Tibetan Buddhism banned in certain parts of China

[Namdrol]

Inside news from China:
 
Due to continuous incidents of self-immolation, certain parts of China, example Chongqing city, already banned Tibetan Buddhism practice, statues, guru trees, protectors, even Panchen Lama's pictures from being openly propitiated in Mahayana temples, even Dharma texts with the name "Tsongkhapa" on it are not allowed to be openly placed.
 
Mahayana temples are only allowed to pray to Mahayana statues and sutras now in those places.

This is a sad news, spirituality is taking a halt or even going backwards in China at this moment, spreading Dharma especially Tibetan Buddhism is becoming difficult at this moment.

It is always disheartening when politics inteferes with religion, just like how Dorje Shugden's practitioners have to suffer due to politics...

[Lineageholder]

It's sad but not surprising.  The Dalai Lama has refused to speak out about the self-immolations and some people suspect that he's behind them and encouraging them.  What then happens is that the Chinese fear that Buddhism is an extreme religion because it's showing such an extreme example, and it gets banned.

Buddhism doesn't teach you to set yourself on fire to challenge a political ideology. With the display of such fanaticism, similar to suicide bombing, it was really only a matter of time before a ban would be instituted.

[triesa]

It's sad but not surprising.  The Dalai Lama has refused to speak out about the self-immolations and some people suspect that he's behind them and encouraging them.  What then happens is that the Chinese fear that Buddhism is an extreme religion because it's showing such an extreme example, and it gets banned.

Buddhism doesn't teach you to set yourself on fire to challenge a political ideology. With the display of such fanaticism, similar to suicide bombing, it was really only a matter of time before a ban would be instituted.

Although outwardly, it looks like a heroic sacrifice to voice one's ideology through self immolations, but like what Lineageholder said here, buddhism does not teach us to set ourselves on fire to convey the message, the Chinese leaders definitely do not want these type of religious extremism to spread in their country like susicde bombing in Islamic countries. It is really a matter of time the Chinese will impart this ban for buddhism. Chinese will not tolerate this at all. We should all know.

I hope as practitioners, we do find a middle way to resolve this, in any case, violence like this, whether done onto oneself or others are not regarded highly at this age now. It always bring a bad and negative connotation to a religion. And on top of that, Buddhism has always been seen as a religion that brings peace and harmony.

[hope rainbow]

This new is very sadening.

TIBET SEEN FROM OTHER CHINESE PROVINCES:
A place for potential social un-rest.
A place for potential bad reputation for China on the inter-national scene
A place for potential violence.
A place for potential terrorism.
A place for potential long-term problems.

Then there is this amalgamation:
TIBET = TIBETAN BUDDHISM = LAMA TSONGKHAPA
And temples, teachings, lamas, Buddha images are being put away because they have been identified as a source of problems...

Well, this is not right of course, but it is what happens and that's the simple truth.
How can this be changed?

NOT by demonstrating for a free Tibet.
NOT with more self-immolation.
Why NOT?
Because it would only make the perception worse!

The solution is to change the perception of the Tibetan province from the other Chinese provinces.
How?
Stop the self-immolation,
Stop the pressure for a free Tibet (it is WAY TOO LATE FOR THAT, LET'S FACE THE TRUTH NOW)
Promote a spiritual practice that is (a) reliable, (b) uniting the province of Tibet with the other Chinese provinces without any conflict whatsoever.
Which practice could this possibly be? DORJE SHUGDEN.

What do we want to achieve by relying on Dorje Shugden?
- that the province of Tibet is seen as a beacon of peace, harmony, unity and prosperity by the other Chinese provinces,
- that the practices of Vajrayana and Mahayana Buddhism (the teachings of Lama Tsongkhapa) flourish throughout all Chinese provinces (and beyond),
- that there is peace within China and by extension in the whole S-E Asia,
- that many and many more connect with a spiritual practice and make their ways to enlightenment, now already!

As much as trouble may arise form the Tibetan province of China, peace, harmony, prosperity and spirituality may also arise.
What are we doing for the second scenario to become reality and not the first one?

