that allows us to receive, learn and practice the Dharma, to reach a state of enlightenment for the benefit of all sentient beings.
In Buddhist mind training, we learn there are eight sections in “Training the Mind by Means of the Sevenfold Cause-and-Effect Instructions”.
They are:
(1) immeasurable equanimity,
(2) understanding all sentient beings to be your mother,
(3) remembering their kindness,
(4) repaying their kindness,
(5) love through the force of attraction,
(6) compassion,
(7) altruism
(8) bodhichitta.
All require one to be ALIVE not dead.
Hence, I cannot see why the Buddhist Tibetan diaspora in general and the government of His Holiness Dalai Lama cannot make it clearer that this horribly negative action should not be taken.
There are lots of other non-violent ways of making a point, this is not one that should be condoned or celebrated.
“Gate, Gate, Paragate, Parasamgate, Bodhi Svaha”
(“Homage to the Awakened Mind which has gone over to the other shore (of suffering).”)
It is so great to know that “Reuters” has make a echo the voice of the 25th H.E. Tsem Rinpoche, and a great acknowledgement that Tsem Rinpoche’s is a Guru with compassion, wisdom, & the unbroken lineage/genuine of practise of Buddhism. As state, one of the vows that Tibetan tradition hold out of 253 vows, which is to refrain from killing from ALL traditions. In fact, this vow -“refrain from killing” is a Refuge Vows (basic layman) which myself have taken from Tsem Rinpoche.
I see self-immolation is quite similar to the act of the “human bomb” except different tools. So, this act is selfish rather than “selfness”…no result will be arise from this negative action.
Why continue an action that does not prevail “results” bu PAIN & Sufferings?
Please STOP, and the authority (CTA) should care and educate the Tibetans on this “IGNORANCE” act rather than spreading all lies, ban on the Dorje Shugdne’s practioner. Divert your (CTA) energy & effort than is beneficial to Tibetan people, rather than spending much budget to tarnish Dorje Shugden’s practioner, enlighten proctector.
Why choose to end your life with such a painful and cruel way. There are many ways you can do to make a change using your life without harming yourself. Being alive and fight for the freedom and change is much much more effective than just to end your life. Yes people may talk about it for a while but story die off if not one carry on to do anything to change.
Tibetan leadership nor HHDL do near to nothing to stop the self-immolation issue because the victims who the CTA and HHDL called heroes were their money trees for the last so many years. Every time someone burned himself till death for the sake of free Tibet, they got tons of money from all over the world and that’s become an easy money for them. Why they want to stop self-immolation that has been making them rich? It’s so clear that the CTA indeed encourages it.
Thanks to Reuters for publishing H.E. Tsem Rinpoche’s thought on this matter. It’s very very important and I hope many would see Rinpoche’s heart felt message and have some realisation. People must know and must learn not to waste their lives anymore.
Dear Rinpoche,
As a Buddhist we first learned about precious human life, either monk took his life or a lay person took his life, it is not acceptable and it is contradict to Buddha’s teachings. It can be very bad teachings to the new generation that if cant get any request they wanted, they could just kill themselves in public and make news. This self-immolation act, have seen as a heroic acts. Which is very wrong and very contradict with Buddha’s taught.
The CTA have not sound clearly to stop this act. In fact , whenever there is self-immolation happened, the leaders will use this as a big topic to show the world that how pitiful Tibetan is.
In 60 years, the CTA have been the richest refugees in this world. It is very sad that the refugees which in homeless status have been used by their leaders to get more attention from the world.
It is very true that if CTA would like to strongly stop self-immolation, they should impose on the punishment, they are capable to stop their people to kill themselves, looking at how systematic they have impose the ban on Dorje Shugden.
As for H.H Dalai Lama, who is a Nobel prize winner, the ultimate award for Peace should really speak up and stopped this cruelty acts from continuing.
Thank you for being brave and speak up about this sensitive issue.
With folded hand,
Freon
It’s wonderful that Rinpoche’s thoughts on self immolation are published on Reuters because the only way forward as I see it is through proper education and education channels right down to the grassroots of the tibetan community.
Indeed as Buddhists, it is disheartening and sad to think anyone would even want to self immolate due to the precious nature of the human birth, but because this has been going on and on and on over prolonged periods of time, the Central Tibetan Administration should NOT keep quiet nor pretend it is not a serious issue.
If one was indeed a caring and concerned Parent, to see many of their ‘Children’ beginning to self immolate due to feeling such strongly about the current political Tibetan situation, silence is NOT an option..for that only belies their sincerity and care for their citizens.
