Richard Gere Praises Self-Immolating Monks

ecorazzi.com ^ | 12 Jan 2012 | lindastcyr

[smokingfrog]

Recently, there has been an uprising of protests by Tibetan monks over China’s occupation of Tibet and the exile of the Dalai Lama. The protests are not done with signs and chanting but with self-immolation or the act of burning oneself alive. Richard Gere has praised the actions of the Buddhists monks calling them “a pure act.”

Gere, a long-time Buddhist, says, “It all really comes down to motivation. I mean none of these self-immolators have harmed anybody else. It is totally a self-sacrifice for their people, for others. So on that level it’s a pure act. But I think it’s more important to look into the causes of why people would feel they need to do these kinds of things.”

The hollywood star goes on to discuss how difficult it is for “free thinkers” and “artists” to live in China due to the push for communism. He says, “I think they (Chinese officials) have so wrongly gauged the Tibetan people, thinking they could subvert the deep, deep, deep religious beliefs and make them true Communists. It’s never going to happen.”

The latest monk to practice self-immolation died on Sunday. He was the 15th Buddhist monk documented in a string of fiery deaths.

[RichInOC]

“In retrospect, lighting the match was a mistake. But I was only trying to retrieve the lama.”