[Buddha-l] more tibetan self-immolations

[Christopher Fynn]

On 08/01/2012, Federico Andino <dingirfecho at gmail.com> wrote:

> Remember that it wasn`t so long ago that the west considered Tibetan
> Buddhism feudal.

Well in many ways it was - particularly in Central Tibet.  The large
monasteries, and a few aristocratic families, owned most of the arable
land and the majority of the population lived and worked on it as
their landless "serfs". People couldn't even get married without
permission and were often obligated to send at least one son to be a
monk. Of course it wasn't precisely the same as European feudalism -
but from the point of view of those living under both systems probably
not very different either. I've spoken to Tibetans who were regularly
beaten by monk overseers for not working hard enough in the fields.

Not that the Chinese "liberation"  improved things for the Tibetan people.