Please, I say, let's be wise, this is not about TIBET, this is about the spread of Lama Tsongkhapa's teachings in China (and beyond), it's about the cessation of suffering, it's about the END of samsara, it's about  ENLIGHTENMENT, and if that's too much to contemplate, then let's see it for what it is: it is about peace, it is about prosperity, it is about freedom, it is about harmony, it's about protection...
If China rejects the teachings of Lama Tsongkhapa, then why would Dorje Shugden be a protector for China?

Tibet IS a Chinese province by now. Everyone must live with that reality.
I am convinced that if the Chinese nationals of Tibetan origin accept this, they will be free to practice, they will be free to even be Tibetans -in China. Then Tibet will prosper, and the rest of China will prosper, and the whole SE Asia will prosper, both on a secular level and on a spiritual level.

My thoughts.

[Ensapa]

If the CTA isn't reading this yet, they should. Their actions and encouragement of the self immolations only encouraged more of them to happen and causing more people to immolate themselves, taking their own life. And causing China to be paranoid against Tibetan Buddhism, lockdown on the monasteries and interrogation of the family members of the immolation victims.

So if the results of the immolations and the protests are bad, why won't they stop promoting it for the greater good of the people? It is very clear that China will not give in to such tactics, but yet the CTA is persisting with something that doesent work and also that it causes a lot more harm than good, to Buddhism in China and also to the people who are involved with the immolations…so why does CTA still persist?

If the CTA truly cares for the Tibetans and not just for their own political benefit, they would have told the Tibetans to stop immolating themselves as it causes a lot of pain for themselves and their community and it also damages Buddhism as a whole as it gives the impression that the Tibetan Buddhists are out there to damage harmony of the country. So, does CTA really care for the Tibetans or just their own causes?

CTA should really come out with a statement that tells people to stop self immolations and have compassion for the people there in Tibet rather than encouraging them. Lobsang Sangay, if you really care about the people in Tibet, you know what you must do!

[vajratruth]

I don't quite get the decision by the Chinese government to ban Buddhism although the ban is only limited to some areas. It may be understandable if the government banned the religion because it was the cause of, or called for by the practice of the religion. It wasn't. The acts of self immolation may have been done by members of the cleric but those acts were definitely not done out of any Buddhist beliefs and it's not spiritually motivated.

As for the monks that went to the extreme of their self immolation, the monks may have achieved some attention from the international community, but they also made the Chinese government to come to associate the religion as being separatist in nature.

Personally I don't understand the decision to set oneself on fire. Were the Chinese so repressive towards the practice of Buddhism or were those acts of self immolation politically motivated? I cannot see how they could have been spiritually motivated because how can anyone take our beliefs away? How can anyone stop us from a spiritual practice which is usually performed privately anyway?

As a human being, I can relate to the anger and frustration when something precious is taken away from us e.g. a beloved country. But as a practitioner of Buddhism (of which one would expect the Tibetans to lead by example in their incorporation of spirituality into everyday life) I am quite perplexed that some Tibetans seem not to be able to deal with how mutable everything is.

Is there some political manipulation in the decision by some brave Tibetans who have sacrificed their own lives? Is is more important for Tibetans to have their country back or is it more important for them to have their spiritual practice?

[Carpenter]

China Government is having fear of things that out of control, what they wanted is to have peace and harmony in that country, everything under their control, therefore when Tibetan Buddhist appeared to be so political, so extreme, of course China will start to back out.

Basically now the problem is not from Tibetan Buddhism, but it is the political issue from Tibet itself, if Tibet continue to be like this, I’m sure it will be getting worse in China.

Hope CTA know their doings are actually making worse in religion and change their act towards it.

[kurava]

I think the China Government is quite clear about who is behind all these "heroic" acts. However, the Government must tread carefully between internal security and human rights issue.

Since it is generally accepted that communism does not look favorably towards spirituality of any denomination, they might have chosen banning Buddhism in certain parts of China to circumvent the highly publicized Free Tibet issue.

There are high Lamas who go beyond political and racial issues and instead, just focus on bringing the benefits of the 3 jewels to people irrespective of race and creed. HH is seen as one such persons.However, we do see contradictory actions from him and that is the confusing message HH sends out to ordinary people like me.

