Acharya Lama Tenpa Gyaltsen was born in Nepal and entered the monastery at age thirteen. In 1981, Lama Tenpa enrolled in the first class of Rumtek Monastery’s Karma Shri Nalanda Institute in Sikkim, India. Acharya excelled in his Buddhist studies at the Institute under some of the greatest living masters in the Kagyü lineage, and graduated with honors in his class.

Acharya Lama Tenpa Gyaltsen was granted the “Acharya” degree from both the Karma Shri Nalanda Institute and the Sampurnand Sanskrit University in 1991. Then he was appointed as Khenpo and taught in the monastery for two years. In 1993, under the guidance of Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, he completed a three-year retreat in Pullahari, Nepal. Between the year 1997-2004, Lama Tenpa was the resident teacher at H.H. the 17th Karmapa’s Theksum Tashi Choling in Hamburg, Germany and provided teachings traveling around Europe, the United States and Asia.

Since 1998, Acharya Lama Tenpa Gyaltsen had been one of the main faculties at Nitartha Institute Canada and Europe. And at the same time, he had also served as a faculty member of the Religious Studies Department at Naropa University for over 20 years. Acharya Lama Tenpa Gyaltsen is the Chancellor of Nalandabodhi International. Over the past years, Lama Tenpa Gyaltsen guides students on the view and path of Buddhist studies. He also collaborates with other translators to translate Tibetan classics as well as training new translators.