A chain of self-immolations by monks and nuns happened in the Tibetan areas of Southwest China's Sichuan Province this year. To these tragedies, China's religious circle lamented these young people's rashness and the consequences they caused, and expressed concerns over how such acts might damage the reputation of Tibetan Buddhism. The Tibetans in exile, however, represented by the Dalai Lama and some overseas Tibetan groups, responded to these acts with astonishing swiftness and an extreme attitude.

Self-immolation is an extreme way of committing suicide. It is shocking and mournful to see these young lives to be engulfed in flames and disappear in a minute. Despite the local government's utmost efforts to save them, some of them were still lost. These self-immolations caused great pain to those young people's parents who got nothing in return after over 20 years of love and care to their children.

Nevertheless, these extreme acts were supported by the "Tibetan government-in-exile". They published photos of the self-immolation scenes, along with the victims' photos and personal information. Certain groups even put up a list of cash compensation for the victims: 400,000 rupees for each death and 300,000 rupees for the injured. The Dalai Lama, known for his 'non-violence' stance, never uttered a word of persuasion for such self-immolations to immediately stop. He even led fasting in Dharamsala, the northern Indian hillside town where the "Tibetan government-in-exile" is based, to voice support for the extreme acts. Some dubbed the monks and nuns who burned themselves as 'heroes' and 'fighters,' and suggested monuments be erected in their names, and articles were written to create religious basis for these incidents. It was under such clamor and instigation that a Tibetan in exile set himself on fire in Nepal two weeks ago.

As civilization develops, to cherish and respect life has become the common sense and hope, and violence and terrorism has been the enemy and pain to civilized society.  These self-immolations cause sorrow and shock every conscientious person. When we hope those tragedies would not happen again, an objective analysis of the causes and potential consequences of the self-immolations is needed.

According to reports from west media, the young monks and nuns all called slogans like "Tibet freedom" or "Tibet independence", which is obviously a kind of political appeal. But the political appeal can not be from these young monks and nuns who may never have the chance to leave their monastery or their hometown. What's more, it is not a long time since these young monks and nuns come to Kirti Monastery and learn theories and doctrines of Tibetan Buddhism. Here comes the question, where on earth does their political appeal come from?

Maybe it is helpful to first be familiar with the teaching and guidance given to these young monks and nuns before their self-immolations by the head monk. The Kirti Monastery's former head monk once served as the private aide to the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, after he fled to India in 1959 and, later, became a senior religious official of the Dalai Lama's "government-in-exile."

The Kirti clique recently set up a team to work closely with key groups and agencies under the Dalai Lama and his "government-in-exile" in an effort to regain the clique's clout. The team, under the instruction of the Dalai Lama group, is tasked with establishing contacts, collecting information and plotting destabilizing acts in Aba. It is just the head monk in Kirti Monastery who dubbed that monks and nuns who burned themselves as "heroes" and "fighters", and instigated them to burn themselves alive.

According to Song Tendargye, chief of the religious affairs bureau in Aba county, a gang of four Kirti Monastery monks were widely suspected to have masterminded a series of suicide attempts. On March 2, 2011, they plotted a self-immolation and spread photos of the scene on the web within two hours, Hua Zi wrote, quoting Ha Jun, deputy chief of the religious bureau in Aba.

The team, under the instruction of the Dalai Lama group, is tasked with establishing contacts, collecting information and plotting destabilizing acts in Aba.

It's infuriating that young monks and nuns, who knew nothing of the historical and political background behind the 'Tibet freedom' and 'Tibet independence' claims, were incited into taking their own lives.

The self-immolation is in fact a political plot by those who attempt to split Tibet from China and seek the independence of Tibet. And its deep roots can trace back to the long-running theocratic system carried out in old Tibet. For in those days, some monks belonged to the ruling upper-class, and they enjoyed great many privileges. However, after the democratic reform in 1959, the theocratic system was abolished, and these ruling monks’ privileges were also eliminated following this. As a result, out of remembrance of the old privilege and desire for possible new privileges, the remaining forces of the feudal theoretical system in monasteries and the new-generation monks deeply poisoned by these forces will attempt to seek restoration, or even take actions once they have proper chances or are agitated by some influential religious leaders.

The zeal for political goals and the pursuit for privileged interests naturally run counter to the tenets of Buddhism. To achieve this, these ethic separatism forces created the so-called "religious persecution" topic in international community to sensationalize and internalize the so-called "Tibetan Issue", as well as smearing China's ethnic policy and making excuse for the non-existent "independence of Tibet". What's more, young monks' and nun's lives are also served as their tool to achieve their goals.

To Tibetan Buddhism, if those extreme acts can not be stopped, they could be easily turned into religious extremism, which not only is detrimental to the development of the Tibetan Buddhism but also will harm national security and social stability.

It may cause confusion among young monks and nuns, who know little of the historical and political background behind the “Tibet freedom” and “Tibet independence”, and are incited into taking their own lives.

We must expose these violent criminal acts hidden under the cloak of religion, and see through truth facts behind these self-immolations, which in fact is a political plot by those who are attempting to split China and seek "Tibet independence". By playing up the Tibet issue in the international community and smearing China's ethnic policy, they intended to create excuses for the so-called "independence of Tibet."