Nevertheless the message of H.E. Tsem Rinpoche is timely and may I even dare make a humble request that many more High Esteemed Lamas like H.E. Tsem Rinpoche , also continue this effort of speaking clearly against such acts and also educating the masses on why other more peaceful methods are practical, realistic and within peaceful core Buddhist principles.
With folded hands in prayer I thank His Eminence and also Reuters for publishing the important and essential thoughts of a humble and compassionate monk _/\_
Killing oneself to make a stand for the sake of the masses may look noble and chivalrous on the surface. However, if we look deeper into this act, it is actually kamikaze into the hell realm.
As Buddhists, we don’t kill. This is because killing creates the cause for us to go straight into the hell realm. It is always better to find peaceful and non-violent methods to resolve any conflicts. Just like how Gandhi liberated millions of Indians from British colonialism, Tibetans can also do the same.
CTA should forbid any form of self harm. More Tibetan leaders should discourage their people from self immolating. It’s strange how most of them don’t speak up against it. IF CTA can spend so much money on their propagandas like encouraging others to discriminate against Dorje Shugden practice, they can be just as aggressive in forbidding them to self immolate.
Based on their CTA glorifies self immolation, it is very obvious that they don’t care much of their people but use them as pawns to achieve their hidden agendas.
It is a negative way to show your care about your own country by put yourself with fire. Such a painful to see this people to waste their life in such a wrong way. I’m not sure with the intention of the CTA on Tibetan citizen. Most probably CTA they are most clear with the agenda on supporting in a indirect way. Since CTA can applied so many way to stop the Dorje Shugden practice. WHY NOT the CTA do something to HELP this self-immolation Tibetan. I won’t believe they can’t make it to safe them.
PLEASE i BEG H. Holiness Dalai Lama to stand out to stop all this suffering act of his citizens. May they find peace soon. With folded hands.
Kien
This human existence that we chance upon now worth more than a billion wish fulfilling jewels, what could a dead body could do for achieving much for whatever cause that we’re pursuing?
I was indeed saddened to hear of these Tibetans sacrificing their own precious life to show their dissatisfaction or agony towards certain parties or issues, will the matter be resolved or improve after the act of self-immolation ? My question is are these suicidal in a right mental state ?
In-line with Budddha’s teaching on skillful means that benefit of self and others, they must be an alternative solutions to the many problems we faced daily.
One doesn’t need to harm the self in order to help others .
In this juncture, what action has the Tibetan leadership taken to cease this self-destroying act or are they in support of this suicidal protest . The answer to this question is , No , the Tibetan leadership just take this act lightly as an ordinary daily happenings . Instead, they are utilizing resources to segregate, create in fighting amongst Tibetan community and had young Tibetans spared their lives for their political agendas.
It will be such a great loss to the great culture of upholding virtuous to degenerate into turning the wheel of wordly concern.
Self-immolation is another form of suicide but committed publicly with the intention to protest against something that is wrong or injustice. In the case of the Tibetan cause, there has been too many cases of this “self sacrificial act” which have not brought any progress to the Tibetan cause but unnecessary lost of lives, pain & suffering to the family member & friends they left behind.
In Buddhism, killing oneself or committing suicide for whatever reason is not encourage because it will only cause one to take rebirth in the lower 3 realms. Instead one should take care of this precious human life & the lives of other beings.
Therefore, for the “ReaI Tibetan Cause”, I strongly urge the Tibetan leadership to take all necessary actions to stop the act of self-immolation or any form of violent act among the Tibetan people urgently & practice giving love, compassion & peace to their people instead. After all, the Tibetan cause are for the People of the mother Land of Tibet & not for the benefit of some individual only.
We frequently watch news of ISIS young recruits strapping explosive or go on shooting rampage and perished. We get kind of indifference or numb of their actions of these kinds, thinking it was nothing of much of our concern.
When it came to the issue of Buddhist monks go on immolate themselves we also just read or watch it as if it was a just another spectacular worthy of our leisure.
Some even spread it through social media equate it to the heroic act of Vietnamese monk Thic Quang Duc or quoted from Jataka tales of how Lord Buddha as a Bodhisattva offering his body to the tigress…But none even contemplate on if it is right or worth to perform such an act? Or; do one going to achieve one call after performing such an act?
Are these young monks and nuns have the same spiritual attainments as Thic Quang Duc or the Bodhisattva? I’m in no position to judge the perished monks or nuns for their spiritual attainments but from online video it shows the great contrast between the two as how their life ended, Thic Quang Duc was in total control from the start till the end of the whole episode versus the gruesome scene a human being suffered in pain trying to get away the fire they set upon themselves!
