Tsenshap Serkong Rinpoche

The current Tsenshap Serkong Rinpoche is the reincarnation of Tsenshap Serkong Rinpoche, a highly accomplished lama born in Tibet in 1914. In 1948, having received his Geshe Lharampa degree, Tsenshap Serkong Rinpoche was appointed one of the seven tsenshap – or debate masters – to His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. He served His Holiness in this capacity for the rest of his life and imparted to His Holiness many lineages, initiations and oral transmissions. He passed away in 1983.

The current Tsenshap Serkong Rinpoche was born in the Spiti Valley in India in 1984. He received his Buddhist training initially at Ganden Jangtse Monastery in South India and, after deciding to continue his work for the Dharma as a layman, completed his education at the Institute of Buddhist Dialectics (IBD) in Dharamsala with a Master of Madhyamika Buddhist Philosophy. On the advice of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, he completed two years of intensive study of English in Canada and is continuing his higher Buddhist training. He also cares for the spiritual needs of the people in the Spiti region and takes responsibility for the care of Tabo Monastery there, a place of great historic significance to the transmission of Buddhism to Tibet.