Another tragic self-immolation has occurred in Tibet

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Dharmsala, India -- The tensions in Tibet have continued on a daily basis with another self-immolation having occurred. On March 16, 2013, Phayul.com has reported, "Breaking: Kirti monk marks March 16 with self-immolation, Toll rises to 108". At the anniversary of five years since the 2008 peaceful protests in Tibet, a Tibetan monk in Ngaba region of eastern Tibet has become the 108th Tibetan living under China’s rule to self-immolate.

<< Lobsang Thokmey

Lobsang Thokmey, 28, a monk from the Kirti Monastery, set himself on fire today at around 2:40 pm local time. Lobsang Thokmey passed away during his protest.

The Dharamshala based Kirti Monastery has said Lobsang Thokmey doused his body with kerosene in front of his monastic quarters in the west of the Kirti Monastery and than he started running towards the east.

The Kirti Monastery said in a news release, “Lobsang Thokmey was in flames as he began running with the Buddhist flag in his hands. Before he could reach the main gate, he fell on the ground.”

Lobsang Thokmey was carried to the local hospital by monks and other people gathered at the scene of his lethal protest. Shortly thereafter he succumbed to his injuries. The Kirti Monastetry source said, “A large number of Chinese security personnel arrived at the hospital soon after Lobsang Thokmey was admitted and later forcibly took away the deceased’s body to the regional headquarters of Barkham.”

Lobsang Thokmey became a monk at the Kirti Monastery at a young age and had a reputation for having had excellent conduct and he was extremely diligent in his studies.

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Another looted Buddha statue found

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Ramu, Bangladesh -- Police recovered a brass statue of Lord Buddha in Ramu upazila of Cox's Bazar early Thursday, 40 days after it was looted during an attack on Buddhist community.

<< A brass statue of Lord Buddha is recovered by law enforcers in Ramu upazila of Cox's Bazar in Chittagong on Thursday. Photo: Banglar Chokh

With this, a total of six statues looted during the September 29 attack have been recovered, reports our Cox's Bazar correspondent.

On information, police raided the paddy field of one Shafi Miah beside Ramu-Naikkhangchhari road at Boiltoli around 1:00am and recovered the statue, said Gazi Shakhawat Hossain, acting officer-in-charge of Ramu Police Station.

The six-inch-tall statue weighs around one kilogram, the OC said.

Police so far arrested two people in Ukhia in connection with the looting of statues.

On the night of September 29, a mob destroyed 18 Buddhist temples and monasteries and more than 50 houses in Ramu. The violence was apparently triggered by a Facebook posting of a photo defaming the holy Quran.

Around 300 of Buddha statues were looted from different temples and monasteries during the mayhem.

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Seeking new Buddhist monk to fill the place of another still mourned

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GRAND BAY, ALABAMA (USA) -- When Visanou Khamphouy opened his Asian market on U.S. 90 in south Mobile County a few years ago, he invited the Rev. Chaiwat Moleechate, head monk at the Grand Bay Buddhist temple, to offer blessings.

<< Buddhist monks from throughout the Southeast gathered to mourn after the May 11 murder of the Rev. Chaiwat Moleechate, head monk of Wat Buddharaksa Temple, the Buddhist temple in Grand Bay. Four months later, the community is seeking a head monk to take over leadership at the Buddhist temple. The people "feel lost," says Visanou Khamphouy, head of the congregation, who's in charge of seeking a new spiritual master for the temple. Roy Hoffman/Press-Register

At his store this week, Khamphouy, 63, remembered with enduring admiration — and continuing sadness — how his spiritual master, whose death last spring has been blamed on a fellow monk, had said prayers, sprinkled holy water, and brought gold foil for good fortune.

"He was very smart, a great teacher," said Khamphouy, at the store counter near pieces of the foil pinned to the wall above a small Buddhist shrine.

"When you went to the monk you got answers for your problems," he said.

As president of the Buddhist temple, Khamphouy is in charge of finding a new head monk.

Given Moleechate’s enormous role in the community — and the violent circumstances of his death — that task is a daunting. It is pressing, too.

Without their monk, Khamphouy said, "the people feel lost."

Moleechate, 45, was bludgeoned to death inside the temple on May 11, according to news reports. Vern Phdsamay, 32, a monk who lived at the temple, was arrested and charged with murder in the slaying.

During a bail hearing on May 20, Mobile Assistant District Attorney Jo Beth Murphree said Phdsamay had struck Moleechate several times in the head with a large wooden pestle. An argument about food, Murphree said, had apparently set off the incident.

At the time, Phdsamay’s attorney, Neil Hanley, said the accusations against the defendant were out of character.

At his store, Khamphouy described Moleechate as a deeply philosophical man with a big heart.

"He helped many people," Khamphouy said of the late monk.

Moleechate assisted the 300 families of his community, helping them translate from Thai and Laotion to English, with family concerns, with questions about immigration.

In the aftermath of hurricanes Katrina and Ivan, Moleechate opened the temple as a shelter. And after the Gulf oil spill, Moleechate helped bring the community together, he said.

He took care of his assistant monks, too.

Once, when Phdsamay had suffered an ear ailment and had to go to Birmingham for treatment, Moleechate accompanied him, Khamphouy recalled.

A native of Thailand, Moleechate studied Buddhism in India and became head monk at the Grand Bay worship center, Wat Buddharaksa Temple, 16 years ago.

In an interview at the temple with the Press-Register in May 2010, Moleechate said that he had grown up in a poor family near the border with Laos and began his religious studies at age 12.

He became a monk at age 21.

He spoke of the Buddha as a model of perfection, a way of life and thought.

"We try to lead the Buddhist people to meditate," he said. "To cool down, to slow down. The clear mind. The pure mind."

Khamphouy described the monk accused of killing Moleechate as quite the opposite — having a troubled mind.

Moleechate had been aware of it, he said, even arranging for Phdsamay to see a psychologist.

Khamphouy has already located two monks who he thinks might work well in the south Mobile County community — one in California, another in Florida.

They must be of a high station in terms of experience and knowledge.

"We listen to what he says when he preaches," he said.

"We see if the people like him or do not like him."

Once a monk is nominated as leader, a vote by the board is held.

Whoever is chosen will take up residence at the temple on Boe Road in Grand Bay, opened in 2010 after a fire gutted an earlier structure in Irvington.

A golden Buddha stands before the temple. Inside, figures of the Buddha fill an altar.

Khamphouy said that half of Moleechate’s ashes are at the temple; the other half were sent to Thailand.

On a recent day at the complex, one of Moleechate’s assistant monks, the Rev. Sisavath, walked across the grounds from the monk’s house to the temple.

Barefoot, in saffron robes, he stepped inside.

Sisavath has been with Wat Buddaraksa Temple for five years, and still speaks little English.

When asked about his lost monk, he nodded on hearing the name Chaiwat Moleechate.

He touched his chest.

"Sad," he said. "Sad."

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