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BIODATA: Ven. Geshe Thupten Phelgye Tibetan Parliament In-Exile A.T.P.D. Member Dharmasala-176215 (HP) INDIA
BIO-DATA ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS: Born in Yufuk near the River Yuchu of Tsa-Pasho Kham region, (presently Riwoche District) in Tibet in 1956, Geshe Phelgye, then Dorjee Thinley, fled to India with his family in 1959, when he was only three years old. His journey to safety in India took more than two years, due to the Chinese invasion of Tibet. He had schooling from the SFF school of U.P.
Thupten Phelgye became a monk at the age of seventeen. He completed the vigorous eighteen year course of traditional studies in Buddhist Philosophy that earned him the title Geshe (Ph.D) from Sera Monastic University in 1991. He then went on to do further advanced studies in Buddhist Tantric tradition at Gyumeh Monastery. There, after a private audience with H.H. the Dalai Lama in 1993, Geshe Phelgye began a strenuous five year meditation retreat in the mountains.
EXPERIENCE: From the time of being a student in the monastery, Geshela has dedicated his life to serving poor and sick people. He has served the monastery as a teacher at its Higher Secondary School for five years beginning in 1978. He also practiced medical training and worked as Chief Health Worker in its dispensary for three years beginning in 1981. He has successfully treated hundreds of T.B. patients when the community was seriously suffering from Tuberculosis. He has been an active freedom fighter, organizing and participating in various acts for the cause of country. He has been teaching Dharma within the monastery and abroad, advocating vegetarianism and compassion since 1985 when he saw the cruelty of a slaughterhouse. In the year 1998, Geshela formed an organization called Universal Compassion Movement, with the blessing and encouragement of H.H. the Dalai Lama, he began publicly advocating vegetarianism and compassion for animals.
In the year 1999, Geshe Phelgye was elected the first president of the International Gelug Society and passed a Resolution on Vegetarian Diet in Gelug Monasteries and Nunneries. In the year 2001, Geshe Phelgye has been elected as a Member of the Tibetan Parliament-in-Exile representing the Gelug Sect. of Tibetan Buddhism. In 2003 he brought up a bill in the Parliament to encourage vegetarianism in the Tibetan Community, which was successfully passed in the house. Over the years, Geshe Phelgye has been tirelessy giving talks and teachings around the world advocating Universal Compassion. He has been traveling to countries like India, Nepal, Japan, Switzerland, France, Taiwan, Israel, Canada and the USA. In April 2004, he gave talks and teachings throughout the United States at Wheaton College, Harvard University, Amherst University. |
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