Ngawang Samten

Ngawang Samten is a Tibetan educationist, Tibetologist and the vice chancellor of the Central University for Tibetan Studies. Besides editing publications such as Abhidhammathasamgaho, Pindikrita, Pancakrama and Manjusri, he is the co-translator of Je Tsongkhapa's commentary on Nagarjuna’s Mūlamadhyamakakārikā. The Government of India awarded him the fourth highest civilian honour of the Padma Shri, in 2009, for his contributions to Education.

Biography Ngawang Samten was born in the Central Tibetan town of Dokhar on 7 July 1956 but grew up in India since the age of three when his parents migrated to there in the wake of the 1959 Tibetan uprising. His early schooling was at Chandragiri, in Odisha, after which he did higher education at the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies, (the present day Central University for Tibetan Studies CUTS), from where he passed the Shastri and Acharya grades. He also pursued his monastic education at Ganden Shartse Monastery, Mundgod, Karnataka, and secured the Geshe degrees of Dhorampa and Lharampa, the latter one, a doctoral degree equivalent to a PhD.

Later, Samten became the director of the Research and Publications Division of CUTS before being appointed as the vice chancellor of the institution. His efforts have been known to have assisted many universities in designing their curricula in Buddhist Studies and have helped in popularizing the topic in India. and participating in seminars, conferences and workshops on Tibetan Buddhism. He also serves as the Principal Teacher at Vajrayana Institute, New South Wales. In 2009, he received the civilian honour of the Padma Shri from the Government of India for his contributions to Education.