Tibetan Monk Dies in Prison
Geshe Lobsang Dhundup was was highly regarded by local communities as a teacher and mediator
A 56 year-old Tibetan monk from Jongwa Township (ཇོང་བ་གྲོང་རྡལ།) in Lithang County (ལི་ཐང་རྫོང་།) has died in prison.
Geshe Lobsang Dhundup, also known by Phende Gyalsten (ཕན་བདེ་རྒྱལ་མཚན།), died last week on 26 January.
He was arrested by Chinese authorities in March 2022 for unspecified reasons, before being transferred to a hospital in July due to poor health. It is unknown what led to Geshe being hospitalised, however his family suspects that “excessive beating and torture by Chinese authorities have caused his injuries and, ultimately, his death.” Due to restrictions placed upon his family, and excessive surveillance in Tibet, it has been difficult to ascertain any further details.
Geshe was known to be reclusive, choosing to meditate in remote locations. However, when he visited his local villages, he was highly regarded and loved by the community, teaching lessons in meditative practice. It is suspected that his role as a mediator in community conflict, and his activity in the restoration of Shedrub Dhargay Monastery (དཔྱད་འཇོག་བཤད་སྒྲུབ་དར་རྒྱས་གླིང་།), is what led to himdup being targeted by police.
In 1985 Geshe Lobsang Dhundup went into exile, studying his Geshe Degree at Sera Mey Monastic University (སེར་སྨད་གྲྭ་ཚང་།) in southern India. During his time in India, he took up the practice of meditation in remote locations, which he continued upon his return to Tibet.
Further information is unavailable at this time due to restrictions in communication and state surveillance in occupied Tibet.
Information supplied by Tibet Watch
