Lhasang Tsering

Lhasang Tsering (; 1952 – 11 June 2026) was a Tibetan poet, writer and activist. He was President of the Tibetan Youth Congress and a founding director of Amnye Machen Institute in Dharamsala, India.

Early life Lhasang Tsering was born in 1952 in Labrang Kosa in the region of Ngari, Western Tibet. His father, a tantric lama from Riwoche Monastery in East Tibet met the future mother of Lhasang Tsering, Jhanjup, a young maid from the Tara aristocrat family in Gyantse His father passed away on pilgrimage at Rewalsar, a lake in Himachal Pradesh linked with Padmasambhava. The other members of the family joined other Tibetan refugees on road labour camp in Manali. Later, in 1972, he received an opportunity to attend Johns Hopkins School of Medicine in the United States, instead, he declined the opportunity and decided to join the Tibetan resistance force based in Mustang, Nepal.

Career After completing his school in 1972 he joined the Tibetan resistance forces based in Mustang, Western Nepal. However, the Mustang base camp was closed in 1974 and he had to return to Dharamsala after two years, where he worked briefly at the Tibetan office of Research and Analysis (TORA) headed by Lodi Gyari While working at the Information Office, he helped develop the Narthang publications project, planned the computerization of the Tibetan language, and a new font for printing Tibetan. . When protests for independence arised in Lhasa in December 1988, and in March 1989, he organized hunger strikes in New Delhi and elsewhere in India

Amnye Machen Institute In 1992, Tashi Tsering, Pema Bhum, Jamyang Norbu and Lhasang Tsering founded the Amnye Machen Institute (AMI, Tibetan Centre for Advanced Studies). The institute aimed at promoting an international and secular culture within traditional Tibetan society. Tsering worked as its director as a full-time volunteer at the institute, helping with translation, editing, general administration, and fund-raising. Lhasang Tsering managed to invite the philanthropist George Soros to MacLeod Ganj to meet the directors of AMI.

Bookstore Tsering opened Bookworm, the first bookstore in McLeod Ganj, Himachal Pradesh, India, seeking to promote and enhance the reading culture in the Tibetan exile capital.

Writing After retiring from the Amnye Machen Institute in 1999, he devoted more time in writing, researching, and talking to students and journalists about Tibet. He also wrote articles, some of which are published on his page at TibetWrites.

Death Tsering died on 11 June 2026, at Jampa Ling Old Age Home in Dharamsala

Books Tomorrow and Other Poems Ocean of Melody Hold On and other Verses.