RELIGST 1B06 Lecture Notes - Lotus Sutra, Stupa
18 Dec 2013
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Auto cremation: means people setting themselves on fire. In 2009 a second tibetan set himself on fire in an act of protest. Very well educated monk, through burning he sat in the lotus pose (burned for 5 minutes before dying) His heart remained unburned after being auto-cremated. Not mentally ill, he was very rational and knew what he was doing. In china many famous buddhist authors understood self-cremation as a path to righteousness??? (enlightenment?: the buddha, in a former life, offers his body to a starving tigress. Story about compassion, charity, giving for the benefit of others. Most common theme in buddhist art: chapter twenty three of the lotus sutra: the bodhisattva medicine king. Glorious, heroic, giving his body as a gift, becomes a buddha. Instantly reborn, then burns his arm: self-immolation is seen as an act of a bodhisattva (giving away your body) Giving away ones sense of self: meant to be allegorically (not literal)
