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Geshe Sonam Rinchen was born in 1933 at Dhargyey, in the Trehor Kham region of Eastern Tibet. At the age of thirteen, he decided to become a monk and entered Dhargyey Monastery, where he excelled in his studies and in debate. When he was nineteen, he made the two and a half month journey on foot to Central Tibet in order to enter Sera Je College of Sera Monastery. He became a fully ordained monk and remained there for the next six years until his studies were interrupted by the Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1959, which forced him into exile in India.
For the following nine years, he lived with many other monks under extremely harsh conditions in Buxa Duar, West Bengal, in what had previously been a British internment camp. In 1967, he entered what is now the Central University of Tibetan Studies in Sarnath and stayed there until 1976, obtaining the degrees of Shastri and Acharya with honors. In 1980, he took the public examinations for the monastic title of Geshe. He received the highest qualification, that of Geshe Lharampa.
Geshe Sonam Rinchen taught at the Library of Tibetan Works & Archives in Dharmsala, India for over 30 years. He published ten books in collaboration with his translator Ruth Sonam including Aryadeva’s Four Hundred Stanzas on the Middle Way, The Heart Sutra, The Bodhisattva Vow, the Six Perfections, How Karma Works, and Atisha’s Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment. ([https://sravastiabbey.org/advisory-member/geshe-sonam-rinchen/ Source Accessed Sep 29, 2022]) +
Venerable Geshe Tenzin Chodrak (Dadul Namgyal) is a prominent scholar in Tibetan Buddhism. He has a doctorate (Geshe Lharampa) in Buddhism and Philosophy from the Drepung Monastic University earned in 1992. He also holds a Master’s degree in English Literature from Panjab University in Chandigarh, India.
Author of several articles on Buddhism, Geshe-la was also a professor of Philosophy at Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies at Sarnath, Varanasi, India for seven years. In addition, he has been the Spiritual Director of LSLK Tibetan Buddhist Center, Knoxville, USA.
Due to his facility in both Tibetan and English, he has served as interpreter and speaker for numerous conferences exploring the interface of Buddhism with modern science, Western philosophy and psychology, and other religious traditions on both a national and international level. His language ability has also enabled him to serve as an English language translator for His Holiness the Dalai Lama throughout the world.
As a published author and translator, Geshe-la’s credits include a Tibetan translation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s ''Power of Compassion'', a language manual, ''Learn English through Tibetan'', and a critical work on Tsongkhapa’s ''Speech of Gold''. He also serves as a Board Member for Tibet House, New York.
From 2010 until recently, he had served as Senior Resident Teacher at Drepung Loseling Monastery in Atlanta. Around the same time, he began full-time position as Senior Translator/Interpreter with the Center for Contemplative Science and Compassion-based Ethics at Emory University, Atlanta. There he was working in producing a six-year bilingual (English and Tibetan) science curriculum and preparing additional research & pedagogy materials in Modern Science for use in Tibetan monasteries and nunneries.
Geshe-la visited several times, inspiring us with his passion for Madhyamaka philosophy and his sheer joy in sharing Buddha’s teachings. See photos of Geshe-la teaching at Sravasti Abbey in 2016.
The Sravasti Abbey community is delighted that Geshe-la is now a resident teacher at the Abbey. He brings his abundant knowledge, compassion, and humility and acts as an excellent role model for new monastics at the Abbey. Since joining our community, he has decided to go by his ordination name, Venerable Tenzin Chodrak. (Source: [https://sravastiabbey.org/advisory-member/geshe-dadul-namgyal/ sravastiabbey.org])
Geshe Tenzin Namdak is a highly respected Buddhist scholar and teacher, and the resident Geshe at Jamyang Buddhist Centre London, where he leads structured study programmes including FPMT’s Discovering Buddhism, Exploring Buddhism, and Basic Program, advanced teachings on Buddhist philosophy, Lojong (mind training), and the Lamrim (stages of the path to enlightenment).
He also offers special courses on traditional texts written by great Indian and Tibetan masters such as Nagarjuna, Atisha, Shantideva, and Je Tsongkhapa, as well as special teaching evenings and weekend intensives. All of his teachings are offered in English. In addition, Geshe Namdak leads regular Puja and prayer practice services on behalf of the Jamyang community.