This raised many questions in me asking; why are these non-ready person harbored such thought? Are they being imparted with some outside ideology that there will be greater reward after their passing? Why are there only some “no name” novices involved here and non from the elite influential? Are the “no name” novice could only befitted this “lowly” task in their call since they’re either a scholar, a great teacher or have no other skill…
It’s truly absurd for a Buddhist novice to take his own live for having received their monk vows of non-harming of self and other and knowing very well that this life of freedom is “difficult to chance upon and easily lost” as it is the basic starting point of all Tibetan’s school of Buddhism’s teachings.
It is also a well known advice for novice to not even give up their 3 set of robes when facing difficulties, what more giving up their body!!
If these novice had been misguided into harboring this wrong view, surely their respective sect authority figure should take up the responsibility to straighten things up because their voice would carry weight and strike at the heart of the would be suicider.
Since we’re addressing an issue pertaining immolation of Tibetan here, then who is more appropriate than the CTA or His Holiness to voice out to their people to put a stop to it. Even an atheist Chinese government had outlaw suicide in their society, what more do you think the rest of the world would expect from CTA who claimed representing the Tibetan for their welfare and preserving of pure Buddha’s teaching to flourish. No clear statement from CTA would project to the Buddhist world that they’re condoning such an act and lost all their credibility for what they claimed to be!
It is one of the refuge vows not to kill and therefore also not to kill oneself, even if it is a form of protest. Tibetans who are so devoted to HH the Dalai Lama should know this and respect it as it is to be practiced by everyone who calls himself Buddhist.
So, I humbly request that HH the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan Government in Exile, CTA intervene and stop these senseless and very painful death.
So many Tibetans have died over the years through self-immolation and it has not changed one single bit in the situation regarding Free Tibet. There are other ways to support the Tibetan movement, ways who are respecting the Buddhist perspective and therefore will not bring such a tremendous negative karma.
So, I fully support my teachers H.E. Tsem Tulku Rinpoche’s request and rejoice for the publication by the prominent Reuters news agency to stop this and to bring peace to all the Tibetans.
Thank you for expressing the need to stop the self-immolations so clearly. May all these harmful actions stop as soon as possible. At the same time I want to remind that the ban on the Buddhist protector Dorje Shugden is also against all Buddhist and even all democratic and human rights practices and rights. Dorje Shugden practitioners are not given the right to practice and even do not have the same rights in the Tibetan settlements such that they are denied health care, food, work and they are even denied having any connection with their own family and friends who do not practice Dorje Shugden.
Here is the link to the video were monks are made to swear out, and in this way break their commitment to their teacher who gave them the Dorje Shugden practice. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPcz7Bc8Oj8&t=340s and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HX3zlim7poA
I hope that all these harmful, non spiritual and undemocratic practices will be stopped as soon as possible by the concerned authorities. ???
Buddhism is known as a religion that cultivates peace, compassion, forgiveness, freedom of life, acceptance, non-violence, moral discipline, giving and all the good qualities that lead to ultimate happiness and peace. However, to the fact of over 150 Tibetans (which include 41 monks and 8 nuns) who have chosen to take their own lives in the name of Tibet, with the hope of drawing the public attention to resolve the Tibetan political issues directly or indirectly, has gone to the opposite way of Buddhists’ practice. Every living being, no matter it is an insect or intellectual human being, wish to live long either to benefit others or simply live on as normal but not to end one’s life by their own decision because of being suppressed and discriminated in one’s religion practice.
The four methods that Tsem Rinpoche has pointed out are very logical and feasible to stop the self-immolations among the Tibetans who want to have a fair and caring governing authority. Instead of continuing to see Tibetan community to be split and segregated with much suffering and discrimination, Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) can do better by gaining the trust from all the Tibetans that CTA will provide every Tibetan with the basic necessities include a safe and peaceful environment to live, sufficient jobs for all Tibetans to support their living expenses, fair education system, unbiased and open governing legislative, and protect the life of Tibetans by immediately stopping the self-immolations instead of putting the least effort or remain to be silent without enforcing any rules to prevent from any loss of Tibetan lives.
May our ever respectful and compassionate His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama speak to all Tibetans for not taking their lives away with self-immolations and continue to bless every Tibetans and all living beings with much love and kindness. No family members and no friends would like to hear or see someone that they dearly care of, to take his or her life away because of finding no other way to express themselves in the hope of reviving their nation beneficially.
