Acharya Lama Tenpa Gyaltsen was born in the region of Trakar, in Nepal. At a very early age, he began studying dharma texts with Lama Amjl of Trakar. He moved to Kathmandu at the age of 13 where he entered the monastery. Some years later, he was instrumental in building the Kagyu monastery in Matopanai, Pokhara, Nepal. He joined the Karma Shri Nalanda Institute at Rumtek in 1981 and graduated as an acharya and ka rabjampa. In the 1990's he completed a traditional three year retreat at Pullahari Monastery in Kathmandu, Nepal. He has been a brilliant and engaging teacher at Nitartha Institute in North America and Europe and he leads the Institute with The Dzoghen Ponlop Rinpohe. He currently resides in Boulder, Colorado where he teaches at Naropa University.