Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Mansour, Taimur
• מנצור, תיימור

Titel

Buddhism, Nationalism, and Violence: a Comparative Study of Tibetan Self-Immolations

Ort / Verlag

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses

Erscheinungsjahr

2022

Link zum Volltext

• ProQuest

Quelle

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses A&I

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• As of September 2022, approximately 169 monks, nuns and ordinary people selfimmolated in Tibet and in exile since 1998. 125 of the Tibetans are known to have died following their protest. The prevailing opinion in both Western and Tibetan media and scholarship has been that self-immolation is essentially a non-violent act and even one of heroic martyrdom. These interpretations of the act have usually relied, in turn, on the common Western and global imagery of Buddhism and Tibet as non-violent and pacifist. Indeed, such popular images have been used to establish the “non-violent” nature of the contemporary Tibetan national movement in general and the self-immolation movement in particular. However, the inherent violent element in the act of violently and publicly taking one’s own life has been largely disregarded or underplayed. The present Thesis seeks to challenge the aforementioned interpretation and argue that self-immolation is not only an act of violent political activism, but that it is also closely tied to nationalism and might represent a radicalization of the Tibetan national struggle. By discussing the violent elements in Buddhism, Tibetan history and Tibetan Buddhism, the thesis will show that violence is no stranger to Buddhism or Tibet, and that it is certainly no stranger to Buddhist national movements and national struggles.Methodologically, a comparative approach will be used to point to the similarities in the violent elements and rhetoric in the Tibetan national movement in relation to other Buddhist nationalist movements such as those in Myanmar and in Sri Lanka. These movements are especially important in comparison to Tibet since, unlike Tibet, they have been frequently described by Western media and by some Western scholarship as being “militant” and violent. The overall purpose of this comparison is twofold: first, to show that violence can exist in Buddhist societies and national movements and is sometimes justified by Buddhist concepts, scriptures, and myths. Second, to show that Buddhist justifications of violence, including socalled “defensive” ones, can be used to encourage xenophobia, war and violence. Finally, the thesis will argue that 2008 violent unrest in Tibet (shortly preceding the first act of selfimmolation) and the self-immolation movement itself may represent a change in the national movement. After more than sixty years of exile, we may be witnessing a shift away from the current Dalai Lama’s vision of non-violence and from his “Middle Way” and toward new— and perhaps more violent and radical—methods of nationalist struggle.