[brian]

This is sad isn't it? Political again interferring into religion. There has been a growing numbers of extreme cases of self-immolation acts but I do not agree with the banning of Buddhism totally is a effective solution at all. What they need is rather education on not to go to such extreme acts because due to the difference level of wisdom on certain people. Things can be worse instead of helping.

Such is the act of setting oneself on fire, from one point of view is that they compassionately suffers for others and hope it can do someone's favour but in turn has had a devastating effect on the original struggle instead of helping it rather it "helped" to worsen it rather.

The act of compassion can sometimes beinf viewed the otherway round and become misleading.

[bambi]

Whenever I hear about self immolation or read it in the news, it's really disturbing! People who don't understand must be thinking that these people do it because of HHDL. Again from religion, it becomes a political issue again. HHDL and CTA on the other hand is not helping out from what I see. Shouldnt they come up with awareness to stop people from doing harm.
Banning Dorje Shugden is already stirring up so many problems and now self immolation! Now with China banning Tibetan Buddhism, is it really helping?

[pgdharma]

This is so sad. When people go to the extreme of self immolation, it creates panic and fear. The Chinese definitely will not tolerate this as it is deemed that Buddhism is an extreme religion which they do not want.

I do not understand why they want to set themselves on fire. The set a very bad example for Buddhism. Buddhism taught us peace, tolerance, harmony and this is so contradictory. If China bans Buddhism then it will be difficult to spread Dorje Shugden there.

[samayakeeper]

I wonder what goes on in the mind of the person before he acted. I wonder if this will start a trend. I wonder if the person is of sound mind. I wonder what the person hoped to achieve with his/her death, and I wonder if it was achieved after. I wonder how many people view this person as mentally ill or as a martyr. I wonder how his family felt.

I wonder if the means justify the end. Guess I will not know because the person could not relate his experience and result.

[dondrup]

Self-immolation by the Tibetans over the last few weeks didn’t yield the effect that the Tibetans wanted though it caught the World’s attention.  If the only result that they have gotten is the ban by the Chinese Government on Tibetan Buddhism, then that is very unfortunate! It is a waste of human lives! Not only that, other Mahayana temples are also affected.  This dampens the growth of Buddhism in China. If the Tibetans are not careful it will create further restriction on spiritual practice which they had been enjoying.

Chinese Government is particularly sensitive and would take very drastic measures to stop any action that threatens China's security. Remember in the past they had even shot down their own citizens during the uprising at Tiananmen Square!

[WisdomBeing]

I know that we should not judge – especially the Sangha – and I’m very aware that those who have self-immolated have really thought that this action is the very last resort for a cause they believe in. However, I do feel that firstly, suicide creates negative karma, whatever the motivation.

Secondly, I do agree that the Dalai Lama should make a stand against this practice.

Thirdly, the Chinese government wants to maintain harmony in their country. Any kind of behaviour which threatens it will of course be subject to a severe clampdown. By the self-immolations, the monks are creating a negative stigma and embarrassment to the Chinese government. Do they really think the Chinese government will say – oh there goes another burning monk, I think I will give independence to them?? Remember Tienanmen Square indeed. What happened there? How many died so that the Chinese can maintain control over their huge country? Did the international community make a difference? I don’t think so. Will the international community make a difference because monks are setting themselves on fire? I don’t think so.

So what is the result? Anything positive? No. The only result is the clamp down on Tibetan Buddhism in China. Great. This strategy is not working, guys. Can we find something else that works? Perhaps ask for Dorje Shugden’s advice? He hasn’t failed Tibet yet.

[Tenzin Malgyur]

Its really a step backwards for the spreading of Lama Tsongkhapa's teachings. Self immolation is giving Tibetan Buddhism a negative image.The people who have done this and those intending to should have thought of what effect their actions would lead to. Unless of course, this was the result they wanted to create. It is not getting any positive message across to the authorities and the whole world that Buddhism is a peaceful and caring religion. Your Holiness Dalai lama, please tell anyone intending to set themselves on fire to please not light-up. We want Lama Tsongkhapa's teachings to spread and not have to practice in secret.