Acharya Lama Tenpa Gyaltsen was born in Nepal and entered the monastery at age thirteen. In 1981, Lama Tenpa and Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche 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. Under the guidance of Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, he completed a three-year retreat in Pullahari, Nepal.

Lama Tenpa was the resident teacher at H.H. the 17th Karmapa’s Theksum Tashi Choling in Hamburg, Germany. He has also served as a faculty member of the Religious Studies Department at Naropa University, where he specialized in teaching graduate courses in Tibetan tradition.

As Chancellor of Nalandabodhi International, Lama Tenpa Gyaltsen works closely with Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche, especially in teaching the view and practices of Mahamudra in a pragmatic, informal style. After Rinpoche, Acharya is Nalandabodhi’s most revered teacher and teaches regularly around the world.