Chinese officials have confirmed the death of an influential Tibetan Buddhist leader who went missing eight months ago shortly after he publicly called for the preservation of Tibetan language and culture, two sources told Radio Free Asia.
Tibetans inside Tibet took to social media platforms on Thursday to mourn the loss of Tulku Hungkar Dorje, 56. He was the 10th abbot of Lung Ngon Monastery in Gade (Gande in Chinese) County of Golog in Qinghai province. He was renowned as a philanthropist, educator and religious teacher.
“As learned leaders depart like this, one after another, we are left behind like a flock of sheep without a shepherd,” wrote one Tibetan netizen.
The sources, who live inside Tibet and spoke to RFA on condition of anonymity because of fears for their own safety, said that Chinese officials on Wednesday summoned seven monks from the Lung Ngon Monastery and informed them about Tulku Hungkar Dorje’s death. The officials provided no information about when or where he had died, nor the cause of his death, the sources said.
Tulku Hungkar Dorje, whose title “Tulku” refers in Tibetan Buddhism to someone who has been reincarnated, disappeared shortly after a public teaching he gave on July 21, 2024.
Chinese officials subsequently imposed strict restrictions on the monks of the monastery and local Tibetans, forbidding any public discussions about the disappearance and prohibiting the sharing of his teachings in audio or video format, the sources said.
Fears for Tulku Hungkar Dorje deepened in December 2024 when a source told RFA Tibetan that Chinese authorities were detaining well-known Buddhist lamas from across Tibet for questioning and there were fears that he had died in Chinese custody.
When the monks on Wednesday were informed of his passing, they were made to sign an official government document confirming his death, but the Chinese officials failed to disclose what had happened to the abbot’s remains, nor where he had been located during the months he had been missing, the sources said.
Chinese authorities closely scrutinize prominent Tibetan Buddhist lamas and businessmen involved in philanthropy, as well as poets, writers, and religious teachers who advocate for the preservation and promotion of Tibetan language and culture.
Such figures often face strict surveillance and are vulnerable to arbitrary detentions and long prison terms.
In 2005, Tulku Hungkar Dorje founded the first Buddhist nunnery in Golog history and also established several schools and vocational centers of learning, including the Hungkar Dorje Ethnic Vocational High School and the Mayul Center of Studies, to provide free education to Tibetan children from local nomadic families, the two sources said.
The sources said most of these schools were shut shortly after his disappearance, although one was believed to have been shut in 2021.
The schools taught children Tibetan history and language, Chinese and English language, mathematics and moral education. They also offered vocational training in Thangka painting, Tibetan medicine, tailoring and carpet weaving.
During a visit to the United States in 2012, Tulku Hungkar Dorje wrote: “Tibet has a rich history and culture that could benefit the entire world. It is the responsibility of each successive generation to preserve this ancient tradition of knowledge. We are united in motivation and action in enthusiastically preserving and spreading our culture.”
He also spearheaded many welfare programs for local Tibetans, including free distribution of food, clothes, and medicine to thousands of Tibetan people, including monks, nuns and the aged, through the Gesar Shenpen Foundation, which he founded in 2004.
His father, Padma Tumdag Dorje, also known as Orgyen Kusum Lingpa, was a master of the ancient Tibetan Buddhist sect of Nyingma, and was also reputed as dedicating his life to working for the benefit of others.
Tibetans on social media mourn loss
On Thursday, Tibetans inside Tibet took to social media platforms to mourn his loss and pen emotional tributes, recalling his contributions to preserving Tibetan culture, supporting thousands of underprivileged people and establishing private schools in Tibet.
“At a time when the red wind blows strongly and frequently, the news that the brightness of your being, like the snow mountains, has dimmed fills us with great sadness,” wrote the Tibetan netizen cited earlier in this article.
“As I heard about the passing of another person who wholeheartedly served the political and religious cause of Tibet, it pains (me) from the bottom of my heart,” wrote another.
Others raised suspicions around the circumstances of his death.
“How is it possible for an individual as strong as gold to have died just of sickness?” wrote a third Tibetan netizen.
Born in 1969 to a nomadic family in Gade county, Tulku Hungkar Dorje grew up with five siblings and survived the Cultural Revolution in Tibetan under Mao Zedong in the 1960s and 1970s.
After completing his monastic education from Lung Ngon Monastery from 1980 to 1989, he pursued further education at Drepung Monastery in southern India where he received the prestigious title of Rabjampa, or scholar. He then studied in the United States for a few years before assuming responsibility as the 10th abbot of Lung Ngon Monastery in 2002.
Tulku Hungkar Dorje wrote several books, including “Tangkas in Golog: The Tangka Album of Lung Ngon Monastery” and “The Melodious Sound of the Laughter of the Vidyadharas of the Three Lineages.”
RFA Tibetan journalists Tenzin Norzom and Tenzin Dhonyoe in Dharamsala, India contributed reporting. Edited by Mat Pennington.