One of the first Westerners to complete the full traditional Geshe degree, Geshe Namdak trained for over 20 years at Sera Jey Monastic University in India, receiving a rigorous monastic education in classical Buddhist philosophy and psychology. He completed the one-year Vajrayana study programme at Gyume Tantric College, deepening his expertise in the Buddhist Tantras. ([https://jamyang.co.uk/geshe-namdak-biography-2025/ Source Accessed Oct 28, 2025]) +
Geshe Tenzin Zopa holds a doctorate in Buddhist Philosophy from Sera Jey Monastic University in South India and is a master in Tibetan Buddhist rituals. He is currently the Resident Teacher at Losang Dragpa Buddhist Society, Malaysia and was for a long time the Director of the Tsum Valley Project (in the Himalayan region), which provides Buddhist study and practice facilities and accommodation for the community in the Valley. Geshe Tenzin
Zopa is the principal and focal point of the award winning film titled "Unmistaken Child" which chronicles the search for the reincarnation of his great master. Geshe Tenzin Zopa has a contemporary style of teaching which he combines with the ancient wisdom derived from his years of philosophical studies and debate, thereby benefitting everyone who has met or heard him teach. Geshe Tenzin Zopa is the face of a dynamic and socially engaged Buddhism in the 21st century. ([http://www.tenzinzopa.com/Ebooks/Cttb_Book_Final_Complete.pdf Source Accessed Jan 14, 2021]) +
Geshe Thubten Ngawang was the spiritual director of Tibetisches Zentrum V. Hamburg (Tibetan Centre Germany).
In 1979 Geshe Rinpoche was appointed spiritual director of the Tibetan Centre by His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the Patron of the Centre. Geshe Rinpoche was a living example of a Buddhist monk and gave teachings on Tibetan Buddhism throughout Germany for 23 years. Through his continual presence he played an important role in the initial establishment and the transmission of the Buddhist doctrine to the West.
As a scholar and meditation master who received most of his religious education in old Tibet, Geshe Thubtan Ngawang belonged to a generation of Tibetan lamas who directly experienced what is most probably the last flowering of their advanced civilization and bear the responsibility for the preservation of the Tibetan religion and culture in exile.
An important concern of his was the friendly exchange with representatives of other religions, scientists and other groups in society. School classes and adult groups visit the Tibetan Centre regularly in order to learn about Buddhism from an authentic source. In 1984 the so-called interfaith dialogue was established at Hamburg University. Geshe Thubten Ngawang played an active role in the discussions with representatives of various religious groups.
In 1998 the Tibetan Centre, under the leadership of Geshe Thubten Ngawang, organized its largest event in Schneverdingen/Lüneburg Heath. Here His Holiness the Dalai Lama taught “Buddhas Weg zum Glück” (Buddha’s path to happiness). At the invitation of Geshe Thubten Ngawang His Holiness resided in the meditation house Semkye Ling for ten days and blessed it with his presence. Before that the Patron had visited Hamburg and the Tibetan Centre at Geshe Rinpoche’s invitation in 1982 and 1991.
From 2000 onwards, alongside his active teaching programme, Geshe Rinpoche continued his preparatory practices for his three-year retreat, which he was planning to begin at the end of 2003. ([https://www.phayul.com/2003/01/16/3624/ Adapted from Source Mar 31, 2021])
Geshe Thubten Soepa was born in Zanskar, India in 1955. At the age of fourteen he entered the monastery of Dromo Geshe Rinpoche in Kalimpong and at 19, he was sent to Sera Je Monastery in South India.
Geshe Soepa took his novice vows before Serkong Tsenshab Rinpoche and his full vows before Kyabje Ling Dorjechang, the 97th head of the Gelug tradition (Tib: Ganden Tri Rinpoche). He also received many teachings and initiations from them, as well as from Ganden Zong Rinpoche. He attained the lharumpa geshe degree at Sera Je in 1997.
After three years as resident teacher at Dzongkha Chode monastery, Lama Zopa Rinpoche invited Geshe Soepa to be the resident geshe of Aryatara Institut in Munich, Germany, where he taught for ten years.
Geshe Soepa has travelled extensively in Europe and the United States, and teaches at many FPMT centers around the world. He is respected for his teachings on cherishing animals and is well known for his advocacy of animal rights and his stance on leading a vegetarian life.
''Protecting the Lives of Helpless Beings'', a book by Geshe Soepa, presents a detailed discussion in support of vegetarianism and animal welfare.