Thank you Rinpoche for urging and encouraging Tibetans not to carry out self-immolation in order to gain public attention or to be heard because of Tibetan political issues under the leadership of Central Tibetan Administration (CTA). Thank you Reuters for publishing Rinpoche’s thoughts to raise the public’s awareness about the political issues in Tibetan community that lead to the scarification of human lives.
Humbly with folded hands,
kin hoe
It is trite fact that as Buddhists, one of the Five Precepts in which every Buddhist commits to live by entails the refrain from killing or harming any living being, including themselves. And this is regardless of the different schools of Buddhist teachings.
Yet we have a situation where the Tibetan leadership who always never hesitated to play the religious card and use the Dalai Lama’s name to control Tibetans, not properly addressing the grave situation of innocent lives being lost for nothing when such deaths are preventable.
The burning problem is the willingness of Tibetan leadership to allow and even glorify such suicidal protests instead of enforcing strong measures to stop such grisly acts of protest when the Tibetan leadership
(i) are clearly in the position to do so, and
(ii) know that such grisly protests would not force the hands of China to meet the demands of Tibetans but instead be largely ignored by China.
To make matters worse, such suicidal protests which are in effect Tibetans’ signature acts to protest against China are now being threatened to be used by Tibetans as means to protest against the Tibetan leadership for their corrupt and failed leadership. One can just imagine the level of desolation, desperation and frustration of Tibetans for them to resort to employing the same drastic manner of protest against China, their public enemy towards the Tibetan leadership.
Looking at the situation, it doesn’t take a genius to see that the Tibetan leadership holds the key to preventing more protest deaths and it is high time that the Tibetan leadership truly prioritise the welfare of Tibetans at large over its own.
In this regard, totally echo Rinpoche’s compassionate plea for the Tibetan leadership and governments around the world to end needless suffering and stop all acts of self-harm which cause more suffering on top of what people already face in life. Ultimately, it is everyone’s best interest to use love, compassion and wisdom to heal conflicts and make the world a better place.
Dear Rinpoche,
What is sad and unfortunate is that after over 150 cases of self-immolations, these Tibetans who had sacrificed their precious human lives haven’t been able to achieve their intended goals. It is not a small number but a terrible waste of more than 150 human lives!
Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) failed miserably to address this issue. Where is the compassion of CTA whose role is to care for the welfare of its citizens? It is a constitutional duty and obligation of a government to serve and protect its citizens. If CTA couldn’t perform these functions, it doesn’t justify its existence at all.
All Tibetans in exile should effect a change immediately of their government leaders otherwise Tibetans will lose even more. Tibetans in exile had lost Tibet. Tibetans in exile had lost their human rights and religious freedoms. Tibetans in exile had lost innocent human lives. What more are Tibetans in exile going to lose?
It is not surprising that CTA chose not to stop self-immolation but used this to further its selfish and inhuman goals. Nothing CTA had done benefited its citizens, just look at its governance and progress (if any) since 1959! The biggest misdeed of CTA is to torture Dorje Shugden followers for over 20 years and till now the Dorje Shugden ban is not yet lifted.
CTA is the greastest hypocrisy of a government in the world who practises double standards in its governance. If the practice of Dorje Shugden could harm the cause of freeing Tibet, then shouldn’t the loss of Tibetan lives due to self-immolation harm Tibet? What’s the point of freeing Tibet when no more Tibetans are around to enjoy Tibet (assuming Tibet could be freed) if more and more caring Tibetans immolate themselves?
Knowing the severe negative karma of killing oneself, why hadn’t His Holiness the Dalai Lama used his power to stop self-immolation from happening time and again?
Tibetans should practise non-violence and adopt the Buddhist’s way of life to solve whatever obstacles or problems in their lives. Self-immolation is not the way to solve problems. Since the majority of the Tibetans are Buddhist, they should realise that self-immolation or suicide is considered killing and is non-virtuous.
Thank You Rinpoche for highlighting the plight of these Tibetan heroes who had died for their country.
It is commendable that Reuters had published Rinpoche’s thoughts on self-immolations of these innocent Tibetans. May the world put a stop to self-immolation. May the world be informed of CTA’s hypocrisy, inhumanity and unethical conduct.
Thank You.
Pastor Tat Ming
Thank you Rinpoche for pointing out the 4 ways on how self-immolation can be resolved. Good job to Reuters for publishing Rinpoche’s thoughts and letting the public know there is hope in stopping self-immolation. It is much needed. The act of self-immolation is so painful to watch, what more for the victims and the suffering they have to endure after death according to the Buddha.
