Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche was born in the province of Amdo – eastern Tibet – in 1926, and at age six was recognized as the reincarnation of the former abbot of the Kirti Gompa. At the age of nine, He was ordained as a monk. Rinpoche received teachings from many high Lamas of the Tibetan Buddhist tradition.

Lama Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche is one of the holders of the tantra of Kalachakra lineage, having received that empowerment when he was 14 years old. At the age of 32 and having completed his monastic studies he was appointed as the Abbot of Kirti.

After escaping from Tíbet in 1959, Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche taught Tibetan orphans at the Tibetan Children's Village, Dharamsala, India. At the age of 45 he began a fifteen-year meditation retreat in a small stone hermitage above Dharamsala, "big enough for a bed, prostrations, and a stove". He spent seven years in meditation on Lam Rim, three years on "Seven Point Thought Transformation", and some generation and completion stage tantra. Two years were spent only on generation and completion stages and in the final 3 years, Rinpoche repeated all of the above.

Rinpoche has given Kalachakra commentary to His Holiness the Dalai Lama and is a teacher of Lama Zopa Rinpoche. Lama Zopa Rinpoche has said of Kirti Tsenshab Rinpoche, "He is a great Kadampa master who shows real Kadampa Tradition...so completely renounced. There's not one slightest worldy activity, not the slightest eight world dharmas, no self cherishing thought. Even talking, everything is as much as possible pleasing to sentient being's minds."

Rinpoche has been giving teachings around the world in many countries included: Australia, Germany, Holland, Hong Kong, Italy, New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, and the United States.

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