He passed away in Mysore, India, on November 2, 2022. ([https://www.lamayeshe.com/teacher/geshe-thubten-soepa Source Accessed Oct 29, 2021]) +
Geshe Tsultim Gyeltsen (1923 – February 13, 2009) was a Tibetan lama and human rights activist living in the United States. Gyeltsen had been described as "one of the last living Tibetan Buddhist masters to have been trained in Tibet" before 1959.
Geshe Gyeltsen founded the Thubten Dhargye Ling Buddhist center in 1978. He was a member of the same Buddhist sect, known as the Gelug or Yellow Hat sect, as the 14th Dalai Lama.
Gyeltsen was born Jamphel Yeshe in 1923, in Kham, an eastern ethno-cultural Tibet. He became a Buddhist monk when he was seven years old. He traveled to the Gaden Monastery near Lhasa when he was sixteen years old. Gyeltsen remained as a student at the monastery for the next twenty years.
Gyeltsen and fifty other Tibetan monks fled to India following the 14th Dalai Lama during the 1959 Tibetan uprising. His group, which included fifty monks, travelled for a month over the Himalaya Mountains. Upon reaching the Indian town of Dalhousie, he completed his Buddhist studies at Gyuto Tantric College. He earned the rank and title of Geshe, which has been described as a "doctorate of Tibetan Buddhism", while living in a refugee camp in West Bengal. Gyeltsen went to England in 1963, where he spent more than a decade educating Tibetan refugee children in Tibetan language, culture, and Buddhist philosophy in the United Kingdom. In 1970, Gyeltsen undid his vows and married Jennifer Humphries. While married, Gyeltsen continued teaching Buddhism. In 1976, his wife gave birth to their only child; a boy they named, Tsewang Gyeltsen.
Gyeltsen immigrated to the United States from the United Kingdom in 1976. Shortly after, he and his wife mutually divorced. Gyeltsen then reinstated his vows as a monk and began teaching Tibetan language, meditation and religious studies as a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara and the University of California, Los Angeles. Gyeltsen founded the Thubten Dhargye Ling Buddhist Center in Los Angeles (later Long Beach) in 1978. Gyeltsen also founded Tibetan Buddhist centers throughout North America, including Texas, Colorado, Alaska, Mexico, the Grass Valley in northern California, as well as Europe.
Gyeltsen hosted the Dalai Lama on visits to Los Angeles on six separate occasions. The most recent visit by the Dalai Lama was in 2006.
He served as a member of the board of directors of the International Campaign for Tibet, an independence group founded by actor Richard Gere. Gyeltsen wrote the books ''Mirror of Wisdom and Compassion: The Key to Great Awakening''.
Geshe Gyeltsen died on February 13, 2009, at his home at the Thubten Dhargye Ling Buddhist center at the age of 85 after a short illness. Gyeltsen cremation ceremony was held in southern India. His relics were then returned to the center. Gyeltsen is survived by a son, Tsewang Gyeltsen of Long Beach; a sister and several nieces and nephews. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geshe_Gyeltsen Source Accessed Jan 29, 2025])
Ngawang Wangyal (Tibetan: ངག་དབང་དབང་རྒྱལ་, Wylie: ''Ngag-dbang Dbang-rgyal''), aka Sogpo (Mongolian) Wangyal, popularly known as "Geshe Wangyal" and "America's first lama," was a Buddhist lama and scholar of Kalmyk origin who was born in the Astrakhan province in southeast Russia sometime in 1901. He developed the code for the CIA that aided the Dalai Lam's escape from Tibet, spearheaded a two decade long undertaking to lift political proscriptions on US visits by the Dalai Lama, opened the first Tibetan Buddhist dharma center in the West, and trained the first generation of Tibetan Buddhist scholars in America. He is considered a "founding figure" of Buddhism in the West.
