(TibetanReview.net, Sep16’25) – Chinese police in Tibet’s capital Lhasa arbitrarily took away a Tibetan Buddhist monk over four years ago, along with two others, and there has been no information about him so far despite desperate searches by his family and relatives, reported the Tibetan language Tibettimes.net Sep 16. The monk is originally from Golog (Chinese: Guoluo) prefecture in Qinghai province and was on an extended religious visit from his monastery in Kardze (Ganzi) prefecture of Sichuan province.
The monk, Dhar-gye, was forcibly taken away with two other monks on Aug 5, 2021. The other two monks were eventually released after some months. But to this day there has been no information on what had happened to monk Dhar-gye, or on his whereabouts.
Local Tibetans contacted the police in Lhasa on his whereabouts and were assured that he would be released soon, the report cited one source as saying. They were told that Akhu Dhar-gye was not in any sort of trouble and was in good health. They believed the police and waited with hope for his release.
The information about the monk’s detention and disappearance has never reached the outside world including over the social media platforms thus far.
Aged around 63 years old, the monk was born in Golog Whelshul Serta to his mother Choelha and father Choephel and belongs to the Serta Sera Monastery in Serthar County in Sichuan province.
He travelled to Lhasa and stayed there some while before his arrest, undertaking pilgrimages to the major religious sites in the area, practising meditation, and receiving teachings from as many learned religious teachers as he could.
The report continued that he is well-versed in the practice of sanctifying body, speech and mind representations of the Buddha, and is a dependable person well-liked by everyone for his honesty. In order to fulfil requests from many believers for sanctifying their religious statues, he was stated to have opened a small shop in Lhasa.
Sera Thekchen Choekorling Monastery, to which monk Dhar-gye belongs, is located in Khekor (Keguo) Township in Serthar (Seda) County. It was founded in 1736 AD and combines old and new Tibetan Buddhist school practices, the report said.