Tibetan monks

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Tibet to China: Give Us Back the Boy Monk You Stole

2nd-highest Buddhist spiritual leader disappeared 20 years ago at age 6

(Newser) - Twenty years ago this week, a 6-year-old Tibetan boy was cornered by Chinese authorities, then apparently fell off the face of the Earth. He wasn't just any grade-schooler, though: Gedhun Choekyi Nyima had just been declared the 11th Panchen Lama (second only to the Dalai Lama in the Buddhist...

Buddhists: Mummified Monk Is Just in Trance

Lama found in lotus position may not be dead, experts suggest

(Newser) - The 200-year-old Buddhist monk found still seated in the lotus position is not dead, but is rather in a rare spiritual state known as tukdam, Buddhism experts suggest. Dr. Barry Kerzin, a famous fellow monk who is also a physician to the Dalai Lama, tells the Siberian Times that monks...

Chinese Police Raid Tibetan Monastery

5 busted after hundreds of police storm Qinghai monastery

(Newser) - The 500 Tibetan monks at a monastery in China's Qinghai province were outnumbered by heavily armed police during a massive raid Saturday, reports Radio Free Asia . The security forces arrested five monks in the raid. Two Tibetans set themselves on fire in the region earlier this year, and three...

2 Tibet Teens Set Selves on Fire

Monk, former monk die later in the hospital

(Newser) - Two Tibetan teenagers died last night after setting themselves on fire to protest Chinese rule, rights group Free Tibet tells the AP . Eighteen-year-old monk Lobsang Kalsang and 17-year-old former monk Damchoek self-immolated outside a monastery in Sichuan province; they died later in a hospital. Free Tibet says their deaths bring...

Dalai Lama Donates $1.5M to Charity

Wins Templeton Prize for linking science and 'compassion'

(Newser) - It's a big news day for the Dalai Lama, from the dangerous to the charitable. He will today be awarded $1.5 million for his services to human spirituality, and he's giving away all of the winnings. He'll donate some $1.45 million to India's Save...

Tibet Nun, 18, Sets Self Ablaze
 Tibet Nun, 18, Sets Self Ablaze 
Feb 12, 2012 9:11 AM CST

Tibet Nun, 18, Sets Self Ablaze

Free Tibet says teen died from injuries as tension escalates

(Newser) - An 18-year-old Tibetan nun has set herself on fire in western China in the latest such protest against Beijing's handling of the vast ethnic Tibetan regions it rules, an overseas activist group said today. Free Tibet said in a statement that the nun had died after setting herself ablaze...

Monk's Body Paraded After Self-Immolation

Protesters seized body from police station, then carried through streets

(Newser) - The body of a monk who killed himself yesterday morning by drinking kerosene, dousing himself, and lighting himself on fire was taken from the police in western China by hundreds of angry Tibetans and paraded through the streets, reports the AP . Police initially refused to hand over the body, but...

Challenge to China: Another Monk Sets Self on Fire

It's the 12th self-immolation in Tibet since March

(Newser) - The most salient detail in a Washington Post article about the rising number of self-immolations among Tibetan monks and nuns: Chinese troops in the region are now carrying fire extinguishers as part of their regular riot-control gear. It's become necessary because 12 men and women have set themselves on...

Tibetan Nun Sets Self on Fire, Marking 11th Incident

She reportedly called for the return of the Dalai Lama to Tibet

(Newser) - The number of self-immolations to occur among Tibetans in recent months can no longer be counted on two hands: A Tibetan nun died today after setting herself ablaze. It's the 11th such incident to occur in southwest China since March, and the second by a nun ; the AFP reports...

Tenth Tibetan Monk Sets Himself on Fire

China calls it a form of 'terrorist activity'

(Newser) - The recent self-immolation craze may have started in Tunisia, but no one’s been as devoted to it as Tibet’s Buddhist monks. Yet another monk reportedly set himself on fire yesterday in protest of Chinese rule, making him the tenth to do so since March, according to the AP...

