Geshe Thupten Dorjee
Ven. Geshe Thupten Dorjee, born Sonam Peldan in Tibet in 1959, left with his parents to exile in Bhutan where they lived for 9 years in poverty after leaving Tibet. He with other exiled Tibetans helped reestablish a Tibetan settlement in Bhutan in the 1960s and became a monk at age 11 at the Monastery in Bhutan. He learned to read and write in Tibetan with very little resources. Inspired by Tibetan monks visiting from India, he went to India to study Buddhist Philosophy in 1973. He continued his study of Tibetan Buddhist Philosophy while serving as the head of the department of agriculture for 4 years at the Drepung Loseling Monastery University in South India. He helped to reestablish Tibetan heritage at Drepung Loseling by teaching young monks Buddhist Philosophy, as well as Tibetan reading, writing, and literature. His 30 years of studies culminated in the advanced Geshe Lharampa Degree, the same degree held by H.H. The 14th Dalai Lama. After earning the highest degree awarded in the Gelugpa University, Geshe-La continued his education at the prestigious Gyuto Tantric Monastery University, where after another 3 years of training and becoming a Lieutenant Vice Abbot Disciplinarian at the monastery, he received a Geshe Ngarampa Degree, a degree held by few in all of North America.
For the next several years, Geshe-La toured throughout the world with the Mystical Arts of Tibet monks from Drepung Loseling Monastery, India to spread awareness of Tibetan culture and raise funds for the monks studying at the monastery.
Since 1997 in the USA, Geshe-la continued his western academic studies of the English language at Springhill College in Mobile, Alabama. He began setting up Dharma centers in North America, such as Fairhope Tibetan Society in Alabama, Tibetan Cultural Institute in Arkansas and Thupten Cholling Dharma Center in Utah, and has taught and lectured at various universities, such as USSU (Utah), UNI (Iowa), and other public venues in the USA, Canada, and other countries.
Geshe-la is currently a Clinical Assistant Professor at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. There his popularity among the students and recognition by his peers has earned him the Outstanding Faculty Award, the Teacher of the Year, and, more recently, the John A. White Award for Faculty-Student Collaboration for work on the TEXT Project. TEXT is an ongoing program where select students and faculty from the University travel to India to record and preserve the rich living tradition of elder Tibetans living in exile. He has taught philosophy and humanities courses for 15 years at the University of Arkansas, while also lecturing at the Tyson Center for Faith and Spirituality in the Workplace, the Pat Walker Health Center, Human Resources, Osher Lifelong Learning Institute and has presented many programs at local K-12 public schools. He has received an award for mentoring students at the University of Arkansas.
Geshe-la also teaches meditation to inmates at the Northwest Arkansas Women’s Correction Center, and counseled inmates on death row in many other institutions in other states and countries. He is the co-founder of the Tibetans in Exile Today (TEXT) program at the University of Arkansas. Also, he founded the Tibetan Cultural Institute of Arkansas, where he teaches weekly and is building the first Stupa (religious monument of enlightenment) in Arkansas at the Institute’s Retreat center (Land of Infinite Bliss) at a remote location in the Ozarks.
In 2011, Geshe-la was instrumental in inviting H.H the 14th Dalai Lama to the University of Arkansas to speak on Peace and Diversity, an event which impacted thousands of people’s lives in NWA. His other community outreach in NWA includes organizing Sand Mandala presentations, inviting monks and others to collaborate and lecture at the U of A, as well as in the NWA community.
Geshe la also responsible for the development and support of the Tibetan Alliance of Chicago for the education of Tibetan children in their cultural heritage and for the Tibetan Cultural Institute of Arkansas’ Tutors for Tibetans Project for Tibetan in Mondego, India.
Geshe-la has been selected by Fulbright College Dean William Schwab to receive the Omni Center for Peace, Justice, and Ecology Faculty Award. The award was established in 2009 by Dr. James R. Bennett. He established the award to recognize exceptional research, teaching, and service by faculty who promote a culture of peace and the study of nonviolence in accordance with the insights of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Senator J. William Fulbright.
Geshe-la has been teaching 9-12 classes on Zoom per week during the COVID-19 pandemic.