President of the Tibetan Parliament in Exile.

Member of the Preparatory Commission for the charter of the Tibetans in Exile and the Future Constitution of Tibet.

Rector of the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies.

SHORT BIOGRAPHY

Professor Samdhong Rinpoche was born in 1939 in Tibet, in Nagdug, a village in the province Kham. He has accomplished all steps of the monastic ordination and has the title of Bhiktshu Mahathero.

He started his monastic studies in Tibet in 1951 at the University of Drepung and continued them, after the Chinese occupation of Tibet, at the new monastic university of Drepung, which was re-established in India. In 1970, he obtained the highest degree of "geshe", or doctor in Buddhist sciences, in the monastery of Gyuto, which was also re-established in India, in Dalhousie.

Since 1961, Professor Samdhong Rinpoche, eminent scholar, has had important functions in different Tibetan schools: Simla, Darjeeling and Dalhousie. In 1971, he was appointed Director of the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies in Vanarasi in India, where he is Rector since 1988.

Since 1994, he has been part of various academic and administrative councils at several Indian Universities.

At the same time, he was in charge of these university functions, Professor Samdhong Rinpoche was also, from 1970 to 1973, vice-President of the Congress of Tibetan Youth. Presently he assumes different administrative tasks in request of the Tibetan Government-in-exile and the Indian government:

By appointment of His Holiness the Dalaï Lama, he is:

1. Member of the Central Tibetan Schools' Administration (CTSA) in New Delhi.

2. Deputy chairman of the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives (LTWA) in Dharamsala.

By appointment of the Indian government, he is:

3. Member of the executive board of the Indian Council for Philosophical Research (ICPR).

4. Member of the executive board of the Asiatic Society, Calcutta.

In the meantime, Professor Samdhong Rinpoche is:

5. Member of the executive board of the Krishnamurti Foundation in India.

6. Counselor at the World Peace University, USA.

7. Counselor at the Institution for Asian Democracy in New York.

8. Member of the executive board of the Foundation for Universal Responsibility, New Delhi.

Moreover, Professor Samdhong Rinpoche is responsible for the entire publications at the Central Institute for Higher Tibetan Studies. He has published over sixty articles and interviews in different university publications and in the press.

Professor Samdhong Rinpoche is fluent in: Tibetan, English, Hindi, and Sanskrit.

Address: Chairman, Assembly of Tibetan People's Deputies

P.O. DHARAMSALA - 176215 Dist. Kangra, H.P. INDIA