After the Tibetan monks' self-immolation cases occurred in China's Tibetan-inhabited areas, the Dalai clique has been dying to dig out their alleged theoretical frameworks from the "Buddhist Dharma" under the cloak of religion.

According to a report on kearyhuang.wordpress.com, an overseas blogger, the first Buddhist teacher for the "Tibetan Religious Fund" of the exiled monks and the Dalai Lama, Jampel Gyatso Gasi, stated that the monks' self-immolation act "did not violate the Buddhist doctrine of Not To Kill at all, nor did it contradict with the Buddhist dharma, so it did not break the monastic law…because the motivation and purpose of Tibetan monks' self-immolation has nothing to do with self-interest."

Lobsang Tenzin, the exiled Kirti Rinpoche from the Kirti Monastery in Sichuan Province where the first self-immolation happened, said in an interview on Nov 11, 2011 with the English edition of Falun Gong's epochtimes in the United States, that "even though the decision of self-immolation seems to go extreme, their motivation was for the well-being of the six million Tibetans, which is the right spirit of altruism advocated by Buddhism."

Head of the "Tibet government-in-exile" also claimed in an interview with Indian "Religious News Agency" in January 2012 that "although suicide is considered violence in Buddhism and is forbidden, some Buddhists believe it depends on what the motivation is."

And the 14th Dalai Lama repeated on various occasions that he was sorry for the monks' self-immolations, but also asserted many times that "the difference between violence and non-violence lies in motivation", ascribing the responsibility for the hazardous behaviors to China's Tibet policy. Recently, He also spread the conception that the clergies were self-immolated for others’ interest.

Among these claims, the core viewpoint is that "clergy's self-immolation act does not run against the Buddhist doctrine but echoes with the Buddhist spirit of altruism since the act is intended for other people’s well-being and interest."

Altruism means loving and benefiting others

I hereby want to give my argument on the self-immolations of monks and altruism advocated by Buddhism from the perspectives of the motive, aim and the Buddhist doctrine on self-immolations.

Buddhist altruism is a kind of spirit advocating love and benevolence toward others.

The Mahayana Buddhism advocates pursuing self-interest and benefiting others. It means one should cultivate himself according to the religious doctrine through hard work for his own merits and virtues, so he could enjoy the positive karma. Benefiting others means what one does is not for self - interests , but for relieving others'.

According to Buddhism, altruism is a kind of Buddhist practice, which can be achieved through the Bodhisattva's activities, such as the "Six Perfections" (the six things that ferry one beyond the sea of mortality to nirvana, i.e. the six paramitas.) and "Four Beneficial"(the four qualities making for amicable association), and its purpose lays in sympathizing all sentient beings.

Self-immolation of the monks is a kind of political act.

First, judged from their motives, aims and behaviors, the self-immolation of the monks is a kind of political action but not a religious one. It is definitely not altruistic spirit advocated by Buddhism as it goes against the core concept of Buddhism, which is a compassionate spirit. Just as the so-called leader of the Tibetan government -in - exile said, it is "a kind of political pursuit" for Tibetans to have set themselves on fire.

According to the Buddhist doctrine, the altruism advocated by Buddhist dharma aims to pursue a compassionate spirit so as to reach an equal and egoless state of mind. Therefore, the compassion practice of altruism asserted by Buddhism is just a kind of Buddhist dharma behavior. It does not pursue a political purpose, but a goal of Buddhist dharma, which has nothing to do with politics, nor did it put into any action. It shows that those monks and nuns who confused religion with politics didn’t understand the core spirit of Buddhism.

That some self-immolators shouted the slogans of "Tibetan independence" and "Tibet needs human rights", promoted by the Dalai Clique to their utmost exactly demonstrates self-immolation is neither a religious behavior, nor a practice of"devoting themselves (self-immolators) to Bodhisattva". Instead, they have become absolute political victims, who have serious violated the original meaning of altruism in Buddhism.

Secondly, according to Buddhism, the monks who set themselves on fire have totally violated the fundamental doctrine of the Buddhist altruism that "one who holds mercy toward all other beings does not kill" in terms of the consequences, which runs counter to the Buddhist altruism.

According to Buddhism, there will be some qualifications for self-interest and benefiting others. The initial precondition is long life.
The acts of self-immolation have made many monks lose their lives at their early age. Therefore, it also made them lose the precondition of practicing the spirit of altruism.

The paradox of self-immolation eulogists 

Ironically, when talking about what is the sin of killing, Lobsang Tenzin, Rinpoche of the Kirti Monastery，who claimed self-immolations of monks were "altruism advocated by Buddhism" once wrote in his book "Thirty-two Pieces of Teaching" that "No matter whether your motivation is good or not, no matter if you directly kill a person or not, in a word, as long as your action makes others lose his life, then you commit the sin of killing", and "no matter you did it in public or hide secretly, it is the same. Killing is a crime committed by yourself and no one can bear for you".

That is to say, whatever the reason is and whatever the motivation and purpose is, as long as one kills, he commits the crime of killing.
When controlled completely by the fanatical political impulse, the Dalai clique and the Rinpoche of the Kirti Monastery have totally forgotten the "teachings" claimed in their books.

At the same time, according to Lobsang Tenzin, advocating self-immolation is a conduct of abetting killing per se, which is absolutely against Buddhism's doctrine as well as the spirit of altruism in Buddhism.

Obviously, the self-immolation of monks is not a religious conduct. The so-called "political appeal" in it is not only contrary to the people's wishes, but also goes against the key tenets of altruism, which is someone who is merciful to all sentient beings and has a kind heart does not kill.

The reason why someone advocates that self-immolations of monks are altruism of Buddhism is that they intend to incite and encourage these acts to achieve their political plot.