- Date Of Birth: July 6, 1932
- Date Of Death: March 6, 2022
- State: Connecticut
Our precious monk and Rinpoche, the venerable Lobsang Tenzin (Geshe Wangdak) passed on March 6, 2022. Rinpoche was born 1935 in Kham (Eastern Tibet). At age ten he entered Ba Zingon Monastery. At 18, Rinpoche journeyed to central Tibet and joined the Loseling College at Drepung Monastery near Lhasa, where he studied until 1959. In 1960, after fleeing to India, he resumed his studies at Buxa, where a temporary monastery was established. In 1970, he moved to the newly relocated Drepung Monastic University in Mundgod, South India. After two years of intensive study and practice he moved to Sarnath, studying there until 1977. Rinpoche returned to Drepung to take his Geshe exams, and his scholastic achievement earned him the Geshe Lharampa degree.
Soon after completing his Geshe exams, he was invited to teach at Namgyal Monastery in Dharamsala, India, where he was senior teacher for 14 years. He was then appointed Abbot of the monastery by H.H. the Dalai Lama, a position he held until 1994. In 1995, His Holiness appointed Khensur Rinpoche Abbot and Senior Resident Teacher at Namgyal Monastery in Ithaca, NY. He retired from Ithaca in 1998.
We were then blessed to have him in Middletown and as our Spiritual Leader and teacher at the Chenrezig Tibetan Buddhist Center of CT for the past 24 years. He lead the life of dedication to teaching (and setting the example) on how to continually improve on a path to be being a better person. We will dearly miss him.
