His Holiness the 17th Karmapa, Ogyen Trinley Dorje, the head of the Karma Kagyu sect of Tibetan Buddhism, has appealed on facebook to Tibetans not to self-immolate in protest against Chinese rule, saying “This week, two young Tibetan children, one in Tibet and one in India, have burned themselves to death…I want to make a request of my fellow Tibetans at home and abroad.” He continued “Within Tibetan society, people will applaud them for a few days, saying, ‘He’s a hero,’ ‘She’s a heroine’…But that does not help.”