If CTA does take action to stop self-immolation using the 4 methods laid out (which they are already doing to DS practitioners), it would definitely be successful and beneficial. A government doing what they can to save lives would serve them well.
Sadly, I feel that CTA will do anything about it as it is not beneficial for their livelihood. It goes to show the concern the Tibetan leadership has over their people. So whether one is a DS practitioner or not, it doesn’t really matter. Anyone can be a victim as long as CTA reaps the rewards. ???
The thought of a government will go to the extend of using their own people for the sake of money send chills down my spine. A government should protect their own people and making their the welfare of their people are met. Tibetan government had been in the refugee status for 60 years now and they receive tons of donations to fight for their cause from sympathetic countries. They had been putting up a poor me reputation all along while exploiting their resources to make sure that the donations does not stop. In this case, Tibetan government are using their very own people for the sake of money. 150 over monks and lay people had self immolated and the Tibetan Government chooses not to raise awareness of this totally preventable and barbaric deaths. They did nothing to stop their own people in ending their lives, but instead creating memorials and even giving some sort of honour to those who died killing themselves. This is not the act of a sane government. It clearly shows that how the Tibetan government have little to no care towards their own people and all they care about is to how to remain in power and generate donations from other countries.
This is not the only dirty tricks that Tibetan government are using against their own people. The infamous Dorje Shugden issue is one of them. They purposely impose a ban on a religious belief to segregate the buddhist community so that they can control them. Religious heads are very powerful in Tibetan societies because of their upbringing and culture. By controlling religious heads they can have a firm grip on their people. The people will be at their disposal because whatever the religious heads says, the people will follow. When H.H Dalai Lama bans Dorje Shugden practice, there are a lot of loopholes and illogical reasons that can be refute easily. However, due to the faith of the followers of His Holiness, no one questions that ban and acted upon it straight away. Many had suffered because of this unjust ban and many more will come as long as the ban is not down.
Thank you Tsem Rinpoche for giving explanations in such easy way to understand. May the Dorje Shugden Ban be lifted as soon as possible and may no one will have to immolate themselves just to be heard.
I am utterly surprise that until today, not many influential Tibetan leadership speaks up AGAINST self immolation by their own people. It has to reach this stage where my lama Tsem Rinpoche who is a Dorje Shugden practitioner and who also has been outcast by CTA actually has the guts to talk about this issue.
Isn’t self immolation an act of committing suicide? By self immolating, don’t this act cause pain and hurt to family members of the person who commits it? Which part of self immolation is “Buddhistic”? And why aren’t Tibetan leaders who has the power to influence the Tibetans or even CTA address this issue to discourage this?
There are so many more strategic ways of gaining benefits for the Tibetans. In today world, it is only self-defeating to go against China. Why can’t CTA practice the middle path ie start talking to China. Humble themselves down and start thinking for their people ALREADY.
A monk is a monk is a monk and His Holiness Dalai Lama is certainly a very prominent one and he has said before self-immolation is a no no.
So why doesn’t His Holiness call a press conference with CGTN/CCTV/Global Times/XinHua etc. in attendance and strongly announce that he will not condone
self-immolation, that it is a bad idea, that it has no effect, that it will cause a disastrous rebirth which he does not want to be part of, etc.
And if the CTA would like to stick to the views held by His Holiness and this is an important one because it deals with precious life and death, why doesn’t the CTA hold the above press conference on behalf of His Holiness?
The longer this press conference does not take place, the more likely it is that the CTA cares more about $$$ than the lives of their fellow Tibetans, period.
This appeal isn’t about politics and shouldn’t be associated with politics at all… because this is about ending hundred of lives being taken away.
What is even sadder is that the Tibetan Government in Exile, now known as ‘Central Tibetan Administration'(CTA) does nothing to stop this self-immolation and sit by to see its own people in suffering.
Why is CTA letting the holy sanghas burn themselves up? Why is CTA letting the people who have wife/children/families to kill themselves in order for the CTA to have political capital to have dialogue with China? Or to resolve the Tibetan issue with the China government? This also says that CTA is incompetent and the Tibetans are in desperate and are cornered into doing this! How sad is this!
As a government, CTA should do its job to be able to resolve the issue with the Chinese government, instead of letting their own Tibetan fellow to self-immolate then glorified their death. Lives matter! After 60 years, CTA still has no political capital to have dialogue with the China, whatever they have done and are doing, including self-immolation, saying negatively about China are not working. They should find new ways instead of continuously allowing self-immolation to take place and just send a petty condolences to the deceased families.
