<story><title>Popular Tibetan singer Tsewang Norbu dies of self-immolation protest</title><url>https://tchrd.org/popular-tibetan-singer-tsewang-norbu-dies-of-self-immolation-protest/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>cyberpunk</author><text>As a zen Buddhist, I&amp;#x27;ve always kinda felt our Tibetan &amp;#x27;dharma brothers&amp;#x27; style of buddhism (admittedly, I don&amp;#x27;t know a lot about) feels much more like a proper religion than the kind of thing I&amp;#x27;ve been into.. Which put me off quite a lot of it, I still hope to someday visit the place.&lt;p&gt;It’s pretty sad that such an essentially peaceful and introspective group of people are abused thus, even if they believe in some pretty mad shit.&lt;p&gt;I’ve never worked out what china wants in Tibet tbh though, does anyone have a clue? Chan is bigger in .cn than Tibetan Buddhism (and chan (which became zen) also rejects any kind of eternal self &amp;#x2F; reincarnation &amp;#x2F; non-impermanence) and so thus there are no such thing as a lama.&lt;p&gt;So I guess the restrictions &amp;#x2F; bad business china got unto in tibet are related to some kind of territorial dispute? But what’s there? What do they gain?&lt;p&gt;I can’t see how it’s making them a profit..</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>technobabbler</author><text>IMHO only, not an expert&amp;#x2F;informed analysis: Buddhism can be a risk to Chinese harmony if left to a separate authority (the real Dalai Lama). The Chinese grand social experiment of a strong state can only really work if they are relatively culturally homogenous, whether in Tibet or Hong Kong or Xinjiang or Taiwan. Dissent plants the seeds of change, and the CCP&amp;#x27;s system doesn&amp;#x27;t work when there is too much diversity of values. It&amp;#x27;s uber-collectivism in the name of the nation.&lt;p&gt;China very rarely does anything in the name of short-term profit. Their government doesn&amp;#x27;t work on 4-year competitive cycles like ours does, they plan and orchestrate in decades, and to them it&amp;#x27;s safer to conquer and assimilate other territories while they are still underdeveloped than when they become too powerful, either economically (like Taiwan) or culturally (like Tibet) or both (like Hong Kong). Having a puppet religious master under their control, along with all of Tibet&amp;#x27;s future economic output, is reason enough to seize it, even the real gains won&amp;#x27;t be realized for another few decades. The artificial legitimacy of Chinese-controlled Buddhism would greatly expand their cultural sphere of influence both inside and outside their immediate borders.</text></comment>
<story><title>Popular Tibetan singer Tsewang Norbu dies of self-immolation protest</title><url>https://tchrd.org/popular-tibetan-singer-tsewang-norbu-dies-of-self-immolation-protest/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>cyberpunk</author><text>As a zen Buddhist, I&amp;#x27;ve always kinda felt our Tibetan &amp;#x27;dharma brothers&amp;#x27; style of buddhism (admittedly, I don&amp;#x27;t know a lot about) feels much more like a proper religion than the kind of thing I&amp;#x27;ve been into.. Which put me off quite a lot of it, I still hope to someday visit the place.&lt;p&gt;It’s pretty sad that such an essentially peaceful and introspective group of people are abused thus, even if they believe in some pretty mad shit.&lt;p&gt;I’ve never worked out what china wants in Tibet tbh though, does anyone have a clue? Chan is bigger in .cn than Tibetan Buddhism (and chan (which became zen) also rejects any kind of eternal self &amp;#x2F; reincarnation &amp;#x2F; non-impermanence) and so thus there are no such thing as a lama.&lt;p&gt;So I guess the restrictions &amp;#x2F; bad business china got unto in tibet are related to some kind of territorial dispute? But what’s there? What do they gain?&lt;p&gt;I can’t see how it’s making them a profit..</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>whimsicalism</author><text>They were not so peaceful and introspective when they were actually in power. This is basically a CCP talking point at this point, but it is pretty true that the system they governed was essentially a serfdom-powered society.&lt;p&gt;See the sort of punishments that were common for people who tried to organize the serfs in any way: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Lungshar&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;en.wikipedia.org&amp;#x2F;wiki&amp;#x2F;Lungshar&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>