21 October 2026
Chinese authorities in Golog have sentenced Khensur Tenpa Gyatso, a former abbot of Ragya Monastery, to five years in prison, linked to his encouragement to Tibetans to participate in long life prayers for the Dalai Lama and loyalty to a religious teacher in exile. The sentence comes amid a wider crackdown in the Ragya area, where authorities have also closed schools with Tibetan language at the core of their teaching.
Tibetan sources say Tenpa Gyatso, also known as Lobsang Tenpa, was jailed after security forces searched his quarters and found recordings of the Dalai Lama’s teachings, along with photographs of the Dalai Lama and of Shingza Rinpoche, the monastery’s head, who also lives in exile. This was the second time he had been held. In 2025, during celebrations of the Dalai Lama’s 90th birthday, he led long-life prayers for the Dalai Lama and was detained for several months.
On around 5 October, Tenpa Gyatso was sentenced to five years’ imprisonment and transferred from detention in Golog (Chinese: Guoluo) to a large prison called Xichuan Prison (西川监狱) in Xining, the capital of Qinghai Province, known locally as the ‘Brick Prison’ because of its brick-making facility as part of a network of hard labour camps in the region, according to the same Tibetan sources. He had been detained in Golog Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture in Qinghai, the Tibetan area of Amdo, in the first week of August.
A source told Tibet Watch that due to tight restrictions and surveillance across Tibet, further details remain unknown including which court issued the sentence, what charges were brought, and whether his family was informed of his detention or allowed to visit him.
Born in 1965, Khasur Tenpa Gyatso entered monastic life at Ragya Monastery (རྭ་རྒྱ་དགའ་ལྡན་བཀྲ་ཤིས་འབྱུང་གནས་བཤད་སྒྲུབ་དར་རྒྱས་གླིང་།) in Ragya township, Machen (Chinese: Maqen), in 1983 under the spiritual master Khensur Soepa Gyatso. Ragya is an important Gelug monastery in Golog founded in 1769. Tenpa Gyatso is known among Tibetans as an eminent and diligent scholar, deeply devoted to his people, their heritage, and the Dalai Lama.
A pattern in Ragya
The sentence follows Tibet Watch’s report yesterday on the closure of two community-run schools in Golog, the Gangjong Grassland Girls’ School and Jasag Village Boarding School. China has escalated a crackdown against the religious and educational institutions that sustain Tibetan identity in Tibet, targeting senior monastic figures, monks and nuns loyal to the Dalai Lama and schools teaching children in their own language.
As China’s efforts to maintain its control over Tibet intensify, possessing images or teachings of the Dalai Lama or associated religious leaders in exile is now characterised as criminal activity and grounds for imprisonment.
According to Tibetan sources, Tenpa Gyatso was also targeted because of accusations that in accordance with normal religious practice, he had an image of Shingza Rinpoche, whose reincarnations have historically presided over Ragya monastery. Recognised by the Dalai Lama and enthroned at Ragya in 1993, Shingza Rinpoche left Tibet in 1997 and has since been a prominent voice in exile, including leading the 2008 March to Tibet and staging a hunger strike outside the UN in New York in 2012. He now lives in the United States.
