Chinese authorities in a Tibetan-populated region have continued and expanded demolition of the Larung Gar Buddhist Academy, considered one of the world’s largest and most influential ecumenical centers for the study of Tibetan Buddhism, says a report.
The demolition of the academy comes after the authorities expelled thousands of Tibetan monks and nuns from the facility last year, Radio Free Asia reported on Aug. 18.
The report says RFA obtained and analyzed satellite imagery to confirm the demolition of the academy in Serthar county within the Kardze (Ganzi) Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Sichuan province.
Thousands of homes had been marked for demolition, RFA reported, citing sources.
The demolitions have been carried out in separate phases since 2001, according to the Central Tibetan Administration, the Tibetan government-in-exile located in Dharamsala, India.
This time, at least 1,060 residences belonging to monks and nuns are targeted for demolition, which appears to have begun around July 13, Tenzin Pema, director of strategic communication at the Washington-based International Campaign for Tibet (ICT), told RFA.
“RFA’s August 14 imagery appears to show clearance spreading around the academy’s central area, supporting our July 17 report that a new demolition campaign began around July 13,” Pema said. “The current campaign raises fears of another major assault on Tibetan Buddhist religious, cultural, and educational life.”
ICT is concerned that this latest round of demolitions at one of the largest Tibetan Buddhist centers in the world represents a further tightening of restrictions on religious practice, Pema said.
Established in 1980 to revive Buddhist scholarship, Larung Gar has grown into one of the world’s largest centers for Tibetan Buddhist learning, according to RFA.
Over the decades, it became one of the most influential centers for the study of Tibetan language, culture, and religion, attracting thousands of Chinese Buddhist practitioners, in addition to Tibetans.
The current phase of demolition follows an earlier one about a decade ago, where Chinese authorities destroyed half the compound and sent away thousands of monks and nuns, over what authorities said were overcrowding and fire-safety concerns.
Rights groups, however, have said that the demolitions are part of Beijing’s attempt to exert control over religious and educational institutions.
Satellite imagery captured Aug. 14 confirms that approximately 2.5 acres (1 hectare) has been cleared from a residential area of the academy since demolition started. Dump trucks and excavators remain visible at the site, and demolition is scheduled to be completed by Aug. 20, according to RFA sources familiar with the situation on the ground in Serthar.
According to ICT, Larung Gar has been reduced to about half its size through the demolition of dwellings over the years. In 2016 and 2017, about 5,000 monks and nuns were evicted from the academy, and nearly 5,000 dwellings were demolished, Pema said.
Prior to the current round of demolitions, Chinese authorities intensified restrictions at Larung Gar, limiting the number of monks and nuns at the religious institute and expelling some of them, RFA Tibetan reported.
In apparent protest of the demolitions, a monk reportedly displayed a large portrait of the 10th Panchen Lama from a window of one of the residences.
The Panchen Lama is the second most important figure in Tibetan Buddhism after the Dalai Lama. After the 1989 death of the 10th Panchen Lama, the Dalai Lama and the Chinese government spent the next six years looking for his successor, with each appointing a different person.
The 10th Panchen Lama is therefore the last person to hold the position to have been recognized by both the Chinese government and Tibetans.
