-Radio Free Asia
Choktrul Dawa Rinpoche had been jailed for years for opposing Chinese rule.
Funeral observances for a popular Tibetan lama were blocked early this year by Chinese police who barred devotees from attending and deleted images of the religious leader that were shared online, RFA has learned.
Choktrul Dawa Rinpoche, 86, died on Jan. 30 at his residence in the Tibetan capital Lhasa and immediately entered a state called thukdam, in which an accomplished meditator’s consciousness is believed to remain in the body for a period of time, a source in Tibet told RFA this week.
“But the Chinese government tried to keep Rinpoche’s demise as secret as possible, and warned people not to share news of his death online,” RFA’s source said, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons.
“Also, pictures and videos of Rinpoche already published online were quickly deleted by the Chinese government,” he added.
A senior teacher at the Ganden Dargyeling monastery in Nagchu (in Chinese, Naqu) county in the Tibet Autonomous Region, Choktrul Dawa Rinpoche was sentenced in 2010 to seven years in prison for discussing affairs at his monastery with Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, now living in exile in India. Click here to read more.