Tenzin Nyidon
DHARAMSHALA, April 9: The Central Tibetan Administration (CTA), the Tibetan government-in-exile, has strongly denounced the sudden and suspicious death of prominent Tibetan Buddhist figure Tulku Hungkar Dorje while in Chinese custody in Vietnam. The condemnation was issued during a press briefing held at the Department of Information and International Relations’ Lhakpa Tsering Hall on Tuesday.
The press conference featured Ju Tenkyong, Director of the Amnye Machen Institute, who disclosed that Tulku Hungkar Dorje was apprehended on March 25, 2025, from his hotel room in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) in a joint operation orchestrated by Vietnamese police and Chinese intelligence agents. He was subsequently transferred to a local public security bureau on March 28, where he died under unexplained circumstances that same day.
Ju Tenkyong further confirmed that the late Buddhist leader’s body is reportedly being held at Vinmec Central Park International Hospital in Ho Chi Minh City. On April 1, the administrative office of Lungngon Monastery—Hungkar Rinpoche’s seat in Tibet—was summoned to receive his death certificate. However, monastery representatives were prohibited from keeping the document or photographing it.
On April 5, five monks from Lungngon Monastery, accompanied by Chinese government delegates, traveled to Vietnam to recover his remains. That same day, a meeting was held at the Chinese Embassy in Vietnam, attended solely by Chinese officials, while the Tibetan delegates were denied entry. It remains unclear whether the Tibetan representatives were able to view or retrieve the body. The hospital, meanwhile, is under tight security, heavily guarded by military personnel with restricted access.
Tenzin Lekshay, spokesperson of the CTA, urged the international community to denounce the unexplained death of Tulku Hungkar Dorje and to demand full transparency from both Chinese and Vietnamese authorities regarding his detention and demise. He emphasized that the body must be returned without delay to Lungngon Monastery so that a proper funeral, in accordance with Tibetan Buddhist customs, can be performed.
The spokesperson emphasised that the highly suspicious circumstances of Tulku Hungkar Dorje’s death outside of Tibet reflect a deeply troubling trend in China’s targeted persecution of influential Tibetan figures who work to preserve the Tibetan language, culture, and identity. He further stressed that the case exemplifies China’s expanding repression of fundamental human rights across and beyond Tibet.
Last year, the Chinese Communist Party coerced Tulku Hungkar Rinpoche into hosting Gyaltsen Norbu, the Beijing-appointed Panchen Lama, at his monastery—an action he reportedly did not comply with wholeheartedly. In August 2024, he was subjected to intense interrogation by senior officials from Qinghai Province. Authorities forcibly collected his fingerprints and accused him of composing long-life prayers for His Holiness the Dalai Lama and of failing to enforce state policies through his educational initiatives in Golog, Amdo. These developments culminated in his disappearance in late September 2024 and eventual exile into hiding in Vietnam.
Born in 1969 in Gade County, Golog Prefecture, Tulku Hungkar Dorje was the son of Lama Pema Tumdrak Dorje and Kadza Dukkar Dolma. He received his early monastic education at Lungngon Monastery between 1980 and 1989, delving into Buddhist scriptures and traditional Tibetan philosophy. He later sought spiritual and academic advancement in exile, joining Drepung Gomang Monastery in India (1989–1994), followed by further studies in the United States (1995–1997). In 2002, the Chinese authorities officially recognized his enthronement as the 10th throne holder of Lungngon Monastery. He also completed specialized studies in Buddhist philosophy in Beijing from 2004 to 2006.
One Response
There is no doubt Tulku Hunkar Dorje was murdered by communist China to both silence him and also eliminate him for not toeing the CCP’s dictate to welcome the fake Panchen candidate Gyaltsen Norbu to his monastery in occupied Tibet. The Tulku was a strong willed Tibetan patriot who advocated the preservation of Tibetan language, religion and identity. This incensed the Han chauvinists CCP and they were planning to arrest him when he got wind of it and secretly fled to Vietnam. On top of this courageous act he had composed poems about the Dalai Lama. His attempt to thwart the CCP’s attempt to legitimise the fake Panchen candidate Gyaltsen Norbu by forcing him to accept his presence at Tulku’s monastery, speaking strongly to the Tibetans to preserve their identity and poems about the Dalai Lama were like rubbing sold to the evil CCP and they hatched a plot to murder him. He fled to escape arrest but chose Vietnam, probably he may have Vietnamese students. However, he made the mistake that most Asian countries are no place to be protected from CCP transnational oppression. The Thai leader Shinawatra sent 20 Ugyur men to their deaths by forcibly repatriating them to communist China. She prostituted herself in front of the Chinese dictator Ci by saying “I got Chinese blood” in her veins! Karma was swift with a devastating earthquake which rocked the country and the Chinese 30 story tofu tower fell like a pack of cards even as all the high rise buildings in Bangkok remained unshaken! The steel frame was brought from a China! The construction workers were Chinese! IT WAS MADE IN CHINA IN EVERY SENSE OF WORD AND FELL LIKE A TOFU DREG WITHIN SECONDS OF THE EARTHQUAKE IN A PLUME OF SMOKE AND DUST! The houses in Dingri in occupied Tibet were the same. Most of the Chinese offices were standing but the Tibetan houses built by the Chinese felt like the 30 story Chinese made tower in Bangkok! It demonstrates the depth of corruption and sinister criminality of the CCP regime!
Tulku was killed in police custody in cahoots with the Vietnamese communists! Both the Chinese communists and Vietnamese communists are hand in glove in the murder of Tibetan Lama Tulku Hunkar Rinpoche who is a Tibetan patriot. If they have nothing to hide, Rinpoche’s body must be given postmortem examination and handed over to his monastery to carry out age old Tibetan tradition of showing respect to the diseased. If they don’t hand the body back to the monastic authorities where he belongs, it shows beyond a shadow of doubt that he was murdered in cold blood! The international community and human rights advocates must voice their virulent condemnation of the murder of an innocent holy Tibetan Lama for no other reason than to pursue the CCP’s agenda of ethnic cleansing and colonial subjugation of the Tibetan people and illegal occupation of their country!