Self-immolation and martyrdom in Tibet

Abstract

Can one make a martyr of oneself? The Concise Oxford English Dictionary defines ‘martyr’ as ‘a person who is killed because of their religious or other beliefs’: can this definition be stretched to include those who kill themselves in what they appear to perceive as defence of their beliefs? Can a line be drawn to distinguish (self-inflicted) martyrdom from suicide? The question has relevance in light of the ongoing series of self-immolations in Tibet which started in 2011. Are these self-made victims ‘martyrs’?

Keywords:

• Buddhism
• martyr
• martyrdom
• religious suicide
• sacrifice
• self-immolation
• Tibet
• Tibetan Buddhism

Notes

1 The term ‘self-immolation’ may be used to describe any kind of sacrificial self-harming behaviour including burning or cutting of parts of the body, starving oneself, and so on. Its distinguishing factor (e.g. from suicide bombers) is that the person performing the immolation acts only upon their own body without attempting to cause harm to any other. In this paper, the term ‘self-immolation’ in the context of events in Tibet refers specifically to the act of burning, or attempting to burn, one’s whole body.

2 The event was carefully orchestrated: see the description in Biggs, 2005, pp. 179–180.

3 http://www.savetibet.org/resources/fact-sheets/self-immolations-by-tibetans/. 123 of the occurrences took place within the People’s Republic of China, and six in exile communities.

4 See also Orzech (1994). Benn has produced two excellent studies on self-immolation in medieval China (1998, 2007 – see especially pp. 78–103 in the latter), but does not discuss Thich Quang Duc or any other contemporary act of self-immolation.

5 For a critique of Jan’s approach, and also of Orzech’s (1994) article, see McCutcheon, 1997, pp. 169–173. McCutcheon notes (p. 175) that the Vietnamese monk Thich Nhat Hanh vigorously contested the characterisation of the self-immolations in his country as either ‘suicide’ or ‘sacrifice’, and emphasised the necessity of understanding ‘the situation and the context in which they acted’.

6 The five precepts are to undertake to abstain from doing harm, taking what is not offered, speaking wrongly, indulging in inappropriate sensual behaviour, and becoming intoxicated. The tendency in Western popular literature to phrase these in short commandment-style language (‘don’t kill, don’t steal, don’t lie, don’t commit adultery, and don’t drink’) obscures their complex and contingent nature, and the fact that they are qualified as ‘training rules’ rather than moral absolutes.

7 Harvey’s careful and detailed analysis of the Buddhist teaching on suicide (2000, pp. 286–292) also reflects the position that suicide is seen as a harmful act with serious negative karmic consequences.

8 Jataka stories are fables which purport to recount incidents in the previous lives of the historical Buddha, while he was still not fully enlightened. They are teaching stories in the sense that they provide examples of appropriate behaviour in a variety of situations (see Appleton, 2010). Although Theravada Buddhism accepts the stories of heroic self-sacrifice in the Jataka tales, its position is that such an action is only possible for someone who is already well on their way to becoming a fully-enlightened Buddha, since only such a person is capable of the necessary degree of pure motivation. The story of the tigress can be found in Khoroche (1989, pp. 5–9).

9 See International Campaign for Tibet (2012, pp. 72–175).

10 Jan (1965, pp. 252–255) recognises that some historical Chinese self-immolators were acting ‘in defence of the dharma’, often protesting actions taken by unsympathetic rulers against the Buddhist sangha; he specifically uses the term ‘martyrdom’. Yet he still seems to be concerned primarily with being able to justify these self-inflicted deaths as ‘Buddhist’ by reference to authoritative texts, as if the acts in question were purely religious and untainted by any worldly considerations. On the other hand, King unambiguously identifies the self-immolations she analyses as ‘both religious and political acts’ (2000, p. 131; my emphasis). See also Norbu (2012) for a Tibetan writer’s articulate, passionate and provocative reading of the Tibetan self-immolations as Buddhist and as protest.

11 Nor have I been able to find a Sanskrit equivalent in the Monier-Williams Sanskrit Dictionary (http://www.sanskrit-lexicon.uni-koeln.de), or a Pali equivalent in the Pali Text Society online dictionary (http://dsal.uchicago.edu/dictionaries/pali/). This leaves open the question of whether the various schools of Buddhism even have a concept of ‘martyrdom’ as it is understood in the west.

12 ‘I am grateful to Pawo Thupten Ngodup and all other Tibetan heroes, who have sacrificed their lives for Tibet and for the reunification of the Tibetan people; though I am in my forties, until now I have not had the courage like them. ... This is … the year in which so many Tibetan heroes have died. I am sacrificing my body both to stand in solidarity with them in flesh and blood, ... This is not to seek personal fame or glory. ... I am giving away my body as an offering of light to chase away the darkness, to free all beings from suffering, ... My offering of light is for all living beings, ... to dispel their pain and to guide them to the state of enlightenment. I offer this sacrifice as a token of long-life offering to our root guru His Holiness the Dalai Lama and all other spiritual teachers and lamas. ... I am taking this action neither for myself nor to fulfil [sic] a personal desire nor to earn an honour [sic]. I am sacrificing my body with the firm conviction and a pure heart just as the Buddha bravely gave his body to a hungry tigress. All the Tibetan heroes too have sacrificed their lives with similar principles. ... To all my spiritual brothers and sisters, and the faithful ones living elsewhere: You must unite and work together to build a strong and prosperous Tibetan nation in the future. This is the sole wish of all the Tibetan heroes. ... You must maintain unity and strength. Give love and education to the children, who should study hard to master all the traditional fields of studies. The elders should carry out spiritual practice as well as maintain and protect Tibetan language and culture by using all your resources and by involving your body, speech and mind. It is extremely important to genuinely practice Buddhist principles in order to benefit the Tibetan cause and also to lead all sentient beings towards the path of enlightenment.’ Retrieved from http://www.savetibet.org/media-center/ict-news-reports/harrowing-images-and-last-message-tibet-first-lama-self-immolate.

13 Charlene Makley, an anthropologist who was working in Tibet in 2008, states unequivocally that Tapey’s action ‘after all was to protest the erasure of violence and death in 2008’ (Makley, 2012). She does not clarify on what information she bases this statement. The background to the events of 2008 has been summarised by the Cross-Party Group on Tibet (2008).

14 Most of the self-immolations have occurred inside the area formerly known as independent Tibet, in particular the northwestern Sichuan and southeastern Qinghai provinces of the People’s Republic of China, which correspond to the former Tibetan regions of northern Kham and southern Amdo. See map: International Campaign for Tibet (2012, pp. 70–71).

15 For example, a young Tibetan interviewed by CBS had this to say: ‘The immolators are taking this extreme action to wake people up. We can see the protests people are making for freedom, and it inspires and moves us’. Retrieved from http://www.cbsnews.com/news/tibet-self-immolations-why-people-set-themselves-on-fire-to-protest-china/, dated December 10, 2012.