At the age of eight, Khenpo Thubten Tharchin entered the monastic life at Thekchok Loseling, a monastery near his boyhood home in the nomadic region of Nagchuka, Tibet. Like the other monks, he began his studies by memorizing the monastery’s ritual corpus. Before long, he developed a keen interest in Buddhist philosophy but found himself at a loss, for qualified teachers were few and far between in the years following the Cultural Revolution. Not to be discouraged, he read through the basic texts of the traditional curriculum on his own before moving to Dzogchen Monastery in 1986. There, he received his full monastic vows and joined the famous Singha Shri College. In 1989, he left Tibet and, after a short period in south India, took up residence at Mindroling Monastery outside of Dehra Dun. Since completing his studies with honors in 2006, he has gained a reputation for being a firm but kind teacher. Our monks are fortunate Mindroling Monastery appointed such a learned and esteemed teacher to oversee their education.