(Read more [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ngawang_Wangyal here]) +
Professor Geshe Yeshe Thabkhe was born in 1930 in Lhokha, Central Tibet, and became a monk at Drepung Loseling Monastery at the age of thirteen. After completing his studies in 1969, Geshe Thabkhe was awarded the highest academic degree offered in the Geluk school of Tibetan Buddhism. Since 1972, he has served as professor of the Indian tradition of Buddhist philosophy at Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, the only Tibetan university in India. He has also served as a lecturer at the School of Buddhist Philosophy, Leh, Ladakh, and at Sanskrit University in Sarnath. His works include Hindi translations of Tsongkhapa’s ''Essence of Good Explanation of the Definitive and Interpretable'' and Kamalaśīla’s commentary on the ''Rice Seedling Sutra''. He was the primary traditional source for the English translation of Tsongkhapa’s ''Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path''. He is a resident teacher at the Tibetan Buddhist Learning Center in New Jersey and has also taught at Drepung Loseling in Georgia, Jewel Heart in Michigan, and Sravasti Abbey in Washington State. (Source: [https://wisdomexperience.org/content-author/geshe-yeshe-thabkhe/ Wisdom Publications]) +
Geshe Yeshe Tobden was born in 1926 to a family of wealthy farmers in Ngadra, a village one day's walk south of Lhasa, the capital of Tibet, and became a monk at age twelve. After the Chinese invasion of his homeland in 1959, he was arrested, but escaped, and spent two years crossing the Tibetan Plateau on foot until reaching the border with India. He completed his geshe studies in India, and spent several years teaching at the university in Varanasi. When he was forty-four, he told the Dalai Lama of his desire to live out his days in meditation retreat, for, from his boyhood, he had deeply desired the realization of reununciation, bodhichitta, and emptiness. Released from his duties at the university, he made his main residence a one-room hut above McLeod Ganj, the town in India where the Dalai Lama lives. There he lived for the remainder of his life, apart from a few teaching tours abroad, notably to fledgling Buddhist centers in Italy where these teachings were delivered. Geshe Yeshe Tobden passed away in McLeod Ganj in 1999.
(Source: [http://www.wisdompubs.org/author/geshe-yeshe-tobden Wisdom Publications]) +
The first of the Katok Getse (kaH thog dge rtse) incarnations, Gyurme Tsewang Chokdrup, Katok Getse Mahapandita (1761-1829) was an important Nyingma scholar from Katok Monastery who famously wrote a catalogue to the Nyingma Gyübum.
He was born in the Iron Snake year of the thirteenth calendrical cycle (1761) and recognized as an incarnation of Tsewang Trinlé, the nephew of Longsal Nyingpo (1625-1692). His teachers included Dodrupchen Kunzang Shenpen, Ngor Khenchen Palden Chökyong, Changkya Rolpé Dorje and Dzogchenpa Ati Tenpé Gyaltsen. Through his connection with the Derge royal family, he arranged for the printing of the ''Collection of Nyingma Tantras'' (''Nyingma Gyübum'') and the writings of Longchenpa and Jikmé Lingpa, and took responsibility for proofreading. Among his students were the Third Dzogchen Rinpoche and the Third Shechen Rabjam, Rigdzin Paljor Gyatso (1770-1809). ([https://www.rigpawiki.org/index.php?title=Gyurme_Tsewang_Chokdrup Source Accessed Feb 18, 2022])
See also:<br>
*[[Deity, Mantra and Wisdom]]: Development Stage Meditation in Tibetan Buddhist Tantra, translated by the Dharmachakra Translation Committee, Snow Lion, 2007.
**Ronis, Jann M. “Celibacy, Revelations, and Reincarnated Lamas: Contestation and Synthesis in the Growth of Monasticism at Katok Monastery from the 17th through 19th Centuries”. Available from [https://libraetd.lib.virginia.edu/downloads/hq37vp052?filename=1_Ronis_Jann_2009_PHD.pdf the University of Virginia, here].
*Tomoko Makidono, "Kah thog Dge rtse Mahāpaṇḍita’s Doxographical Position: The Great Madhyamaka of Other-Emptiness (gzhan stong dbu ma chen po)" in Indian International Journal of Buddhist Studies (IIJBS) vol. 12 (2011), pp. 77-119
*Tomoko Makidono, "The Turning of the Wheel of Mantrayāna Teachings in the Rnying ma rgyud ’bum dkar chag lha’i rnga bo che by Kaḥ thog Dge rtse Mahāpaṇḍita ’Gyur med tshe dbang mchog grub (149-186)" in IIJBS vol. 13 (2012), pp. 149-186 +
Gharungwa Lhai Gyeltsen (g+ha rung ba lha'i rgyal mtshan) was born at Nyetang (snye thang) in 1319.
