A Brief Biography of
Venerable (Dr) Geshe Thupten Phelgye,
Member of Tibetan Parliament in Exile

Venerable Geshe Thupten Phelgye was born in 1956 and had schooling at C.S.T. Changlang and S.F.F. School Dehradun. He became a monk in 1973 at Seraje College of Sera Monastic University and finished his Geshe degree (Ph. D.) in 1991. During eighteen years of Geshe studies, he served the monastery for free as a teacher for five years and as the chief health worker for three years. He was elected as a member of the managing directors of the Monastic University for three years. In addition, he has been helping sick and dying people in need, encouraging others to engage in universal compassion and promoting vegetarianism from within the monastery since 1984.

After his Geshe studies, he did the Buddhist Vajrayana studies at Gyume Monastic College in 1992 and from 1993 to 1997 did five years of meditation retreat in the mountains of Dharamsala under the guidance of HH the Dalai Lama. In 1997, after a blessing audience with HH the Dalai Lama, he founded the Universal Compassion Movement and openly advocated for vegetarianism around the world. In 1999 he was elected as the first President of International Gelug Society and passed a resolution on vegetarian diet in Gelug Monasteries and Nunneries.

In the year 2001 he was elected as a member of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile to represent the Gelug tradition of Buddhism. He has been re-elected to the Parliament again in 2006 and is currently working in the standing committee. In 2003 he brought up a historic bill in the Parliament to encourage vegetarianism in Tibetan communities for compassionate living and for the long life of HH the Dalai Lama which was successfully passed in the House.

Over the years, he has been tirelessly giving talks and teachings around the world advocating vegetarianism and universal compassion for world peace. He has been working as Tibetan Buddhist Ambassador to Sulha Peace Project in the Middle-East for the last four years and doing interfaith dialogues. He has traveled to many countries, including India, Nepal, Japan, Switzerland, France, Taiwan, Israel, Canada and the United States, interacting with televeision, radio and printed media. In the U.S. he has spoken at universities such as Harvard, Wheaton College, Amherst University, Naropa University, University of San Francisco, University of California Santa Barbara, UCSB Hillel College, Seton Cove Austin TX and many Buddhist Centers.