How many monks have burned themselves

That attention, writes Lois Farrow Parshley , has resulted in a crackdown by Chinese officials on suspected dissidents. While China has had a presence in for the past 60 years, its codification of restrictions against traditional Tibetan practices are relatively new. Since a wave of demonstrations embarrassed the Chinese leadership around the time of the Beijing Olympics in , when hundreds of Tibetans protested Chinese rule, prefecture-level regulations have been rolled out in breath-taking detail.

While many of these regulations appear harmless or even positive, in aggregate they make for something darker. Lhamo Tashi, 17 September Kunchok, 16 September Tinley Namgyal, 15 April Lobsang Dorjee,13 February Phakmo Samdup, 5 February Tsultrim Gyatso, 19 December Kunchok Tseten, 3 December Tsering Gyal, 11 November Shichung, 28 September Kunchok Sonam, 20 July Wangchen Dolma, 11 June Lobsang Dawa, 24 April Kunchok Woser, 24 April Jugtso,16 April Lhamo Kyab, 25 March Kalkyi, 24 March Tsesung Kyab,25 February Phakmo Dhondup, 24 February Rinchen, 19 February Sonam Dhargye,19 February Dhukpa Kyar, 13 February Lobsang Namgyal, 3 February Jigji Kyab, 19 January Tsering Tashi, 12 January Lobsang Gedun, 3 December Sangdak Kyab, 2 December Kunchoek Kyab, 30 November Tsering Namgyal, 29 November Sangay Tashi,27 November Wande Khar, 28 November Gonpo Tsering, 26 November Kunchok Tsering, 26 November Wangyal, 26 November Sangye Dolma, 25 November Tamding Dorjee, 23 November Tamdin Kyab, 22 November Lubum Gyal, 22 November Tsering Dhondup, 20 November Wangchen Norbu, 19 November Chakmo Kyi, 17 November Nyingchak Boom, 12 November Gonpo Tsering, 10 November Tsegye 7 November Dorjee, 7 November Samdup, 7 November Tamdin Tso, 7 November In one of the most dramatic instances of individual protest, Quang Duc doused himself in gasoline in the middle of a Saigon street and lit himself ablaze.

Journalist David Halberstam, who witnessed the monk's self-immolation and won a Pultizer Prize for his war stories, remembered the moment in one of his books, The Making of a Quagmire : "Flames were coming form a human being; his body was slowly withering and shriveling up, his head blackening and charring.

In the air was the smell of burning flesh. Behind me I could hear the sobbing of the Vietnamese who were now gathering. I was too shocked to cry, too confused to take notes or ask questions, too bewildered to even think. Afterward, four more monks and a nun set themselves ablaze protesting Diem before his regime finally fell in Rather suddenly, setting oneself on fire became a political act.

As the American presence increased in Vietnam in the mid- to late s, more and more monks committed self-immolation, including thirteen in one week. It even took place in the U. His child survived, and Morrison was revered in Vietnam for his purported martyrdom.