Self-immolation is NOT the answer to getting dialogue with China and to go back to the Motherland in Tibet. The Tibetans should stop doing this and harming themselves.
Much gratitude to the compassionate Lama H.E. Tsem Tulku Rinpoche for speaking up to end the self-immolation that only brings harm and sorrow. Rinpoche is risking His reputation for saying so as this would be seen as ‘pro-China’ or ‘Chinese spy’, but again, lives matter! This isn’t about China or CTA is better, this is about CTA should take care of its own people and take measures to stop this. To have dialogue or to go back to their Motherland in Tibet, there are other ways!
I admire the courage of the people that going for self-immolation but I strongly believe that this great courage can be put into much positive action without harming oneself.
There are 152 people sacrificing themselves and what is the result and achievement? Tibetan leadership definitely capable of stoping this harming action as we can see how far they can go to ban Dorje Shugden practice. At this moment the Tibetan leadership should go all the way to stop their people from self-immolation instead of keep on discriminating Dorje Shugden practitioners. Dorje Shugden practice doesn’t not harm anyone and will not loose anyone life but self-immolation is sacrificing every single Tibetan’s life. Which is the priority and why still keep silent?
Thanks a lot to Reuters for publishing this humanity article to share with the world what is going on with the Tibetans and actions from their leaders are very crucial to save their people’s lives.
Thank you Rinpoche for sharing your thoughts on self-immolation. Some even said self-immolation is a form of non-violence protest! How can this be a non-violence protest when it involves lives?
Father of India Ghandhi freed India from colonisation without having to sacrifice a life. Mandala freed South Africa from colonisation without having to sacrifice a life. CTA has lost over 150 lives but yet they have not achieved even a tiny milestone in their movement. It simply means self-immolation is not an effective way to achieve their goal. And the fact that CTA glorifies self-immolation is really disturbing. Why don’t the government officials self-immolate if by doing so one can get the highest honour?
What Rinpoche has suggested are very constructive and make a lot of sense. As a Buddhist, it is not right to take one’s life, even of their own. Whatever method we use in order to achieve what we want, it should be a method that doesn’t inflict pain onto others. Since Tibetans are Buddhists, CTA should do things the Buddhist way.
It is true that the CTA is making good use of their own people for the sake of getting their pockets filled. Hence, they keep quiet and indirectly supporting the practise..
May this practise be eliminated as soon as possible and if it’s with the help of H.H DalaiLama directly.
One of the basic tenets of Refuge Vows is that, as a Buddhist, one must not kill. It brings with it a very heavy karma. Taking your own life is also killing. You are taking a life even though it is your own, it is still breaking a vow. As Buddhists, we believe that, that will take you to the lower realm. So, to praise such an act seems like one is praising the person for sending himself to hell. Doesn’t seem like a compassionate act to me.
Besides, self-immolation is such a horrific, violent way to die and such a horror, shock and trauma on the psyche of the family members. Surely, the younger generation would think that Buddhism is not a peaceful, loving and compassionate religion.
So, there is nothing to gain spiritually from such an act. Such violence should never be used as a political tool. Every life is precious, even an animal’s life is precious, much more so a human life.
The history of self immolation might have began in the 1960s in South Vietnam when an old monk Thich Quang Duc set himself on fire and burned to death. It was an act of protest over discrimination towards Buddhists by the South Vietnamese government. Importantly, it was organised as a spectacle and was deliberately intended to attract the attention of the media. The image taken of this act even won the World Press Photograph Award in 1963. Because this was such a focus of global attention, this extraordinary tactic of burning oneself as an act of protest was taken up in other countries by other people.
But is this the “right” thing to do ??? Especially so now in this current times ???
Putting aside the spiritual implications, in today’s scenario there are many other means of getting the attention of the media without taking one’s life. Furthermore as cruel as it may sound, the impact of such acts would have much less weight as time goes by ,simply because it is not “extraordinary” anymore. The public might regard it as a form of suicide of someone who cannot handle the challenges he/she is facing. In summary it just seems very futile and not at all an effective way to push across the message. The world has evolved so much and in this age of degeneration more wisdom and skill have to be used to get the message across.
So as H.E Tsem Rinpoche has very wisely appealed to please STOP all these acts of futile self immolation. Both spiritually and otherwise, it brings no benefit to anyone and in fact brings mostly pain to the loved ones of the victims.
