Is there a relation between self-immolations and Buddhism or even martyrdom and Buddhism?

 
You might have noted that there a lot of views if the self-immolations of Tibetans and Buddhists in other countries are in line with Buddhism / Buddhist scriptures or not. The Tibetan writer and activist Jamyang Norbu claimed they are. The Dalai Lama has never approved them as being Buddhist in principle but once was very outspoken when Thubten Ngodrup burned himself and when the Tibetan Youth Congress set up a hunger protest in 1998. (These issues were covered already by this blog, see links below.)

I made an interview with Thierry Dodin to clarify many tricky points of this debate and now the interview in three parts is online. For a discussion of Buddhism, self-immolations. martyrdom and self-secrifice see Part II:

• Self-Immolations and Buddhism

Part I:

• Self-Immolations of Tibetans: Why are they doing this?

Part III:

• Self-Immolations of Tibetans: Reactions and Consequences

Former posts and discussions on this blog about this very sad and tragic topic see here:

• Why the Dalai Lama cannot condemn Tibetan self-immolations 2013/03/10
• China is criminalizing self-immolators, arresting protesters’ friends and confiscating thousands of satellite TV dishes 2013/01/21
• Trying to Understand the Self-immolations of Tibetans 2013/01/09
• The Burning Question: Why are Tibetans Turning to Self-immolation? 2012/11/10