Dozen monasteries of Drukpa Buddhist lineage taken over by monks with strong financial backing
Source: Times of India
NEW DELHI: While transgressions by Chinese soldiers in Ladakh in September and the resultant standoff were widely reported, an incursion of another kind shrouded in mystery is said to have taken place in Tibet at around the same time. Sketchy details of this are only emerging now from the Chinese-controlled territory.
A dozen monasteries, all more than 800 years old and belonging to the Drukpa Buddhist lineage, were taken over by monks said to have strong financial backing after evicting those already there, leaving the sect's adherents everywhere shaken. The lineage is one of the main Buddhist schools based in the Himalayas.
The takeover of the monasteries coincided with Chinese transgressions in the Chumar and Demchok areas of Ladakh that took place while President Xi Jinping was visiting India, said Jigme Pema Wangchen, the 12th Gyalwang Drukpa, the spiritual head of the sect.
"We are still trying to ascertain if more monasteries have been taken over as these areas in Tibet are remote and communication is poor," Jigme Pema Wangchen told ET. "It took the evicted monks four days to report to me after the incident occurred. These monks are apolitical, engaged in spiritual work and it is baffling why they were targeted."
Read more: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics-and-nation/dozen-monasteries-of-drukpa-buddhist-lineage-taken-over-by-monks-with-strong-financial-backing/articleshow/45354754.cms
China even wants to "appoint" the next Dalai Lama (basically telling the Dalai Lama where he's going to reincarnate to when he dies).
