His Holiness

The Dalai Lama

His Holiness the 14th the Dalai Lama Tenzin Gyatso, is the head of state and spiritual leader of the Tibetan people. He was born Lhamo Dhondrub on 6 July 1935, in a small village called Taktser in northeastern Tibet. Born to a peasant family, His Holiness was recognized at the age of two, in accordance with Tibetan tradition, as the reincarnation of his predecessor the 13th Dalai Lama, and thus an incarnation Avalokitesvara, the Buddha of Compassion.

The Dalai Lamas are the manifestations of the Bodhisattva of Compassion, who chose to reincarnate to serve the people. Lhamo Dhondrub was, as Dalai Lama, renamed Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso - Holy Lord, Gentle Glory, Compassionate, Defender of the Faith, Ocean of Wisdom. Tibetans normally refer to His Holiness as Yeshe Norbu, the Wishfulfilling Gem or simply Kundun - The Presence.

This biography of His Holiness is from the Govenment of Tibet in Exile website.

Lama Thubten Yeshe

Founder of FPMT

Lama Thubten Yeshe was born in Tibet in 1935. At the age of six, he entered the great Sera Monastic University, Lhasa, where he studied until 1959, when the Chinese invasion of Tibet forced him into exile in India.

Lama Yeshe continued to study and meditate in India until 1967, when, with his chief disciple, Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche, he went to Nepal. Two years later he established Kopan Monastery, near Kathmandu, in order to teach Buddhism to Westerners. In 1974, the Lamas began making annual teaching tours to the West, and as a result of these travels a worldwide network of Buddhist teaching and meditation centers-the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition-began to develop.

In 1984, after an intense decade of imparting a wide variety of incredible teachings and establishing one FPMT activity after another, at the age of forty-nine, Lama Yeshe passed away. He was reborn as Ösel Hita Torres in Spain in 1985, recognized as the incarnation of Lama Yeshe by His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 1986, and, as the monk Lama Tenzin Osel Rinpoche, began studying for his geshe degree in 1992 at the reconstituted Sera Monastery in South India.

Lama's remarkable story is told in Vicki Mackenzie's book, Reincarnation: The Boy Lama (Wisdom Publications, 1996).

This biography of Lama Yeshe is from the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive website.

Lama Zopa Rinpoche

Spiritual Director of FPMT

Rinpoche was born in Thami, Nepal, in 1946. At the age of three he was recognized as the reincarnation of the Lawudo Lama, who had lived nearby at Lawudo, within sight of Rinpoche's Thami home.

Rinpoche's own description of his early years may be found in his book, The Door to Satisfaction (Wisdom Publications).

At the age of ten, Rinpoche went to Tibet and studied and meditated at Domo Geshe Rinpoche's monasterynear Pagri, until the Chinese occupation of Tibet in 1959 forced him to forsake Tibet for the safety of Bhutan.

Rinpoche then went to the Tibetan refugee camp at Buxa Duar, West Bengal, India, where he met Lama Yeshe, who became his closest teacher. The Lamas went to Nepal in 1967, and over the next few years built Kopan and Lawudo Monasteries.

In 1971 Lama Zopa Rinpoche gave the first of his famous annual lam-rim retreat courses, which continue at Kopan to this day. In 1974, with Lama eshe, Rinpoche began traveling the world to teach and establish centers of Dharma.

When Lama Yeshe passed away in 1984, Rinpoche took over as spiritual head of the FPMT, which has continued to flourish under his peerless leadership.

This biography of Lama Zopa Rinpoche is from the Lama Yeshe Wisdom Archive website.

Geshe Konchog Kyab

Resident Teacher, TKC

Geshe Konchog Kyab was born in 1961 in Sikkim in the Himalayan region of East India, where his parents had sought asylum after fleeing Tibet to escape the Chinese occupation in 1959.

When he was 12 years old, Geshe Konchog joined the Sera-Je Monastery located in the Karnataka State of South India. The original Sera was one of the three Great Monasteries in Tibet.

A few years after entering Sera-Je, Geshe Konchog became a Novice monk. He followed his teachings carefully by memorizing, studying and debating the five major texts of Tibetan Buddhism. When he was 22 years old, he took full ordination.

In 1993, Geshe Konchog passed his Geshe Examination from Sera-Je Monastery University. The degree of Geshe is the highest monastery degree, equivalent to a Doctorate in Philosophy from Western Universities. After that, Geshe la went to Gyumed Tantric College studying the precepts of Tantra.

In 1994, Geshe Konchog returned to Sera-Je Monastery where he taught his disciples.

In 1996, he was elected as Discipline Master of Tehore Khamtsen House of Sera-Je, which has 1300 monks.

In 1998, Geshe la left his Monastery and traveled to Switzerland, Germany and Austria for one year.

Geshe La was invited to Tubten Kunga Center by Lama Zopa Rinpoche in 2000.