Dalai Lama Can't Choose Successor: China

Spiritual leader plans reincarnation decision at 'about 90'

(Newser) - The Dalai Lama says it’s up to him to decide whether he should be reincarnated—and of course China isn't having any of that. Beijing today dismissed any successor picked by the spiritual leader himself as illegal, following the 76-year-old’s statement this weekend that he’ll make...

Another Tibetan Monk Burns Himself to Death

Tsewang Norbu dies in self-immolation protest

(Newser) - A Tibetan Buddhist monk set himself on fire today in southwest China while calling out the Dalai Lama's name, the latest in a string of self-immolation protests in that country as well as North Africa. Tsewang Norbu, 29, "drank petrol, sprayed petrol on himself, and then set himself...

Tibet Monk Sets Self on Fire to Protest Chinese Rule

Self-immolation sets off protests

(Newser) - A Tibetan monk set off a protest today in western China by setting himself on fire, according to a group campaigning for Tibetan independence. The monk, a 21-year-old from an ethnically Tibetan part of Sichuan province, “immolated himself today in protest against the crackdown,” the International Campaign for...

China to Monks: Get Out of Quake Zone

Beijing declares today day of mourning for Qinghai quake victims

(Newser) - Thousands of Tibetan monks who rushed to assist earthquake relief efforts in China's Qinghai province are getting the boot. The monks have played a vital role in the aftermath of the last week's earthquake in the predominately Tibetan region and beat the military to some areas. Chinese officials, however, say...

China Cremates Quake Dead
 China Cremates Quake Dead 
Apr 17, 2010 6:47 AM CDT

China Cremates Quake Dead

Number of victims makes 'sky burials' impossible

(Newser) - Monks wearing face masks set ablaze piles of the blanket-wrapped bodies of China's earthquake victims on a mountaintop today, as necessity forced Tibetans to break with the tradition of leaving their dead out for vultures. Hundreds of villagers sat on the hillside, watching as the flames leapt skyward, while monks...

Survivors Struggle as China Quake Toll Hits 600

People of Tibetan region left without shelter in freezing temperatures

(Newser) - Tens of thousands of survivors spent the night in freezing temperatures after yesterday's earthquake on the Tibetan Plateau. The Chinese military is rushing in tents, food, and medical supplies, but the cold temperatures mean hope is fading for those still trapped in the ruins of schools and monasteries, Reuters reports....

Dalai Lama to Tibet: You Need 2 of Me

(Newser) - The Dalai Lama has told Tibetans his successor should not bear the burden of being both spiritual and political leader to their community, the Independent reports. "When we put the whole responsibility in the person of the Dalai Lama, it is dangerous," he said in a video address...

Boy Chosen by Dalai Lama Abandons Buddhism

Spanish-born Lama says order 'was like living a lie'

(Newser) - When he was still a toddler, Osel Hita Torres was brought from Spain to an Indian monastery, where the Dalai Lama proclaimed him the reincarnation of one of Tibetan Buddhism's spiritual leaders. But Torres, now 24, has abandoned the order and returned to Spain, where he studies film and says...

China Busts 100 Monks After Attack on Police

Protest sparked by alleged suicide of police escapee

(Newser) - China arrested almost 100 monks after hundreds of Tibetans attacked a Chinese police station, the AP reports. Police nabbed six while 89 others, almost all monks, turned themselves in, said the state news agency. The uproar appeared to be over a Tibetan who disappeared after he escaped from police, the...

Tibet Under Martial Law as Revolt Anniversary Nears

Protests are simmering under curfew and heavy police presence

(Newser) - China is quietly clamping down on Tibet ahead of twin anniversaries this month—the 50th of the Dalai Lama's failed revolt and the first of the violent riots that shook the region last year. Sandbag outposts, army convoys, and high police presence in Lhasa, Tibet's capital, indicate Beijing is readying...

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