According to confirm information received by the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights and Democracy (TCHRD), two monks committed suicide in Amdo Ngaba (Ch: Aba) as a direct result of relentless oppression by the Chinese security forces after the series of peaceful protests.
On 27 March 2008, a monk Lobsang Jinpa of Ngaba Kirti Monastery committed suicide. He hailed from Ngasib Village in Amdo Ngaba. In his signed suicide note, Lobsang stated, “the Chinese government has leveled false allegations against the monks of Kirti Monastery for leaking State Secrets to the outside world, leading and organizing the protests and for keeping the dead bodies of Tibetan protesters shot dead by the Chinese security forces. However, all the charges leveled by the Chinese government were not committed by anyone in Kirti Monastery, but carried out solely by me”. The note further stated “I led the peaceful protest, and I am solely responsible for the protest”. The suicide note carried a poignant end line, it reads, “I do not want to live under the Chinese oppression even for a minute, leave aside living for a day”.
In another similar incident, a monk named Legtsok of Ngaba Gomang Monastery committed suicide on 30 March 2008. The deceased was 75 years old and hailed from a small hamlet in the upper flank of Ngaba prefecture.
Sources say that days before committing suicide, on 30 March 2008, Legtsok accompanied by two other monks while on their way to perform prayer rituals at a house of a Tibetan family encountered a large contingent of Chinese security forces heading towards Ngaba Gomang Monastery to quell the protesting peaceful monks at the monastery. The forces brutally beat Legtsok and detained him for a few days. Later he was released and sent back to the monastery.
Just moments before his suicide, he sent two of his disciples to return the money owned by his other disciples and relatives that was kept with him for safe keeping. Minutes after his disciples’ departure, he committed suicide. When his disciples returned, they found him dead.
He repeatedly told his two disciples that “he can’t bear the oppression anymore”. Those words served as premonition to his imminent death.
Meanwhile on 3 April 2008, a monk of Ngaba Namtso Monastery was reportedly beaten to death by the Chinese security forces. Further information about the death could not be ascertained at the moment. TCHRD will issue update when further information surfaces regarding the death.
According to Tibetan Buddhist doctrine, suicide is one of the gravest forms of sins violating the cardinal precepts of the doctrine. Buddhist monks of Tibet were known for their patience and resilience in the face of adversity. The cases of suicides point to an indication of Tibetan monks being pushed to the extreme limits of endurance and helplessness in the face of oppression and repression by the Chinese authorities in Tibet.
In the light of the sad turn of events inside Tibet, TCHRD appeals to the world communities to immediately intervene and prevent the ongoing repression in the monastic communities in Tibet. The Centre strongly condemns China’s brutal purging and threatening the existence of Tibetan Buddhism