Tenzin Wangmo, a 20-year-old nun from Dechen Chokorling Nunnery in Tibet, is the ninth Tibetan to commit self-immolation since March, and the fifth of those to die. They are protesting repression by Chinese security forces. More at Free Tibet.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_4QYEH3JOXTDMTF2FPZCOOATM4M AsylumWarden

    Sad. The problem here is that there is now one less voice of dissent.

  • Antinous / Moderator

    The Chinese government has been responding by arresting nearby monks for murder, accessory, etc.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/BigVic-Proton/1112763277 BigVic Proton

    Every piece of Chinese junk we buy goes to support Tibet’s tormentors.  

    • Mister44

      Sooo – where was your computer made?

      • travtastic

        I use an abacus.

        • Mister44

          And WHO still use abacuses?

          What sort of bandwidth do you get on that thing?

          • travtastic

            I’ve seen it get up to like ten beads a second.

  • http://twitter.com/brettspiel Brett Myers

    In all seriousness, why are these suicides in the name of religion so.. admired, if that’s the right word? I have a hard time separating these guys from Islamic suicide bombers, in so far as the majority of them appear to be young, impressionable religious fanatics. Most of the self-immolated monks listed at Free Tibet are in their late teens/early twenties. The oldest was only 29. It just makes me wonder, you know? Where are the leaders? Why are we seeing only the youngest monks take this unthinkable action? 

    A self-immolating monk is committing a radical act of suicide as a political statement, but it is also a religious statement, much as the young Islamic suicide bombers are making political statements via religion in the Middle East.

    I can’t help but see both groups as victims of a religious hierarchy that has manipulated them for it’s own gains. 

    • Jeremy Duncan

      One very obvious point of difference between these monks and suicide bombers is that they aren’t killing or maiming a bunch of random passers-by when they go.

    • Antinous / Moderator

      I can’t help but see both groups as victims of a religious hierarchy that has manipulated them for it’s own gains.

      Buddhist monks/nuns are often freelancers. There’s not necessarily much hierarchy. The DL certainly isn’t advocating for this. And as in the case of some suicide bombers, this has nothing to do with religion and everything to do with being occupied/invaded by an imperialist power.

  • Richard

    “Mourning” By Sengdor
    The sadness of living is more painful than death
    Unbearable sorrow turned you all into glowing red skeletons
    The mouth quivers with flames
    The hands are pierced with flames
    Flames burn in the breast
    Rosary beads of fire scatter to the ground
    Look at the smoke rising
    from the monastery’s golden roof
    Look at the doors of each monk’s cell
    In every moment
    After a storm bursts on one grassland
    Another storm bursts on the other grassland
    Following the direction of the wind
    Dark shadows move accordingly
     
    http://www.highpeakspureearth.com/2011/10/mourning-poem-about-self-immolations.html