Lekden, Kensur

PersonType	Category:Abbots Category:Tibetan Buddhist Teachers
FirstName / namefirst	Kensur
LastName / namelast	Lekden
MainNamePhon	Kensur Ngawang Lekden
SortName	Lekden, Kensur
bio	Kensur Ngawang Lekden was a distinguished Tibetan Buddhist scholar and abbot who played a pivotal role in transmitting the Geluk tradition's philosophical teachings to the West during the early 1970s. Born in 1900, Lekden began his life as a singer and player of a Dranyen before entering the Gomang College of Drepung Monastic University. He initially trained to develop the multitonal voice required to become a chant master but was encouraged to pursue the scholarly path instead, eventually earning the prestigious Geshe degree. Lekden served as the former abbot of the prestigious Tantric College of Lower Lhasa, a position that placed him at the very top of the traditional Geluk hierarchy in Tibet, just a few rungs below the Dalai Lama himself. He spent the first 60 years of his life in traditional Tibet, escaping just before His Holiness the Dalai Lama following the Chinese occupation. After leaving Tibet, Kensur Lekden lived in France until Geshe Wangyal invited him to the United States . In 1970, at age 70, he accepted an invitation from Prof. Richard Robinson and Jeffrey Hopkins to teach in the Buddhist Studies program at the University of Wisconsin, becoming one of the first high-ranking Tibetan lamas to teach Madhyamaka philosophy at an American university. Kensur Lekden taught a seminar on Madhyamaka in the fall of 1970, which Jeffrey Hopkins translated. His teachings profoundly influenced the first generation of Western Tibetan Buddhist scholars, introducing them to rigorous philosophical texts and meditation practices that had previously been inaccessible to Western students. His teachings were later compiled in the book Meditations of a Tibetan Tantric Abbot, translated and edited by Jeffrey Hopkins and published by the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives in Dharamsala. The work presents core practices of the Mahāyāna Buddhist path and reflects his deep knowledge of both sūtra and tantra. Kensur Ngawang Lekden passed away in 1973, leaving a lasting legacy as a bridge between traditional Tibetan Buddhism and Western scholarship. His influence continues through his students, including scholar Anne Klein, and through the foundational role he played in establishing Tibetan Buddhist studies in American universities.
YearBirth	1900
YearDeath	1973
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