By Choekyi Lhamo
DHARAMSHALA, Mar. 1: Several reports have stated that another Buddhist statue in Drago County in the Kardze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture was demolished in November last year, marking it as the third statue to be destroyed by the Chinese authorities in the region. The Dharamshala-based research group Tibet Watch revealed that the local authorities forced Tibetan monks to tear down the revered statue of 8th century Tantric master Guru Padmasambhava situated outside of Chanang monastery in Shara Thang Nyimo Township.
This is the third statue reported to be destroyed, following reports of two other giant statues being torn down surfaced last year in late December, which also resulted in detention of several local Tibetans on suspicion of sharing photos and videos outside of Tibet through micro messaging App WeChat. According to the rights group, “police have remained deployed in the county and have continued to randomly check the mobile phones of Tibetans, leading to the arrest of two groups of Tibetans.”
The demolition of the first statue, a 99-foot Buddha statue made headlines condemning China for its repressive religious policies. The US State Department weighed in on the matter, “[We] continue to urge PRC authorities to respect the human rights of Tibetans and the preservation of Tibet’s environment as well as the unique cultural, linguistic, and religious identity of Tibetan traditions.”
As per a RFA report, satellite images of the Chanang Monastery taken Octobert 3, 2019 showed the site of the statue of Padmasambhava which stood three-stories high, but the image taken on February 25, 2022 showed the destroyed statue as indicated by the circular objects on the ground. A source in exile told Tibet Watch that “Chinese authorities forced monks to carry out the destruction of the statue of Guru Rinpoche.” The monastery belongs to the Nyingmapa school of Tibetan Buddhism, where 500 monks enrolled to the institution prior to the Chinese occupation, but there are only around 50 monks as of 2021.
