Revered Monk’s Statue Seized, Tibetans Detained and Beaten

By Mary Trewartha / January 18, 2022;

A life-size statue of the revered Tulku Tenzin Delek Rinpoche, who died in 2015 in a Chinese prison under mysterious circumstances, was seized last year by the authorities while it was being transported into Tibet from where it had been made in Shenzhen in China, reports Radio Free Asia. They also report that the people involved in making and transporting the statue have been arrested.

The news has only now emerged due to tight restrictions on communications into and out of Tibet. RFA reports that one of Tenzin Delek’s students, Tenzin Yarphel, who now lives in Europe has told them that the statue was commissioned by some of Tenzin Delek’s students. Yarphel told them, “The initial plan was to bring Rinpoche’s statue to India, but there were too many restrictions against sending it there, so it had to be brought to Tibet and hidden away until the right opportunity to move it arose”.

The statue, on its way to Lithang, Tenzin Delek’s home, was seized by police in Dartsedo in Kham [Ch: Sichuan]. Kalsang Tsering, who had arranged to pick up the statue and bring it to Lithang, and his assistant, were both taken into custody. Yarphel reported to RFA that because nobody had heard anything of the detainees for many months, people began to ask questions. The Chinese then said they were in custody. Yarphel has heard that they have been interrogated and beaten, and ordered to “avoid any contact with Rinpoche’s family in Lithang”, and also to “promise not to involve themselves with any activity like this again in the future.”

Two others were also taken into custody and held for nearly 20 days, one a Tibetan, the other a Chinese man; they had brought the statue to Dartsedo. The man who made the initial arrangements for the statue’s construction in Shenzhen was detained for nearly a month. And in Lithang, Rinpoche’s younger sister Dolkar Lhamo had her house stormed and the family shrine ransacked by around 20 officers. She, along with two other family members, were then detained, said RFA, “for about 18 days and were beaten and tortured under questioning about the statue before being released”.