“It is a tragic and yet heroic thing that so many young and older Tibetan monks and nuns are offering their bodies to the flames to appeal to the world’s heart to have compassion for the plight of the spiritual people of Tibet, under the harsh boots of the Chinese dictatorship. No one tells them to do it – in fact their mentors tell them not to even think of it, since they should bear whatever suffering inflicted on them with patience and use their precious human lives to develop their wisdom and compassion and attain buddhahood for the sake of all living beings. Yet their is a tradition within the spiritual heroes and heroines of Buddhism to offer the body out of altruism, love, and the joy of freedom, never motivated by hatred or anger. They do believe that dying in that positively motivated way leads to a better rebirth where they can continue to serve all beings, so they grit their teeth and bear the agony to teach others that material possessions and dominance and force are not the be all and end all. Their act is the absolute opposite of the suicide bomber who self-destructs with the agenda of hatred in order to kill others. These give away their body out of love, not to harm, to offer others, even if the message is subliminal to those obsessed with power, a vision of freedom from bondage to anything. If you watch this, be reverent and open your heart and pray that all oppressors everywhere are moved to relent and relax their grip – let free and be free themselves!” -Robert Thurman

How ironic: the flip side of the North Koreans, who were forcing their probably secretly celebrating people to mourn.