The Dalai Lama fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising and has since based himself in Dharamshala where Tibetans have previously marked new burnings with candle-lit vigils and prayers for the victim.
The Dalai Lama’s office in New Delhi confirmed the 100th immolation attempt involved a monk. Representative Tempa Tsering called it “very unfortunate” and repeated appeals from the spiritual leader for Tibetans to end the protests.
“We feel very said that this has happened. The Tibetan leadership has been urging people to refrain from such drastic steps for long,” Tsering said.
Suicide contradicts Buddhist teachings that all life is sacred, and Tibetan leaders have struggled to balance anger over Chinese rule with calls for protesters not to use such desperate measures.
The first self-immolation occurred in 2009 in the Kirti monastery in China’s Sichuan province, with a pause until 2011 when they spread across the Tibetan plateau.
Nepal, home to around 20,000 Tibetans, is under intense pressure from Beijing over the exiles, and has repeatedly said it will not tolerate what it calls “anti-China activities”.
“It’s a sacrifice for the Tibetan people’s struggle for freedom,” a Tibetan community activist in Nepal said of Wednesday’s protest, asking not to be named because of fears over possible reprisals.
“People are no longer afraid to go to this extent because (oppression) has crossed the limit.”
The man who set himself on fire on Wednesday was expected to struggle to survive.
“His entire body was caught in the flames. At the hospital he tried to speak but couldn’t,” police spokesman Adhikari told AFP.