Maureen Fan reports for the Washington Post that today a young Tibetan monk was shot by police after setting himself on fire. This occurred in a market in Aba prefecture, Sichuan Province, China. Witnesses believe the monk, named Tapey, is now dead, but there is no official confirmation.
Monk Tapey attempted self-immolation after he and about 1,000 other monks were locked out of the main prayer hall of their monastery. The monks had planned to observe the traditional prayer festival, or monlam, that follows Losar, which ended today. Local authorities had banned the monlam, apparently in anger that the monks had refused to observe traditional Losar festivities.
Monk Tapey walked to the marketplace with a home made Tibetan flag bearing a photo of the Dalai Lama. He doused himself in oil and set himself on fire. Witnesses said police fired three shots at Tapey, who fell. When the fire was doused he was taken away by ambulance.
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how inaccurate!!!
it never began in india. It began in Nepal. Please get your facts right
This opening line on the previous page says “Buddhism 101
Could you give me a link? I don’t have a “Buddhism 101″ article, and I have no control over what the About.com editors write. If I knew what you were talking about I could ask the editors to correct it.
First China gets rowdy about them not celebrating, then when they try to celebrate they get banned. Talk about mixed messages. This monk had the wrong idea about how to resolve the issue though. He didn’t accomplish anything.