Chinese authorities working to reduce the size of Sichuan’s Larung Gar Buddhist Academy are now targeting the center’s older monks and nuns for removal, meanwhile sparing the houses of Han Chinese lay members from destruction, sources say.
Demolition crews have not yet finished their work of tearing down monastic dwellings, a local source told RFA’s Tibetan Service.
“But after large numbers of monks and nuns were expelled from the center, the complex has become calmer and more settled,” RFA’s source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“Most of the monks and nuns still there are meditating in secluded retreat in their own homes,” the source said.
Authorities continue to harass residents by pasting information on political reeducation programs and other official notices on their doors, though, the source said.
Many of Larung Gar’s older monks and nuns have now also been expelled, the source said.
“Many who came to Larung Gar at an early age have now reached their 70s, and many have been forced to leave,” he said.
The destruction of dwellings at Larung Gar has focused so far mainly on the houses of monks and nuns, he said.
“The houses of lay member who are primarily Han Chinese have been marked with yellow paint and spared from demolition.”
Many thousands of Tibetans and Han Chinese study at the Larung Gar complex, which was founded in 1980 by the late religious teacher Khenpo Jigme Phuntsok and is one of the world’s largest and most important centers for the study of Tibetan Buddhism.
Around 3,000 monks and nuns have already been expelled from Larung Gar, and around 1,000 dwellings destroyed, as authorities seek to reduce the population of the sprawling complex by about half to a maximum level of 5,000 next year, sources say.
Reported by Kunsang Tenzin for RFA’s Tibetan Service. Translated by Karma Dorjee. Written in English by Richard Finney.
China's imperialist genocide is a recent part of a 500-year worldwide reign of terror visited by the modern world on indigenous peoples on six continents. The particulars vary, but lying, armed violence, and programs to bleed cultural traditions to death are all part of it. The economic and psychological aims are to seize the assets of the subjugated people and aggrandize the nationalism and xenophobia of the conquerors. That Tibetans continue to resist nonviolently and to seek reconciliation with China is a powerful beacon in a darkening world.
Dec 13, 2016 02:01 PM
What good are the UN and the Hague International Court of Justice that these atrocities, aimed at complete destruction of a Culture, are allowed to continue, as they have for far too many decades with impunity? Is it the "out of sight, out of mind" game? Thing is, the World IS watching ... in horror! To wreak such atrocities now on Elder Buddhist citizens in such a manner is truly beyond despicable. Worse yet, so many World 'leaders' continue to sign agreements to increase trade with this country that continues to perpetrate such grosse Human Rights violations? Really, it's beyond words or reason. Can't something be done? Isn't there ANYONE willing to stand up against this?
Nov 26, 2016 09:55 AM