I totally agree that the Tibetan Government must take heed and put a stop to these acts. They have been elected to look after the welfare of Tibetans. They are responsible to help Tibetans in need and guide them to have a better future. In countries where suicide rates are high e.g Japan and South Korea, the governments have policies and methods in place to help solve these issues. Not sit in silence and do nothing ……. as this might even be misconstrued as an encouragement to others to follow suit !
I am so glad that the international media has taken up the initiative to highlight this write up. It is so crucial that this call to STOP SELF IMMOLATION goes out viral to discourage the loss of more innocent lives !
With folded hands my deep appreciation to Rinpoche for expressing your urgency to stop the act of self immolation and discrimination.
諸法因緣生 諸法因緣滅
須知業報未盡 人還是要安心受報的
西藏流亡政府，仿佛离佛法越来越远了，佛教不变的基础是因果业力与轮回转世的，尊贵的詹杜固仁波切在这帖子中所述的，佛教徒不应该以“自杀”的方式来结束自己的生命的，当知如掌中解脱所诉，此生能够获得如此暇满人身，应该用来好好修持佛法，并帮助他人，救渡一切有情众生，而不是以自杀的方式来表达任何的原因。
西藏流亡政府在印度60年来，并没有在“自焚”的议题上提出任何的阻止，反而非常积极地在“多杰雄登”护法的修持议题上不断地给予种种不公平的待遇。
西藏的佛教文化是雄厚与美丽的，祈愿西藏流亡政府，与观世音菩萨大慈大悲的化身尊贵的达赖尊者，祈愿您们为这雄厚的佛教与西藏独有雪莲与美丽色彩，在和平与祥和的方式下延续。
Killing, be it oneself or others, is never the answer to any conflicts. What’s even more disturbing for me is how the Tibetan government-in-exile is doing nothing to stop its own citizens from this harmful self-expression and in fact, they are milking it for what it’s worth.
The human life is very precious. According to the Lamrim, to gain an optimum human rebirth, the chances is equivalent to a blind turtle living in the ocean trying to poke its head through a golden yoke. Not only that, this golden yoke is floating in the vast ocean and being blown by the wind. AND this blind turtle only surfaces once in every 100 years. So….imagine the possibilities of this happening.
To end one’s life in such a way is such a waste.
I absolutely agree with Rinpoche that no matter what the reasons are, no one should give up their life for whatever cause they believe in and are fighting for. What good would there be, and what could be done, when that person who believed in their cause and who had so much faith for what they wanted to achieve when they are dead? If every fighter had to sacrifice their precious life then who is left to champion the cause they believed in?
I don’t see our hear any of the CTA people self immolating since they are the leaders of the Tibetans in exile, and they believe and want so much for a Free Tibet. I’m not insinuating that the CTA or anyone should but I’m just saying out loud.
Clearly there is a better way to let their voices heard rather than self immolation. Yes it can be heroic act for some but for me, I feel there are also other better ways to let our opinions heard such as online / on site Live protests. We can protest as many times as we want without risk losing our precious human life. We can do a lot more and make our voices heard like what Tsem Rinpoche is Doing with our body intact. Thank you Reuters for publishing this article and awareness on this issue is very necessary so that no more lives are lost. Why CTA will not just issue a law to prevent such things to happen. How many more lives need to be wasted to make them understand that they can go other methods to make our voices heard and attended to.
After so many deaths, what has resulted from the many cases of self-immolation but a loss of a dear life, a dear son, friend, daughter, parent, child, student. A loss of a life stays with the family for many years, especially a loss where their lives did not improve the situation, but only helped the Tibetan Administration in their short term financial gains.
Is it worth it? Like Rinpoche said, their determination and strength to speak up and do something for a cause that they are so passionate in is commendable, but how come it requires a loss of life (in this case, many lives) to prove an ineffective system/solution and lack of action of the Tibetan Administration?
As Buddhists, one’s life is extremely precious. The fact that we can become Buddhas, and we commit suicide, essentially means we are killing the Buddha in us, we are killing Buddha. It is a crime that brings heavy negative karma to oneself. As stated in the Lamrim, our lives are precious, and so rare, that we must use our lives to further develop ourselves, our minds, our bardo, and deaths so that we can gain better rebirths that we can eventually attain enlightenment. How come the CTA, who are practising Buddhists, I assume, can encourage such actions, and not stop it, and stop people taking their precious lives? They are also collective heavy negative karma, as bystanders, who do nothing, but know that it should not be so.
Thank you Reuters for this. Thank you Rinpoche for speaking out on this. I too hope that there will be no more self immolations, as there is never no other options besides suicide. The Tibetan Administration has so far failed its people, and has found no solution (or probably don’t want to), to bettering the lives of their people.
