Tenzin Nyidon
DHARAMSHALA, March 19: Chinese authorities have reportedly tortured a young Tibetan Buddhist monk to death while in custody, before returning his body to his monastery under strict orders of silence, according to a report by research group Tibet Watch.
The monk, identified as Samten, 25, was reportedly under police surveillance since 2021. His remains were returned in December last year to Ditsa Geden Tashi Choeding Ling Monastery by authorities from Shongshan Tibetan Township. Officials claimed that he had fallen suddenly ill and died during an emergency transfer to a hospital, the name and location of which were not disclosed. The exact date of his detention also remains unclear.
Samten had previously been detained in 2021 after being accused by local police of sharing photographs via the messaging platform WeChat related to the election of the exile Tibetan government, officially known as the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA).
His detention coincided with a broader crackdown on monastic institutions in the region. That same year, authorities intensified surveillance at his monastery and expelled around 50 monks under the age of 18 from Ditsa Monastery, along with an additional 30 monks from Jhakhyung Monastery in Palung County, located in Tsoshar Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in the northeastern Amdo region.
According to the research group, Samten’s death is part of a wider pattern of repression targeting Tibetan Buddhist institutions and religious figures, particularly in the period leading up to the 90th birthday of His Holiness the Dalai Lama last year. The group cited multiple incidents, including enforced disappearances of senior monks, raids on monasteries to confiscate images of the Dalai Lama and other exiled leaders, and coercive “political education” campaigns requiring monks to denounce the Tibetan spiritual leader. In one reported case, such pressure drove a respected Buddhist scholar to take his own life.
The report further situates these developments within what it describes as China’s most extensive assimilation campaign to date. Under policies promoted by Chinese President Xi Jinping, authorities have advanced a systematic programme of “Sinicisation,” aimed at reshaping Tibetan cultural and religious identity to align with that of the Han majority. Measures cited include restricting the use of the Tibetan language in education, confining it to a single subject in state-run boarding schools, and curbing traditional monastic education for children.
Ditsa Geden Tashi Choeding Ling Monastery, established in 1903, is affiliated with the Gelugpa school of Tibetan Buddhism and has historically served as a significant centre for Tibetan-language learning. The monastery is known for producing some of the earliest woodblock prints used in modern Tibetan textbooks and for its involvement in Tibetan language preservation initiatives, including a movement founded in 2009 by a monk from Kangtsa Monastery who had returned from India.
It is heart breaking to read the incarceration of Tibetan Buddhist monks and nuns with impunity! When Tibet was an independent country, murder of a monk/nun was unheard of. Monks/nuns were held in great esteem and nobody would ever harm them for fear of the terrible karmic consequences! Tibetans used to be deeply religious people. The entire nation and its people put all their effort to preserve, propagate and protect the holy Dharma! The attitude of the people towards the the holy Dharma is reflected in these words: ཕན་བདེ་འབྱུང་གནས་བསྟན་པ་དར་ཞིང་རྒྱས་ (May the teachings of the Buddha, the basis of happiness flourish). བསྟན་འཛིན་སྐྱེས་བུ་ཐམས་ཅད་སྐུ་ཁམས་བཟང་ (May every holder of the Dharma enjoy good health). ལུས་ཅན་ཀུན་ལ་བདེ་སྐྱིད་འབྱུ་བའི་གནས་ (the source of happiness for all being sentient beings) སངས་རྒྱས་བསྟན་པ་རྟག་ཏུ་གནས་གྱུར་ཅིག་ (May the Dharma last for eternity). Whatever material progress the nation and the people made was all used to built monasteries, stupas, mani-temples and statues of all myriad of Buddhas as a means of accumulation of merit for the living and the dead! ! However, ever since the heathen Chinese communists illegally invaded and brutally occupied Tibet, BUDDHISM AND ITS PROTECTORS HAVE BORE THE BRUNT OF THE EVIL CHINESE COMMUNISTS IN THEIR MADNESS OF WANTON DESTRUCTION OF TIBET’S PRICELESS ANCIENT CIVILISATIONAL HERITAGE AND THE MONKS AND NUNS HAVE BEEN MADE THE TARGET OF MERCILESS REPRESSION AND PERSECUTION. The brightest, the most wise and most highly educated monks and nuns have simply disappeared or have been severely tortured and murdered in police custody! This has been going on since the day, Tibet was illegally and brutally occupied by communist China! Tibetans believe in the natural law of karma! Whatever you sow, you reap the same consequences for yourself. The Chinese communists should look at the events of Venezuela and the Iranian leadership predicament and understand that oppression and subjugation has a price to pay! No totalitarian regime has survived by oppressing the people and the Chinese totalitarian regime will be no exception. It will be either overthrown by the Chinese people themselves or will be overthrown by outside forces whenever a convenient excuse is found! REGIME CHANGE IS THE GOAL OF COMMUNIST CHINA’S OLD NEMESIS, THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!! NITS ONLY A MATTER OF TIME HOW IT IS PRECIPITATED BY AN UNEXPECTED EVENT FROM INSIDE CHINA OR OUTSIDE OF CHINA!