(updated 19 October 2026)
This report has been updated to correct the former abbot’s name. See the note at the end.
Lobsang Tenpa, also known as Tenpa Gyatso, a former abbot of Ragya Monastery in Amdo, has been detained again by Chinese security personnel, sentenced to five years in prison, and transferred to a prison in Xining.
On 5 August this year, during the monastery’s summer retreat, security personnel from the Public Security Bureau of Machen County in Golog posted a Chinese-language notice on the door of his monastic quarters forbidding anyone from entering. At the time, no one was able to find out what had happened to him. According to a person familiar with the matter, it later emerged that when police raided his quarters, they found portraits of His Holiness the Dalai Lama and several portraits of Kyabje Shingza Rinpoche, the monastery’s head lama, in his shrine room. They also found a USB flash drive containing teachings and videos of His Holiness.
Lobsang Tenpa was initially held in Golog. Around 5 October, he was sentenced to five years and moved to Xining’s largest prison in Qinghai Province, formerly known as the “Brick Factory.” Beyond that, it remains unclear whether he had a lawyer at trial, whether his family was notified, or what charges he faced.
The reliable source further said that during the celebrations of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s 90th birthday in 2025, Lobsang Tenpa encouraged local people to recite long-life prayers for His Holiness and his name mantra (མཚན་སྔགས་བློ་འཛིན་). He presented certificates of honor, inscribed with a passage from His Holiness’s teachings, to those who accumulated the most recitations. As a result, Machen County police detained him in May 2025, interrogated him over many days, and held him for several months before releasing him.
According to The Golden Rosary: Abbatial History of Ragya Ganden Tashi Jungne Shedrub Dargye Ling (རྭ་རྒྱ་དགའ་ལྡན་བཀྲ་ཤིས་འབྱུང་གནས་བཤད་སྒྲུབ་དར་རྒྱས་གླིང་གི་གདན་རབས་གསེར་གྱི་ཕྲེང་བ།), published in 2017 by Gansu Nationalities Publishing House as part of the Ragya Tashi Jong A-yig book series, Lobsang Tenpa is the 54th abbot of Ragya Monastery. He was born in 1965 in the Hashi Hade community, one of the four Tsangki tribes, to his father Kalsang Dargye and mother Phagtsa. At the age of eight he entered school and completed primary education. In 1983, during the period of religious revival, he was ordained by the great spiritual master and former abbot Zopa Gyatso and joined Ragya Monastery. In 2000, at the age of 35, he took up the post of abbot and completed his term in 2005. He is described as a person who has always been diligent in his studies, deeply devoted to his nation, and of pure faith and commitment toward His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
The source said it is unclear whether security personnel notified his family when he was detained, or whether he was given access to a lawyer of his choosing during the legal proceedings. The source added that because of the current severe restrictions in the area, no one dares to speak about him.
Update (19 October 2026): According to the first source, the former abbot is commonly known as Tenpa Gyatso, and the report published on 17 October used that name. A second source, Geshe Lobsang Palden, provided the abbatial history of Ragya Monastery, which lists him as Lobsang Tenpa, and suggested the name be corrected accordingly. The headline and report have therefore been updated to Lobsang Tenpa. As it is difficult to establish which of the two names appears on his official documents and identity card, readers are asked to take note.
