Dharamshala — The Tibetan monk Shersang Gyatso, abbot of Tsang Monastery in Ba County, northeastern Tibet, committed suicide to protest the Chinese government's recent crackdown on his monastery, which included raiding the monks' rooms, disrupting their studies and religious practices, organising Chinese political indoctrination sessions, and expelled all monks under the age of 18 from the monastery.
According to reliable sources, during the celebrations for the 90th birthday of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in July 2025, Chinese authorities searched the rooms of monks at Tsang Monastery (Tib.: གཙང་ དགོན་པ།) in Ba County (Tib.: འབའ་ རྫོང་།) in northeastern Tibet on July 20, 2025 and found photographs of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in the rooms of some monks. As a result, the monastery was placed under strict restrictions, with the monks' movements severely restricted.
The Chinese government has deployed the Chinese army, armed police and special forces everywhere in the Tibetan regions of Amdo, Kham and Utsang, from June to July 2025, as Tibetans and people around the world celebrate the 90th anniversary of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
But in Tibet, the Chinese government has not allowed them to celebrate the 90th birthday of their spiritual leader, who is dearer to them than their lives, and many of whom have already sacrificed their lives to demand the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Tibet, such as those who self immolated to protest against the totalitarian CCP regime in Tibet, demanding freedom for Tibetans and the return of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to Tibet.
Every year, particularly in the run-up to, during and just after the birthday of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, who was forced into exile more than six decades ago, the Chinese government tightens restrictions on Tibetans and warns them not to do anything related to His Holiness the Dalai Lama. This year, particularly on the occasion of His Holiness' 90th birthday celebrations, the Chinese government has deployed the ubiquitous Chinese army, police and special forces in the Tibetan regions of Amdo, Kham and Utsang, with a particular focus on Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, from June to July, 2025.
After finding photos of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in their rooms on July 20, 2025, Chinese authorities restricted the monks' daily activities, conducting daily raids on their rooms, disrupting their studies and religious practices, repeatedly gathering them together to force them to attend Chinese political indoctrination sessions. The Chinese authorities also expelled all monks under the age of 18 from Tsang Monastery.
There is also an long-standing custom among the nomadic communities of Ba County to invite monks from Tsang Monastery to perform rituals and recite prayers, particularly during the fifth and sixth Tibetan months, but the Chinese authorities have prohibited this prayer in July, 2025.
Due to constant repression by the Chinese authorities and police, persecution, torture, and suppression of religious practices, Ven Shersang Gyatso, head of the administrative committee of Tsang Monastery in Ba County, took his own life by jumping from the top floor of the monastery's shop on August 20, 2025,to protest against China's suppression of religious freedom targeting monks and his monastery. He was 52 years old at the time of his demise. His death occurred amid strict restrictions imposed by the Chinese government, which caused serious difficulties for monks, particularly those in leadership positions.
Since then, the monastery and surrounding Tibetan communities have been subject to strict control by the Chinese authorities, and it is difficult to obtain further information, as the Chinese authorities impose strict control over information from Tibet to reach out to the free world.
Ven Shersang Gyatso was born in the Arig village, Sogzong county, in the Malho region, in the traditional province of Amdo. He studied at Gyupa College, one of the five traditional colleges of Tsang Monastery, and was recognised among the thousand resident monks as an exceptional practitioner, admired as much for his scholarship as for his moral integrity. Tsang Monastery is home to monks from three major regions: Malho, Tsolho, and Golog, in the Amdo province.
China-Tibet: The one-thing you need to know:
Over the past 70 decades, there has been ongoing political repression, social discrimination, economic marginalization, environmental destruction, and cultural assimilation, particularly due to Chinese migration to Tibet which is fueling intense resentment among the people of occupied Tibet.
The communist-totalitarian state of China began its invasion of Tibet in 1949, reaching complete occupation of the country in 1959. Since that time, more than 1.2 million people, 20% of the nation's population of six million, have died as a direct result of China's invasion and occupation. In addition, over 99% of Tibet's six thousand religious monasteries, temples, and shrines, have been looted or decimated resulting in the destruction of hundreds of thousands of sacred Buddhist scriptures.
Until 1949, Tibet was an independent Buddhist nation in the Himalayas which had little contact with the rest of the world. It existed as a rich cultural storehouse of the Mahayana and Vajrayana teachings of Buddhism. Religion was a unifying theme among the Tibetans -- as was their own language, literature, art, and world view developed by living at high altitudes, under harsh conditions, in a balance with their environment.
