By Choekyi Lhamo
DHARAMSHALA, Aug 3: Local Chinese authorities in Gansu province have forcibly shut down a Tibetan monastery in the Linxia Hui Autonomous Prefecture, forcing monks and nuns out of their residences. Hongcheng monastery, also known as the Royal Order of Pagoda Temple, is a Sakya monastery in Yongjing County of Gansu. It was previously destroyed in 1958 during the Cultural Revolution, and taught over 3000 monks and nuns after three years of completion in 2009.
The video clip widely circulated online on Sunday showed monks and nuns weeping during the eviction, as some were seen holding banners that read, “Forcibly defrocking of monks illegal and unacceptable!” amid other protest slogans. The video clip also showed a monk on top of the monastery, seemingly shouting against the CCP officials down below while nuns cried at being evicted. Others shouted “Stop this! Stop this!” and “Film everything! Let’s jump!”
According to the Tibet Post, local authorities were eyeing the money the monastery had received through donations. “Local Chinese authorities expressed concern and suspicion about how the monastery had become so wealthy, and used this as an excuse to investigate and overhaul . . . Ultimately, the matter ended with a demand that the monastery share its income equally with the local government,” the report said. Eventually, the matter escalated and the government decided to directly seize the monastery by expelling the students against their will.
US-based commentator Ma Ju who has been following the incident told RFA that many monks have been detained during the eviction and also feared that this will not be a stand-alone incident, “They are getting ready to eliminate all Tibetan temples and monasteries within the majority Han Chinese area of China. They believe that this place was a way for Tibetan Buddhism to gain a foothold in mainland China.” The seized monastery was primarily linked to the donation money which was collected during the pandemic as Gentsong Rinpoche mobilized all his disciples to gather donations from different regions.
4 Responses
Chinese communists and its one man government are destroying religion in general and especially the Buddhism in Tibet. They are against religion and they say that relgion is poison for the people.
Therefore , they are denouncing the Lamas. They call them as separatists, wolf in sheep‘s skin etc. But on the other hand they say that they have the right to choose the future Dalai Lama. Now the choice or finding a new lama is a religious matter with a long tradition. Moreover a new lama is chosen mainly from the members of the institution to which the new lama belongs. That means the communist government members have to be not only religious — here in this case Buddhists, but they have to be the members of the instituion to which the new lama belongs that they want to choose.
The present communists feel free to say any thing that they like in Tibet. They can say the son rises from the west and every one has to say yes the rises from the west. If you say no, the son rises from the east, you will be brand as an anarchist and you will be jailed and totured without any trial. That is the situation Tibet.
The whole world knows the situation in china in general and espeially of Tibet, but they ignore this totally, because they want to make business with the communist China. The communist China ist exploiting the natural resources in Tibet freely and letting the Tibetans works in the fabrics with starvation wages so that they can sell the goods cheap in the world.
The world will realise one day. I hope not too late. Otherwise they will also face the same situation like we Tibetans. We know that quite a lot of Tibetans have cooprated with the communist Chinese in the fifties. The result is clear for us all.
Tis new atrocity needs to be pushed out on the Global press, at least those who are not in the pay of the CCP
The policy of appeasement of Communist China is reaping the bitter fruits for the Tibetans inside now. The exile Government which is supposed to be the spokesperson of the Tibetans inside Tibet has failed! The systematic destruction of Tibetan language, the unimpeded population transfer to obliterate the Tibetans and now shutting down well established Tibetan monasteries and forcing the monks and nuns to give up their vows is as cruel as dying by a thousand cuts!!!
Instead of taking on the regime, the exile Government instead changed tracks and started cozying up to the communist regime and self-centred itself of any criticism of its egregious human rights abuses in Tibet. Instead of building a strong resistance movement against the occupiers of our country, the leadership started to collaborate with the communist regime in the hope of dialogue. Even the most prominent organisations like the TYC were sabotaged to win the CCP’s good will. It went to condemn Rangzen advocates and discredit them all in the name of befriending the Chinese regime!!!
The result was, the international community took this as a sign that Tibetans were making a private deal without any foreign involvement in deference China’s insistence of non-interference. The international community deserted the Tibetans but Beijing never gave nothing in return! Instead it continued its incessant attacks on the Dalai Lama using the same offensive words it has used for the last seventy years. Tibet lost the international limelight which it enjoyed in the 1990s and even well into 2008. In 2008, Tibet was one of the hottest topic among ten flash points in international conflicts.
As the international focus shifted and Tibet lost its lustre, China discreetly begin its dismantling of Tibetan monasteries like Larung Gar and Yenche Gar. During 2017 and 2018, at least 4820 monks and nuns were expelled from Larung Gar while 7000 residential houses were demolished. At Yachen Gar in Serthar, 3600 monks and nuns were expelled and thousands of dwellings were torn down. Two nuns committed suicide after their expulsion from Larung Gar.
It has continued to suppress the Tibetan language by promoting Mandarin as the first and primary language in order to make Tibetan language redundant. Even the sign boards in Lhasa have now Mandarin on the top while a barely visible Tibetan is written as a token gesture. This will finally end up with no Tibetan signs at all in future to make Tibetans forget and bury our language once and for all. For the communist regime, this is their way of destroying the Tibetan people’s unique and distinctive culture that is completely different from that of China. In order to “own” Tibet, the Chinese see the necessity to destroy and make Tibetan identity defunct so that once Tibetans become assimilated and becomes a carbon copy of the Chinese, they will have “achieved total ownership” of Tibet!!! This is their evil design that is now pushed very aggressively by dictator Xi.
In the face of such genocidal act by communist China, Tibetans can’t remain meek lambs to the slaughterer. Tibetans need to devise ways to throttle the CCP’s campaign to strangulate Tibet and take the fight to the CCP on the international level. The recent street theatres conducted by the Tibetans in Switzerland and Liechtenstein are good examples of highlighting and bringing awareness to the genocide that is being perpetrated by communist China. All exile Tibetans must shoulder the responsibility to teach their children Tibetan language and Buddhist values which is the very basis of our Tibetan identity.
It may be a good idea if an academy is created for young Tibetans to study Buddhism and Tibetan language exclusively without having to go to a monastic college where living conditions are very basic compared with those who are used to their creature comforts. It makes no sense when we cry foul against the Chinese genocide but at the same time ignore our language when we have all the freedom to learn and study them in a free country.
The exile Government must get its act together and fix the present debacle and strive to serve the Tibetan nation instead of being self-serving hypocrites. It’s a shame that we have degenerated to such a low level that we can’t even put our house in order. It’s time the elected leader show some concern for the plight of Tibet and show his true mettle if he got any.
Communist Chinese physically appear as normal human being but mentally their thoughts are strongly built inhuman and they have no idea how should normal human behave. Right from the childhood they are given negative education and raised like street dogs. The officers know simply reading and writing as modern education but their thoughts are made in Communist value, deeply disturbed mind, aggressive, selfish and angry like mad elephant. The kindness, sympathy, tolerance, trust and honesty are never ever taught at school, in society and could not see anywhere in the mainland China. It is so sad that one fourth of world population is raised up with inhuman practice and deeply negation of basic human morality. The more Communist Chinese immigrate other parts of the world, it will soon destroy positive value of human being sooner or later. World must beware of raising inhuman value (savages) in Communist China.