Self-immolation is a form of suicide and should never be attempted by ordinary people, including monks, because it leads to rebirth in a lower realm. As H.E. Tsem Rinpoche said, it is equivalent to killing and therefore there is heavy negative karma generated. We must not encourage self-immolation as a means of social or political protest. It is not worth sacrificing one’s precious human life for things that are transient, impermanent. Moreover, such actions cause a lot of suffering, personal as well as for family members and friends. I agree with Rinpoche that the Tibetan leadership should make an effort to advise against self-immolation and instead, find pragmatic solutions to help their people. The advice provided by H.E. Tsem Rinpoche are sound and motivated by compassion. I hope the young monk who is thinking of performing self-immolation will change his mind. I feel that since he is a spiritual practitioner, he should be guided by the Dharma and not by his emotions. He should use his precious human rebirth to help his people, guided by Buddhist values of non-harm, compassion and wisdom.
It’s really very sad to hear so many Tibetans have taken their own lives because of the DS ban. Hope the Dalai Lama and Tibetan Leadership is aware of this and seriously consider lifting the ban and put an end to so much sufferings and more lives taken. Thank you Reuters, for publishing here Tsem Rinpoche’s thoughts on Tibetan self-immolation.?
Since 2009, 152 Tibetans have self-immolated. This includes 41 monks and 8 nuns.
While in most cases the sacrifice of lives has been in protest against Chinese rule and in support of the free-Tibet cause, in recent times there have been a couple of self-immolations as expressions of frustration and dissatisfaction over the abuse of power of CTA as well. Whatever the cause may be, self-immolation, as Tsem Rinpoche points out here, is against the basic Buddhist principals of non-killing. The negative karma that such transgressions carry is heavy, more so when monks and nuns are involved.
Hence, in response to the 3 recent most self-immolations, Rinpoche has come out with a strong statement against self-immolations. The fact is that the Tibetan Leadership, as Buddhist Leaders, should not have remained silent over these self-immolations. Their silence appears to have the nature of wanting to gain sympathy from others , who out of sympathy, might be persuaded to contribute more to the Free Tibet Cause. However, the Free Tibet cause, despite the many immolations in support of it, has not progressed in any way in the last 60 years since the invasion of Tibet.
How sad -so many lives lost in a futile effort to help speed up the fruition of their dreams of a free Tibet, little realising that their dreams ,after 60 years, remain as mere dreams, with no negotiations or effort on the part of the Tibetan leadership to push the cause forward.
How sad that Tibetans are being distracted from focusing on unity and peace in order to move forward, by their Leadership’s persistent discrimination and persecution of their own people for practising a 400 year practice of Dorje Shugden passed down to them by their Gurus, great erudite Masters bent on bringing all to the path of Dharma and Enlightenment.
Thank you Reuters, for publishing here Tsem Rinpoche’s thoughts on Tibetan self-immolation.
For an exclusively Buddhist community of Tibetans to commit suicide or even threaten to do is sheer sign of desperation. Whatever maybe the cause, there had been over 150 lives wasted. Wasted is because nothing has changed for the last 60 years. The Tibetans are still refugees without any country to belong to, except the few privileged ones who sad to say are the leaders who did not and looks like will do nothing to stop self immolation of Tibetans as a whole.
H.E. the 25th Tsem Rinpoche has spoken clearly on this issue of which it is appreciated that Reuters has published His strong statement to appeal to Tibetans not to consider self immolation which is against the principle teachings of the Buddha against killing even of self.
What is more appealing is H.E’s appeals and suggestions as to what the Central Tibetan Authority can do to stop this wrongful act.
However the question now is: Is the President of CTA and H.H. the Dalai Lama be willing to change in order to serve Tibetans better?
As a member of the Tibetan Buddhist community, it is my sincere wish that CTA will forego their personal agenda of self gain to work for the Tibetans in exile.
May Tibetans have more options to resolve issues and hope there is none who needs to use self-immolation to get the CTA to do something. All lives are important. ?
This was a wonderful and powerful article. It was my first time to this blog site and I must say it is extensive in information of all sorts and useful too.
So far regarding the Tibetan self-immolations, only Karmapa and Tsem Rinpoche have spoken up strongly against it. I don’t recall seeing other Tibetan lamas who have discouraged this way of getting support. I am very happy to see Tsem Rinpoche speak up loud and clear about saving precious lives. ???
Thank you. I will be reading in the coming months many subject matters on this wonderful website. ?
Dear, Friend from USA !
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