A senior Tibetan Buddhist leader has been missing for about eight months after being detained by police and may have been killed in detention, according to reports.
Authorities in the Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of northwest China’s Qinghai Province summoned the abbot of Longen Monastery and seven monks to sign a document announcing the death of the abbot of the monastery, Hongka Dorje Rinpoche, Bitter Winter reported on April 9.
The Italy-based religious freedom and human rights magazine said the authorities did not provide details about when and how the abbot died or the whereabouts of his body.
The report noted that he was only 56 years old and did not have any major health problems before his detention.
Hongka Dorje Rinpoche was born in 1969. He is a high monk (spiritual teacher of Tibetan Buddhism) and a famous educator. He studied in Tibetan monasteries as well as in Beijing, India and the United States.
With government approval, he was appointed the tenth abbot of Longen Monastery.
In 2004, he founded the Qinghai Province Gesar Charity Foundation. In 2007, with government approval, he founded a large vocational school, the Hongka Dorje National Technical High School.
However, he vigorously promoted Tibetan Buddhism and Tibetan culture despite an unofficial ban.
He publicly called for the protection of the Tibetan language and culture.
One of his most famous actions was to promote the centuries-old Buddhist tradition of releasing fish into the river that would otherwise die.
Since 2021, the Chinese regime has renewed its crackdown on Tibetan culture and customs in Tibet and Tibetan areas of the country.
The Hongka Dorje National Technical High School is one of the Tibetan educational institutions closed in 2021.
The lama’s cold reception of the Panchen Lama, who was forcibly visited by Beijing, further angered the Chinese regime. Most Tibetans believe that the Panchen Lama is an imposter and is not recognized by the exiled Dalai Lama, the supreme spiritual leader of Tibetan Buddhism.
On July 21, 2024, shortly after giving a public speech, Hongka Dorje Rinpoche “disappeared” and his whereabouts have been unknown for months.
According to Radio Free Asia on April 4, Tibetans took to social media to mourn his death.
“As learned leaders leave one after another, we are like a flock of sheep without a shepherd,” wrote one Tibetan netizen.
He wrote several books, including “Goluo Thangka: A Collection of Thangkas from Longgang Monastery” and “The Wonderful Laughter of the Three Lineages of Vajra Masters,” according to Radio Free Asia.
