Lama Tsering Gyaltsen Rinpoche
Lama Tsering Gyaltsen was born in Western Tibet in 1945 as the son of Chöying Dorje and Sherab Drolma. When he was young, he studied with his father, who was an accomplished Tröma Nakmo practitioner. The family went to Ladakh in the 1960s, as his mother was Ladakhi, and then settled in Orissa, India in 1964.
Over the course of his life, Lama Gyaltsen has received numerous teachings and empowerments, including teachings on The Words of my Perfect Teacher from Khenpo Dhazer; the Nyingma Gyud Bum (One Hundred Thousand Tantras of the Nyingma), the Rinchen Terdzöd, and the complete Dudjom Tersar empowerments, reading transmissions, and instructions from Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche; the empowerments of Konchok Chidü and Dzinpa Rangdrol from Kyabje Dilgo Khentse Rinpoche; the full cycle of Nyingma Kama empowerments from Namkha Drimé Rinpoche and the reading transmission from Tulku Rigdzin Pema; the complete empowerment of Karma Lingpa from Yangtang Rinpoche; and the entire Northern Treasures empowerments and reading transmission from Kyabje Taklung Tsetrul Rinpoche.
In 1966, he attended the Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies at the Sanskrit University in Varanasi, from which he graduated after six years with an Acharya degree. In Dharamsala, he worked for six years as the representative of the Nyingmapa School for the Tibetan Government in Exile. Then he returned to Orissa, where he completed a three-year retreat under the guidance of Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche and Ripa Rigdzin Chögyal Rinpoche.
In 1985, Lama Gyaltsen moved to Nepal with his family. During that time, he received various teachings and empowerments by Kyabje Dungse Trinley Norbu Rinpoche. In 1991, Lama Gyaltsen founded a retreat center and home for elderly practitioners, Tsogyal Gephel Jong in Yangleshö, a holy place of Guru Rinpoche, near Pharping, Nepal.
In 1996, he was invited by Lama Tharchin Rinpoche to the Vajrayana Foundation near Santa Cruz, California, where he stayed for two years, after which he moved to Oregon, where he currently lives with his wife and son. In Oregon, he wrote a Tibetan history book, The Golden Scalpel that Removes Cataracts, edited several Tibetan Dharma texts and advised on translations from Tibetan into English. He founded the Padma Charitable Foundation to help needy people in Tibet and Nepal. In 2011, together with Lama Tharchin Rinpoche and Lama Sonam Rinpoche, he founded the Saraha Nyingma Buddhist Institute in Eugene, Oregon.