Geshe Gyalten

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(Geshe) Gyalten
Error creating thumbnail: Geshe Gyalten Kunga, founder and Spiritual Director of Awakening Vajra International
Title	Geshe
Other names	Tseten Gelek
Personal
Born	27th of June, 1966 Bomdhila, then moved to Lhasa
Religion	Tibetan Buddhism
Nationality	Tibetan
School	Gelug
Lineage	Gelug
Education	Sera monastery (Sera Jé)
Other names	Tseten Gelek
Dharma names	(Geshe) Gyalten Kunga (Tibetan: དགེ་བཤེས་རྒྱལ་བསྟན་ཀུན་དགའ, Wylie: (dge bshes) rgyal-bstan kun-dga')
Senior posting
Teacher	Kyabje Choden Rinpoche
Based in	Bylakuppe, India
Website	https://www.awakeningvajrainternational.org and https://www.chodenrinpoche.com

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Geshe Gyalten Kunga (Tibetan: དགེ་བཤེས་རྒྱལ་བསྟན་ཀུན་དགའ, Wylie: dge-bshes rgyal-bstan kun-dga), founder and spiritual director of Awakening Vajra International, was born as Tseten Gelek on June 27th, 1966 in Bomdhila, moving to Lhasa during his infancy. His grandmother, his mother Yangka, and Tenpa Tsering, his father, were long-standing devotees of H.E. Kyabje Choden Rinpoche, serving His Eminence during the latter's solitary retreat of 19 years. Geshe Gyalten recounts. that successfully consulting H.E. Kyabje Choden Rinpoche with regards to a serious skin condition Tseten Gelek developed at the age of six was pivotal in the forming of a personal relationship between himself and H.E. Kyabje Choden Rinpoche. It is at this time that the wish to enter the ordained life had taken root in the young Tseten Gelek.

Geshe Gyalten recounts that he used to accompany his father on trans-Himalayan trading trips that consisted of mercantile activity between Nepal, China, Tibet, and India. Geshe Gyalten has one brother who is overseeing the running of his father's business.

Early Education

Tseten Gelek enrolled in Wue Tung Primary School in Lhasa, Tibet, in 1976, which he attended for 5 years during which period he learnt Chinese and followed the curriculum of modern education, excelling at oratory, outdoor activities, and the sciences. In 1981, he entered San Tung Secondary School (="Third" Secondary School) in continuation of his secular education. In 1985, Tseten Gelek left for India for purposes of furthering his study, following the advice of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama by enrolling at Upper TCV School in Dharamsala by dint of the advice of where he was intricately and proactively involved with curricular, extra-curricular, and administrative academic activities. Geshe Gyalten's web-presence attests to the fact that Tseten Gelek "was well known as a fine orator and debater among his Tibetan peers in India at this time."

Monastic Education

Upon completion of his secular education in 1990, Tseten Gelek joined the Buddhist monastic order under the direct and close tutelage of H.E. Kyabje Choden Rinpoche, being given the monastic name of venerable Gyalten Kunga. Assiduously serving H. E. Kyabje Choden Rinpoche for the entirety of the course of his Geshe studies at Sera Jey monastery, India, he became both Kyabje Choden Rinpoche's personal secretary and primary student. Geshe Gyalten completed the entirety of the classical monastic curriculum, centered on the "Five Great Classical Treaties of Buddhist Philosophy: the Perfection of Wisdom, Middle Way, Logic and Reason, Treasure of Knowledge [=Metaphysics] and Vinaya (monastic discipline)" as well as extra-curricular instructions on Lam Rim, Mind training, [Traditional Tibetan] Medicine, ... Buddhist Tantra ... and yoga."

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Geshe Gyalten Kunga, teaching in Berlin, Germany, August 2018

Assisting and Travelling with H.E. Kyabje Choden Rinpoche

Having successfully completed his Geshe studies, Geshe Gyalten proceeded to travel with H. E. Kyabje Choden Rinpoche in the capacity of his personal assistant, supporting the activities of His Eminence also by offering revision lessons and ancillary teachings since 1995. Having been mostly active in the South Asian continent until that point in time, H. E. Kyabje Choden Rinpoche was invited to come and teach in Italy in 1997, to which convention Geshe Gyalten accompanied His Eminence. This resulted in a plethora of subsequent invitations to teach Buddhist meditation practice and philosophy, which H. E. Kyabje Choden Rinpoche untiringly accepted. In support of his master, Geshe Gyalten travelled alongside His Eminence, taking on supportive duties in the administrative, communication-related and didactic domains. As a corollary, Geshe Gyalten eventually became proficient in Italian, alongside his native Tibetan, Chinese, and advanced English and Hindi skills. These teaching activities lasted well into the late 2015, with His Eminence and Geshe Gyalten visiting every continent of the world in the service of imparting Buddhist meditation practice to practitioners world-wide over the course of over two decades.

Establishing Awakening Vajra International

In order to preserve the legacy of his master, H. E. Kyabje Choden Rinpoche, Geshe Gyalten, upon consultation of his teacher, founded Awakening Vajra International in 2010. The institution's headquarters is based at Ananada Dharma Center, in San José, California USA and has been founded in order "to fulfil the great vision of His Eminence Chöden Rinpoché to bring benefits to sentient beings through five branches of study and practice...:

• Buddhist Philosophy and Meditation
• Astrology
• Linguistics
• Medical Healing
• Art/Crafts and Sculptures"

In support of the realization of these aims, Geshe Gyalten has authored the book "Immovable, Like a Mountain: The Mind of Calm Abiding" (Awakening Vajra Publications: 2013).

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Book cover of Geshe Gyalten's book "Immovable, like a mountain" (Awakening Vajra Publications: 2013)

Geshe Gyalten is the spiritual director of Awakening Vajra International

Search for H.E. Kyabje Choden Rinpoche's reincarnation

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Geshe Gyalten at Chöden Ladrang, Sera Jé Monastery, India

The search group of senior students of His Eminence, amongst whom Geshe Gyalten played a leading part, have successfully identified Tenzin Gyalten as the reincarnation of H.E. Kyabje Choden Rinpoche, resulting in the confirmation and sanction by His Holiness the fourteenth Dalai Lama

Current Activities

According to Geshe Gyalten's web-presence, "Geshe Gyalten met with His Holiness the Dalai Lama, asking for his advice about continuing Rinpoche's projects, such as" the direction of "Awakening Vajra and many related activities including publishing, advancing the Five Branches of Study and many other activities envisioned by [H.E. Chöden] Rinpoche". Geshe Gyalten currently divides his time between his administrative responsibilities, his teaching activity of Buddhist philosophy and practice as imparted by H. E. Kyabje Choden Rinpoche, consultation in matters traditional Tibetan medicine, and contemplative practice. Geshe Gyalten has been entrusted with the abbottship of Lama Gaun Tashi Rabten Monastery in Dakshinkali, Nepal and is overseeing the construction, administration and educational programs there .

References

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