Bruce, a photographer from Boulder, Colorado, went to Supreme Court Square on Friday at 6:30 pm – Earth Day – then sat down and got burned, a law enforcement official said. The Supreme Court police responded immediately but failed to extinguish the fire in time to rescue him.
Investigators, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity, said they could not immediately find a poster or record in the area and officials are still working to determine the cause.
On Saturday, Cretan Canco, a Zen Buddhist priest who called himself Bruce’s friend, shared an emotional post on his public Twitter account saying that his self -immolation was not suicide but “a deep no fear sympathy for attention to climate crisis “. . “
He added that Bruce has been planning the action for at least a year. He wrote: “#wynnbruce, I’m so excited”. He received a sympathetic response as well as an answer.
Kanko and other members of the Rocky Mountain Ecodharma Retreat Center in Boulder; The announcement was made on Monday He said, “None of the Buddhist teachers in Boulder County knew of (Bruce’s) self -immolation plans for Earth Day,” and if they knew about his plan, they stopped him. Bruce often visits the mountains of a Buddhist recreation center near Boulder, where he meditates with the public, Kanko said.
“We have not yet talked about self-immolation and we do not think that self-immolation is a climate action,” the statement said. “However, given the state of the planet and the worsening climate crisis, we understand why someone could do it.”
On Facebook, Bruce wrote about the spiritual tradition of Shambhala, which combines Tibetan Buddhism with the principles of “living a high life, fully integrated with the world,” according to the Boulder Shambhala Center. Bruce also published a eulogy Vietnamese monk Tich Nhat HanLeader was a busy Buddhist at the time of his death in January.
Bruce’s demeanor remained steady and burning, recalling the events of June 11, 1963, when Vietnamese monk Tich Quang Duk, sitting cross -legged, set himself on fire at a busy Saigon intersection. He was protesting the persecution of Buddhists by the South Vietnamese government led by Catholic Ngo Dinh Diem.
In a letter to Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. Considered by Han a friend, Han wrote that he was inspired by the sacrifice of a Vietnamese monk and said, “Burning the fire is proof of what he says is the most important. Nothing hurts more than self -immolation. To say something in this kind of pain means to say it with courage, sincerity, diligence and honesty ”.
In Tibet, anti-Chinese activists were used as a means of protest. The Tibetan International Campaign says 131 men and 28 women, including monks, nuns and laity, have been burned since 2009 in protest of Beijing’s tight control over the region and their religion.
Buddhism, as a religion, unilaterally disapproves of the act of self-immolation or destruction of life, says Robert Barnett, a London scholar of modern Tibetan history and politics.
“Suicide is considered harmful to Buddhism because life is precious,” he said. “But if a person commits suicide because of a higher motivation and it is not because of a negative emotion such as depression or melancholy, then the position of Buddhism becomes more difficult.”
If self -burning helps the world, it can be considered a positive action, Barnett says. He quoted a story from Jataka Tales, a collection of South Asian literature that discusses the Buddha’s past incarnations in human and animal forms. In this particular story, the incarnation of the Buddha, in an act of selfless compassion, offers himself to a withered tiger who is so hungry that he is ready to devour his own grandmother.
“But such self -sacrifice is not encouraged, developed and spoken of by normal people (other than the Buddha),” he said, adding that this is due to the enormous difficulty of generating positive motivation in any situation, especially. “Keep him under extreme stress or pain.”
Buddhism emphasizes emotional balance, inclusiveness, kindness, compassion and wisdom, says Roche Joan Halifax, environmental activist and abbot of the Upaia Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
“What we see in a lot of people today is despair,” he said. “What we have entrusted to ourselves is not the loss of a sense of worthlessness, but the transformation of our moral suffering into wise hope and courageous action.”
Despite the pessimism felt by some climate activists, there is reason to remain confident, Halifax said.
“You see people waking up to the brink of a climate disaster,” he said, noting that countries and societies are moving away from harmful practices and moving toward clean energy.
“I feel inspired and hoped to change and adapt to our ever-changing world,” he said. “It breaks my heart that (Bruce) doesn’t have that kind of optimism.
Those who knew Bruce saw a kind, cheerful and idealistic man: a novice dancer who took part in weekly events. It is also known for cycling and public transport.
Bruce, who loves the outdoors, exaggerates what he does, says his friend Jeffrey Buckler. In 2014, on Buckler’s wedding day, Bruce strangely decided to arrive early in Cold Mountain Lake, he said.
Bruce also suffered long -term consequences from the brain damage he sustained in a car accident that killed his best friend about 30 years ago, Buchler said.
“Winnie seems to connect with people who need help,” said Marco Degaetano, who met Bruce in the 1990s when they both attended Denver Universalist Church.
He recalled that Bruce was kind to a mentally ill church member when others avoided him.
Degaetano said he last saw Bruce about a month ago and, as usual, he looks friendly and charming – “every time he sees Bruce”, there’s a smile on his face.
Bharat was signposted from Los Angeles and Slevin from Denver. Associated Press writer Michael Balsamo in Washington and researcher Ronda Schaffner in New York also contributed.
Religious coverage in the Associated Press is supported by AP in partnership with The Conversation US, with funding from the Lilly Endowment Inc. AP is solely responsible for this content.
Source: Huffpost
