Choekyi Gyalpo, the 11th Panchen Lama according to the government of the People's Republic of China, has been enthroned there, while Gedhun Choekyi Nyima, the 11th Panchen Lama recognised by the Dalai Lama, has been held under "protective custody" by Chinese authorities since 1995. Tashi Lhunpo in its heyday housed over 4,000 monks and had four Tantric colleges, each with its own Abbot. After the death of a Panchen Lama, these four abbots led the search for his infant reincarnation and one of them always acted as a prime minister of Tsang under the control of the Dalai Lama in Lhasa. In 1960, the monastery was dismantled by the Chinese army whilst the Panchen Lama was absent, although less damage was inflicted on the monastery than on most others around Tibet. During the 1960s many senior lamas and monastics left Tibet and helped re-establish new monasteries in India, Nepal and Bhutan. The late Panchen Lama did not leave Tibet and consequently many of the senior lamas from Tashi Lhunpo Monastery remained inside Tibet. Therefore, while other monasteries-in-exile have expanded and developed under the guidance of senior lamas, Tashi Lhunpo has remained at a disadvantage, although in 1972 a new campus of Tashi Lhunpo Monastery was built by Tibetan exiles at a settlement in Bylakuppe, Karnātakā in southern India. Since the early 1980s parts of the Tashi Lhunpo monastery have been open to the public and it is an important tourist attraction in Tibet today.
What happened first the dismantling of the monastery or the death of a Panchen Lama?
death of a Panchen Lama