True Buddhists do not lie because that is one of the five essential commandments of the Buddhist Sila, or ethics.

That is why when Dharmsala and the 14th Dalai Lama portray the present-day Tibetan inhabited areas as "hell on Earth", where "ethnic genocide" is the norm, their Western sympathizers, thinking they speak as true Buddhists, voluntarily surrender commonsense and lock themselves up in the false "Tibet" the former paint.

That is why, when Dharmsala and the 14th Dalai Lama deny any connection with the self-immolations, they point fingers at the Chinese authorities, or simply the Han Chinese, citing the deaths as evidence of Tibetan "desperation" against "Chinese rule".

True Buddhists do not kill any living things, themselves included. Nor do they instigate others to kill. It is the No 1 sin in all forms and versions of the Buddhist commandments. In Vajrayana Buddhism, suicide is the most serious sin, equal to killing Buddha.

That is why Buddhist masters and believers alike never tire of persuading people not to commit suicide.

That is why, when Dharmsala and the 14th Dalai Lama, instead of condemning self-immolation, praise it as an act of "bravery", even some of their devout sympathizers and believers feel confused.

If you are struggling with the conflicting claims in the war of words over Tibet, take a look at what the police authorities in Sichuan have to offer. The southwestern province borders the Tibet autonomous region and has a large Tibetan-inhabited area.

Local public security authorities just cracked a criminal case, in which two people, one a Tibetan Buddhist monk, were found responsible for a series of self-immolations. They have been charged with instigating, organizing and coercing others to conduct self-immolation. They were found to have been in direct contact with Dharmsala in arranging the "protests".

That some of the intended victims had to flee home to escape an arranged self-immolation puts a heavy question mark against how "voluntary" such "suicides" are. That constitutes murder under the Chinese criminal code.

Further details can be expected when the case goes to court. The world deserves to know what is happening behind such sensational and sensationalized human tragedies.

And Dharmsala has the burden of explaining its connections with them.

Since Dharmsala and the 14th Dalai Lama have been crying for "human rights" for fellow Tibetans, they may want to share their thoughts on the human rights of those who have been taught and helped to kill themselves.

(China Daily 12/10/2012 page8)