More than 80 monks from Jakhung and Ditsa monastery in Tsongon (Qinghai) region have been expelled from their monasteries as Chinese government exert tight control over the monastic population by deploying military personnel to monitor them.
[Posted on T.T Tibetan site 06th December 2021] A reliable source told Tibet Times that between the 21st and 22nd of October, the Chinese government decreed that anyone below the age of 18 is not allowed to become a monk and expelled more than 80 monks from Jakhung and Ditsa monastery, two of the four main monasteries in the northern part of Tsongon.
According to the information received, on the 21st and 22nd of October, Chinese government authorities visited Jakhung and Ditsa monastery and expelled over 80 monks; over 20 monks from Jakhung monastery and over 50 from Ditsa monastery and escorted them to their homes. The policy of barring young people below the age of 18 from becoming monks is currently being implemented all over Tsoshar Bayun County.
The source further revealed that Chinese authorities have deployed military personnel at the monasteries to stop the expelled monks from returning while also ordering the expelled monks to not wear their robes even in their homes.
Even though the policy is being implemented all over Tsoshar Bayun County, Jakhung and Ditsa monastery are the only known cases as communication lines to other areas have been blocked. The Chinese government’s tight control over the Tibetan monastic population grew especially in August last year during the (ཀྲུང་དབྱང་གི་བཞུགས་མོལ་ཚོགས་འདུ་ཐེངས་བདུན་པ་) where conversion of the Tibetan Buddhism into a socialist society was one of the main agendas among others, including prohibition of teaching Tibetan language as medium of instruction in schools against the larger goal of exerting greater control over the Tibetan culture, language and religion.
