Reported By Palden
Translated By TenGyal
Distinguished Tibetologist and former professor at Qinghai Nationalities University, Demchok has passed away at the age of 86.
Today, on July 17, reports emerged that the prominent Tibetology scholar and former professor at Qinghai Nationalities University, Demchok, has passed away at the age of 86. Tributes are pouring in from scholars, intellectuals, former students, and cultural advocates within Tibet. Across almost all Tibetan social media platforms, users are sharing portraits of the late scholar and symbolic butter lamps to express their grief and honor his legacy.
Following the news of his passing, a Tibetan within Tibet expressed their grief, saying: “I am deeply saddened and shaken by the professor’s departure. Yet, when I reflect on his long, fulfilled life and his enduring grace as a leader of our people, I realize it is as it should be: he has now dissolved into the essence of infinite life. The footprints of his life’s work are purely luminous. Although Akhu (Uncle) Demchok’s physical form has left us, the imprint of his achievements will never fade from the mirror of our memory, and his noble devotion will remain untarnished. In short, he will dwell forever across the past, present, and future in the Land of Snows—smiling, serene, and radiant.”
Another Tibetan inside Tibet wrote this aspirational prayer,
“From the center of a vast, pooling ocean of butter,
May this lamp, radiant with a thousand sublime lights,
Illuminate all dark kalpas་(eons) without exception,
And may all wandering beings quickly see the Buddha.”
Yet another Tibetan shared, “I offer my deepest condolences and respect with intense grief over the professor’s passing. Because his was a ‘noble birth’ and a ‘glorious passing,’ we must never forget his devotion and kindness. May the Bodhisattvas’ altruistic wishes for the world be fulfilled. Whatever the Protector intends, may it be bestowed upon all living beings.”
Professor and Tibetology scholar Demchok was born in 1941 in Bido, located in the Amdo region of Tibet. At the young age of three, he entered Bindo Gonchen Monastery, officially joining the monastic assembly at age ten. Until he turned eighteen, he studied under revered spiritual mentors such as Tsondru Norbu Tsang and Shuktsang Akhu Thubten Dondrup, thoroughly mastering monastic recitations, Dudra (Collected Topics), and Ume cursive calligraphy. In 1958, at eighteen, he enrolled at the Qinghai Provincial Teacher Training School. He transitioned to the Tsolho (Hainan) Prefecture Teacher Training School in 1961, studying culture, politics, and other disciplines under educators like Sango Tsang, Bango, Wangbum Gyal, and Lhamo Tsetan. In 1965, following a government assignment, he completed a one-year teaching internship in locations including Palkha in Shinhe (Xinghai) County.
In 1966, he began his teaching career at the Qinghai Minority Middle School, the preparatory school for what is now Qinghai Nationalities University. He officially became a faculty member at Qinghai Nationalities University in 1969, and for over three decades—from 1974 to 2004—he served as a professor in the university’s Department of Minority Languages and Cultures. Beginning in 1994, he also took on the role of master’s thesis advisor, focusing his instruction primarily on Tibetan grammar and the historical development of Tibetan Buddhism. Throughout his career, he frequently collaborated with Qinghai Television and visited numerous primary and secondary schools across Tibetan regions to transmit the lineage of traditional grammar (Sumchupa and Tag kyi jugpa). In 2016, his lecture series on grammar was formally recorded onto DVDs and distributed. Although he officially retired in 2004, he continued to travel extensively to schools in Tsolho, Golog, Ngaba, and other Tibetan areas, teaching diverse aspects of Tibetan culture with a core focus on traditional grammar. He was widely revered not only as a great scholar profoundly learned in traditional culture and exceptionally skilled in mentorship, but also as an outstanding educator who championed modern social education and moral ethics.