At five years of age he received ordination as a novice monk at Kumbumtang (sku 'bum thang) and began studies of the monastic code. For two years he also studied Prajñāpāramitā, epistemology, and Abhidharma. Then he traveled to many different monasteries in U for further studies in the same subjects and others such as the Bodhisattvacaryāvatāra and the Five Treatises of Maitreya. While at the great Karma Kaygu monastery of Tsurpu (mtshur phu), he received the transmission of several tantras from the clairvoyant yogin Tokden Drakseng (rtogs ldan grags seng), who also recognized him as an incarnation of the Indian master Aryadeva.
When he was twenty years old Gharungwa traveled to the Tsang region, where he reached a high level of expertise in the treatises of the vehicle of the perfections, epistemology, Abhidharma, and the monastic code under the teacher Konchok Sangpo (slob dpon dkon bzang, d.u.) at Drakram Monastery (brag ram). He also studied and taught at many other places before arriving at the great monastery of Sakya (sa skya), where he studied the same subjects under the master Jamyang Chokyi Gyeltsen ('jam dbyangs chos kyi rgyal mtshan, d.u.), but also received the Tantra Trilogy of Hevajra and the Bodhisattva Trilogy.
He then studied at Pelteng Monastery (dpal steng dgon) under the master Rinchen Zangpo (rin chen bzang po, d.u.), and next traveled to the Kagyu monastery of Ralung (ra lung dgon), where he received many tantric transmissions such as the initiations of Hevjara in both the Sakya and the Kagyu traditions and the Doha Trilogy of the great Indian adept Saraha. While at Ralung, he heard about Dolpopa Sherab Gyeltsen (dol po pa shes rab rgyal mtshan) and was filled with faith.
When Gharungwa was thirty-two years old he arrived at Jonang Monastery (jo nang dgon) and met Dolpopa. He offered the great master a white conch shell and other gifts and received many initiations such as Kālacakra and Guhyasamāja, and all the guiding instructions such as the six-branch yoga. He gained exceptional experience in meditation, actually beheld Avalokiteśvara and his pure land, and experienced pure visions such as the transformation of himself into a buddha and the light rays of his own body illuminating the entire three worlds. For many years Gharungwa received from Dolpopa a number of profound teachings such as the Bodhisattva Trilogy and the ten sutras of definitive meaning.
Gharungwa also received special transmissions from some of Dolpopa's other major disciples: from Kunpang Chodrak Pelzang (kun spangs chos grags dpal bzang, 1283-1363) he received the Vimalaprabhā commentary on the Kālacakra Tantra seven times, the instructions of the six-branch yoga, Nāropa's commentary on the Sekoddesha, and so forth; from Jonang Lotsāwa Lodro Pel (jo nang lo tsA wa blo gros dpal, 1299-c.1353) he received the Vimalaprabhā and other tantric teachings; from Mati Paṇchen (ma ti paN chen blo gros rgyal mtshan, 1294-1376) he received many teachings such as the Five Treatises of Maitreya and the Lamdre (lam 'bras); from Chokle Namgyel (phyogs las rnam rgyal, 1306-1386) and Nyawon Kunga Pel (nya dbon nun dga' dpal, 1285-1379) he received many transmissions such as the Lamdre in both the Sakya tradition and the Shang tradition, and the Bodhisattva Trilogy.
Gharungwa then ascended to the monastic seat of Gharung Monastery (g+ha rung), where he taught for many years. He was eventually offered the hermitage of Namkha Dzod (nam mkha' mdzod) and took up residence there, teaching the Vimalaprabhā and various other topics.
He passed away in 1401.
Gherardo Gnoli (6 December 1937 in Rome – 7 March 2012 in Cagli) was a historian of Italian religions and Iran expert.
Gherardo Gnoli has been since 1996 the president of the Italian Institute for Africa and the East (IsIAO). He was also the head of the Public Counsel Institute and later the Italian Institute for the Middle and the Far East (ISMEO), which had been founded in 1933 by Giovanni Gentile and Giuseppe Tucci. He headed the Italy-Africa Institute (IIA), which had been founded in 1906 under the name of "Italian Colonial Institute" by Italian explorers, academics and diplomats.
