What? You somehow missed decades of Chinese action flicks with fighting monks?

And you slept through 1959 - 1963 when monks were demonstrating and protesting against Diem (including the one who lit himself on fire) in Vietnam I?

That's Mahayana Buddhism, this is Tibetan Buddhism. It has lots of little sectary groups who have been involved in long, drawn-out internecine feuds for hundreds of years...even before the Chinese re-established sovereignty in the 20th century. They had also perpetrated a long war of terrorism against incursions from the western nations. They didn't just set themselves afire, they engaged in personal violence.