China blames monks for Tibetan unrest (forces 're-education')

[onehandle]

Source: AFP

BEIJING — China on Tuesday blamed Buddhist monks for causing unrest in a Tibetan region, accusing them of disrupting social order and defaming their religion. The foreign ministry refused to confirm allegations two Tibetans were killed in a security crackdown at the Kirti Monastery in the southwestern province of Sichuan, but gave the clearest official acknowledgement yet of unrest there.

"In recent days, a small number of monks in Kirti Monastery in Aba county, Sichuan have disrupted social order and disobeyed Tibetan Buddhist rules," foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei told reporters. They have "disrupted local normal order, defamed the image of Tibetan Buddhism and harmed the feelings of Buddhist followers."

According to the US-based International Campaign for Tibet, unrest in the Chinese region erupted in March when a young monk set himself on fire and died in an apparent anti-government protest. On Thursday last week, paramilitary police raided the monastery and took away more than 300 monks. Authorities also started a re-education programme at Kirti, the group said.

Police also beat a group of laypeople who had been standing vigil outside the monastery, leading to the deaths of two Tibetans aged in their sixties, ICT said. "People had their arms and legs broken, one old woman had her leg broken in three places, and cloth was stuffed in their mouths to stifle their screams," an exiled Kirti monk was quoted as saying by the rights group.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110426/wl_asia_afp/chinatibetunrestreligionrights_20110426160255

[Duer 157099]

1. God help us all if China ever decides to become a "Christian" nation

Can you imagine?

[xchrom]

2. dear china: free tibet and it won't be a problem at all. nt

[naaman fletcher]

6. Free Tibet,

Yes, that is good. However, under previous rule it was a fascist regieme. I have never understood why liberals suppor the Dalai Lama.

[UnseenUndergrad]

7. correction.

It was a pseudo-feudal Buddhist theocracy with the monastaries and lamas being the heirs of the old feudal clans. Whether there was any of the modern economic or communication apparatus that denotes modern fascism is unknown, but it was more likely like nay number of authoritarian systems throughout history.

But here's the kicker. They were wealth hoarding authoritarians but, to the Tibetans it was likely that a position (has) evolved that they were THEIR wealth-hoarding authoritarians, especially with decades of Han colonialism and ham-fisted secularization attempted between then and now.

[SoapBox]

3. Was that "Republicans Blame non-Christians for unrest"?

Yup...I think that is just about it!

Same concept...Same creeps.

[glinda]

4. This is horrible. The people of Tibet are suffering terribly and nothing

and no Country stands up to help them. For so long this has happened and is heartbreaking.

[drokhole]

5. "A culture which excludes frivolity has lost the point of life...

...and this is where Chinese communists are in extreme danger. They are the most earnest of people, the most dedicated to survival. The style of life in China is drab because they think that the point of life is to go on living, and so long as you get by, no matter how horrible the food is, how drab your dress, you are getting by. And this is completely missing the point.

The mistake is on page 224 of Mao Tse-Tung's red book where he says, 'It is essential to have a furrowed brow to think,' as if straining the muscles of the forehead has anything to do with clear thinking. This is against Lao-tzu, who is the greatest of all Chinese philosophers, the Father of Wisdom.

You cannot make your mind or your nervous system efficient by straining; this is basic to psycho-physical functioning. Mao Tse-Tung makes this mistake and this indicates an excessive seriousness. This is the point I am getting at: life is not worth living if it is compulsive."

- Alan Watts, Play and Survival


It's unfortunate that a culture as rich as Chinese - one that has given the world the peaceful, thought-expanding teachings of Lao-tzu, the I Ching/Tao, Buddhism, Confucius, etc... - has devolved into such a clusterfuck of narrow-minded, rigid, militaristic pricks for leaders. That's not to say we're any better in this day and age, but they could learn a thing or two from their ancient ancestors.

[freshwest]

8. Another thought provoking post. And the suppression of falun gong seems crazy. What's wrong with...

'Falun Dafa (also called Falun Gong, or just Dafa) is a high-level cultivation practice guided by the characteristics of the universe...

—Truthfulness, Benevolence, and Forbearance.'

http://www.falundafa.org/eng/intro.html

Why would those three traits be bad for' the social order'?

Sounds like a way to bring peace on Earth to me.

But what do I know...

[drokhole]

9. Well put! And thanks for the link...

...I hadn't heard of Falun Dafa, and will have to look into it. In the meantime, I came across three Alan Watts clips on 'the YouTubes' recently that I thought you may enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TsNyLvzhJJo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCOJnIysQ1A
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ioFG999aOCs

[freshwest]

10. Ah, thanks, I'll download those for later.