In the Aba Tibetan autonomous county of Sichuan, two people fled their hometown in August to escape the coercion of Lorang Konchok, a monk, to commit self-immolation. The two returned home only after the monk and his nephew Lorang Tsering were apprehended.
To seduce or force others to commit a suicide is not only against the law but also against one of the five essential edicts of Buddhism, which says that life is to be respected in all its forms.
The Dalai Lama compares present-day Tibetan inhabited areas as hell on Earth where ethnic genocide is being conducted, and his Western supporters, who see him as a saint, assume it to be the truth. The fact is pre-liberation Tibet, under the Dalai Lamas, was a place where slavery, poverty and illiteracy were rampant.
By accusing the Chinese government of wrongdoing and citing the self-immolations as evidence of Tibetan "desperation", the Dalai Lama is trying to fool the international community. And even some ordinary Chinese citizens, including Han people, think Tibetans are fighting for their rights. This is disinformation campaign at its worst.
What should one think of a 14-year-old illiterate boy who committed self-immolation? Could he read the political and social situation and then decide to take his life? Or did he act under the pressure of adult troublemakers? The answer is obvious.
True Buddhists do not kill any living being, and that includes themselves. Killing is the gravest sin in Buddhism. Buddhists pray every morning for even the ants they might inadvertently trample during the day.
While I was living with a Tibetan family, I saw a cockroach and prepared to kill it. But the head of the family stopped me, saying: "All life has the right to live." In another Tibetan home, I saw four mice crossing a room on a wire hanging from one side to the other with family members not even bothering to scare them away, let alone try to kill them. This respect for life, not suicide, is the true teaching of the Buddha.
When the Dalai Lama remains silent on self-immolations instead of condemning them (one call would be effective), even some of his devout followers and sympathizers feel confused. So, should the West still support the Dalai Lama and his inhuman designs?
The author is a Canadian scholar based in Beijing.
(China Daily 12/13/2012 page9)
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