He was a professor of Iranian philosophy at the University of Naples "L'Orientale" (from 1965 to 1993, where he became the chancellor from 1971 to 1978 and the head of religious history of Iran and Central Asia at La Sapienza University of Rome (from 1993 to 2008). In addition he was the president of the same academy from 1979 to 1995. From 1995 until his death, Gherardo Gnoli was also the president of the Italian Society for the History of Religions. ([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gherardo_Gnoli Source Accessed Aug 4, 2023]) +
Associate professor at Università di Napoli Orientale, Naples, Italy +
Dr. Gian Giuseppe Filippi is Professor of lndology and History of Art of lndia, University “Ca’ Foscari”, Venice. Involved, since 1971, in extensive field studies in India, directed specially towards the traditional relations between the shrines and rituals, he is not just one of the discoverers of Drupad Kila (in mid- Ganga plains), but led the multidisciplinary research team, credited with this discovery.
Extensively published, Professor Filippi is President of the Venetian Academy of Indian Studies (VAIS), heads Human Sciences research in the “Kampilya Project”; and is Member of Is.I.A.O., Royal Society of Asian Affairs, Indian Archaeological Society, and Pafichal Research Institute, among several other institutions in Europe and India. ([https://dkprintworld.com/author-book/gian-giuseppe-filippi/ Source Accessed Nov 20, 2023]) +
Rolf W. Giebel was born in Hawera, New Zealand, in 1954. He came to Japan in 1972 and took a B.A. in Japanese at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies in 1977 and an M.A. in Indian Philosophy at the University of Tokyo in 1980. After spending three years on the editorial staff of a publishing company in Tokyo, he returned to the University of Tokyo in 1984 and at present continues his studies while working as a translator. Other of his translations include ''Tibetan Buddhist Art'' (Tokyo: Hakusuisha, 1984), ''An Introduction to the Buddhist Canon'' (Tokyo: Bukkyo Dendo Kyokai, 1984), ''The Alps'' (Tokyo: Gyosei, 1986), and a Japanese translation of ''The Theory and Practice of the Mandala'' by the late Giuseppe Tucci (Tokyo: Hirakawa Shuppansha, 1984). ([https://nirc.nanzan-u.ac.jp/en/files/2018/06/Takasaki-Jikido_An-Introduction-to-Buddhism.pdf Source Accessed July 2, 2020]) +
Peter Gilks completed his PhD in Asian Studies at The Australian National University in 2011. He is now an assistant professor in the Department of Entertainment Management at I-Shou University, Taiwan. His research interests include popular culture, music marketing, language testing and Buddhism. Current research projects in the area of celebrity studies include the role that English-speaking ability plays in shaping the image of Taiwanese celebrities and the impact of the celebrification of Buddhist leaders. ([https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19392397.2015.1088393 Source Accessed July 21, 2020]) +
Tokiwa Gishin began studying Buddhism in 1944, becoming a member of the forerunner of the F.A.S. Society. After graduation he taught English as a second language for students while studying Buddhism. He has translated into English ''Zen and the Fine Arts'' and ''Jueguan-lun'', and into modern Japanese both a work by Hakuin and the ''Lankavatara sutra''. ([https://www.amazon.in/Critical-Sermons-Zen-Tradition-Hisamatsus/dp/0333962710/ref=sr_1_2?dchild=1&qid=1610744821&refinements=p_27%3AGishin+Tokiwa&s=books&sr=1-2 Source Accessed Jan 15, 2021]) +
Gishō Nakano is a professor at Kōyasan University and director of the Research Institute of Esoteric Buddhist Culture on Mt. Kōya. +
Giuseppe Tucci (5 June 1894 – 5 April 1984), was an Italian scholar of oriental cultures, specialising in Tibet and history of Buddhism. He was fluent in several European languages, Sanskrit, Bengali, Pali, Prakrit, Chinese and Tibetan and he taught at the University of Rome La Sapienza until his death. He is considered one of the founders of the field of Buddhist Studies.
Tucci was born to a middle-class family in Macerata, Marche, and thrived academically. He taught himself Hebrew, Chinese and Sanskrit before even going to university and in 1911, aged only 18, he published a collection of Latin epigraphs in the prestigious Review of the Germanic Archaeological Institute. He completed his studies at the University of Rome in 1919, where his studies were repeatedly interrupted as a result of World War I.
After graduating, he traveled to India and settled down at the Visva-Bharati University, founded by the Bengali poet and Nobel Laureate, Rabindranath Tagore. There he studied Buddhism, Tibetan and Bengali, and also taught Italian and Chinese. He also studied and taught at Dhaka University, the University of Benares and Calcutta University. He remained in India until 1931, when he returned to Italy. ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giuseppe_Tucci Source Accessed April 14, 2020]) +
