Lobsang Tenzin Geshe Wangdak, Khensur Rinpoche, was born in 1934 in the Kham province in Tibet. At age ten he entered Ba Zingon Monastery there.  At 18, Rinpoche journeyed to central Tibet and joined  the Loseling College at Drepung Monastery near Lhasa, where he  studied until 1959. In 1960, after fleeing to India, he resumed his studies at Buxa, where a temporary monastery was established. In 1970, he moved to the newly relocated Drepung Monastic University in Mundgod, south India.  After two years of intensive study and practice he moved to Sarnath, studying there until 1977. Rinpoche returned to Drepung to take his Geshe exams, and his scholastic achievement eaned him the Geshe Lharampa degree.

Soon after completing his Geshe exams, he was invited to teach at Namgyal Monastery in Dharamsala, India, where he was senior teacher for 14 years, teaching both sutra and tantra.  While at Namgyal, Rinpoche received initiations and teachings of tantric practices if all four traditions of Tibetan Buddhism.  In 1991, he was appointed Abbot of the monastery by H.H. the Dalai Lama, a position he held until 1994. In 1995, His Holiness appointed Khensur Rinpoche Abbot and Senior Resident Teacher at Namgyal Monastery in Ithaca, NY.  He retired from Ithaca in 1998, and now resides at the Chenrezig Tibetan Buddhist Center in Middletown, Connecticut.

Besides his studies in the core curriculum under his tutor at Drepung,
Pema Jetsun, Khensur Rinpoche received tantric initiations from H.H. the Dalai Lama; from His Holiness' two tutors, Ling Rinpoche and Trijang Rinpoche; and other esteemed scholars including Zong Rinpoche.

Slowly Drepung Loseling was being rebuilt in South India. Helping with that project he eventually moved into Drepung Loseling in South India Mundgod. After 32 years of rigorous study of the five philosophical subjects he earned the degree of Geshe Lharampa. 
After receiving his Geshe degree he stayed one year in the Gyume tantric monastery. From 1989 – 1991 he served as the discipline master for Drepung Loseling. Geshe La has a large number of students in Drepung Loseling. He teaches all of the five subjects; Praminavartika karika, Abisamayalamkara, Madyamaka avatara, Vinaya Sutra, and Abidharmakhosha.

He is currently one of the resident teachers at The Chenrezig Tibetan Buddhist Center in Middletown Connecticut.