Gyaltsen, Tenpa

Gyaltsen, Tenpa on the DRL

Tibetan Buddhist Teachers • Translators • Tsadra Fellows and Grantees • Professors

བསྟན་པ་རྒྱལ་མཚན་

Wylie	bstan pa rgyal mtshan
English Phonetics	Acharya Lama Tenpa Gyaltsen
Sort Name	Gyaltsen, Lama Tenpa

Alternate names

• Āchārya Lama Tenpa Gyaltsen
• Lama Tenpa Gyaltsen
• Lama Denba Gyaltsen

Tibetan calendar dates

Dates of birth

Day
Month
Gender
Element
Animal
Rab Jyung

Dates of passing

Day
Month
Gender
Element
Animal
Rab Jyung

About

Primary Language:	Tibetan; Nepali; English; German

Primary Affiliation (Workplace)

Naropa University

Secondary Affiliation

Nītārtha Institute

Religious Affiliation

Karma Kagyu

Teachers

Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche · Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche

PhD University

Karma Shri Nalanda Institute

Education

Karma Shri Nalanda Institute at Rumtek Monastery, Sikkim, India, graduating as Acharya with honors.

Biographical Information

Acharya Lama Tenpa Gyaltsen is core faculty at Nitartha Institute and recently retired from Naropa University.

Lama Tenpa Gyaltsen was born in Trakar, Nepal, near the Tibetan border. He completed 10 years of traditional scholastic training at Karma Shri Nalanda Institute at Rumtek Monastery, Sikkim, India, graduating as acharya with honours (graduated in the same class as Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche). This was followed by traditional yogic training in the first three-year retreat to be conducted at Jamgon Kongtrul Rinpoche's monastery in Pullahari, Nepal.

Following the advice of Khenpo Tsultrim Gyamtso Rinpoche, Lama Tenpa taught at various Kagyu centers in Europe (Teksum Tashi Choling in Hamburg, Germany), at Nitartha, and centers in Canada. In 2004 he moved to Boulder, CO and began teaching at Naropa University. He retired from Naropa in 2020.

Learn more about Lama Tenpa Gyaltsen on the Nitartha faculty page and at Nalandabodhi.

Links

Wiki Pages

• Gyaltsen, Tenpa on the DRL
• Gyaltsen, Tenpa on the LIB
• Gyaltsen, Tenpa on the BNW

Buddha Nature Project

Person description or short bio

Expand to see this person's philosophical positions on Buddha-nature.

Is Buddha-nature considered definitive or provisional?
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All beings have Buddha-nature
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If "Qualified", explain:
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Which Wheel Turning
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Yogācāra vs Madhyamaka
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Zhentong vs Rangtong
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Promotes how many vehicles?
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Analytic vs Meditative Tradition
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What is Buddha-nature?
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Svātantrika (རང་རྒྱུད་) vs Prāsaṅgika (ཐལ་འགྱུར་པ་)
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Causal nature of the vajrapāda
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The Kagyu school traces its origin to the eleventh-century translator Marpa, who studied in India with Nāropa. Marpa's student Milarepa trained Gampopa, who founded the first monastery of the Kagyu order. As many as twelve subtraditions grew out from there, the best known being the Karma Kagyu, the Drikung, and the Drukpa.

Refers to something that is taught for a specific reason, rather than because it is entirely true.

Along with Madhyamaka, it was one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Asaṅga and Vasubandhu around the fourth century CE, many of its central tenets have roots in the Saṃdhinirmocanasūtra and the so-called third turning of the dharma wheel (see tridharmacakrapravartana).

Along with Yogācāra, it is one of the two major philosophical schools of Mahāyāna Buddhism. Founded by Nāgārjuna around the second century CE, it is rooted in the Prajñāpāramitā Sūtras, though its initial exposition was presented in Nāgārjuna's Mūlamadhyamakakārikā.

The state of being devoid of that which is wholly different rather than being void of its own nature. The term is generally used to refer to the ultimate, or buddha-nature, being empty of other phenomena such as adventitious defiling emotions but not empty of its true nature.

The state of being empty of self, which references the lack of inherent existence in relative phenomena.

Tsen Khawoche's "meditative tradition" of exegesis of the Uttaratantra; it is one of two major Tibetan traditions of exegesis, both stemming from students of Sajjana.