On this bitter cold snowy Sunday in Syracuse there are prayers being shared among Buddhists for the well being of the Tibetan Buddhists as sad news is received of the self-immolation of a teenage nun. The Tibet Sun has published a story from Reuters, "Teenage Tibetan nun set herself on fire in protest." Tibetan exiles and monitoring sources have said an 18-year-old nun at a Tibetan Buddhist convent set herself on fire in southwest China to protest oppressive Chinese rule over Tibet.
Kanyag Tsering, who is a monk at Kirti Monastery in the capital of the Tibetan government-in-exile in Dharamshala, India, has said that Tenzin Choedron, a nun at the Mamae convent in Sichuan province, survived the initial immolation on Saturday evening and she was taken away by Chinese police and troops. Kanyag said from Dharamshala, which is the seat of the Tibetan government-in-exile “Soldiers surrounded the nunnery and sealed it off, and nothing more is known of the situation inside.”
This tragic story has also been reported on by Stephanie Brigden, director of the group Free Tibet. Brigden has said by email that Tenzin is the 22nd Tibetan in less than a year and the sixth this past week to self-immolate. Furthermore, “We know many more Tibetans are willing to give their lives and Tibetans are protesting in the streets,” Brigden has continued. Tibetan activists have said that China has been violently stamping out Tibetan religious freedom and culture in Tibet.
Protests by self-immolation of repressive Chinese rule have become more common in Tibet and also in restive, ethnically Tibetan regions of China. It is believed at least 13 Tibetans have died from their injuries. The prime minister of Tibet’s government-in-exile, Dr Lobsang Sangay, recently denounced what he called China’s occupation at a candle-lit vigil in Dharamshala. And so today is just another very sad day for the Tibetans and their friends worldwide.
