Venerable Geshe Tenzin Namdak was born in 1970 in the Netherlands and studied water management at the van Hall Larenstein University in his youth.

 

His Buddhist studies began in 1993 at the Maitreya Institute, and he was ordained as a monk by His Holiness the Dalai Lama before starting his official studies at the Sera Je Monastic University in South India in 1997. He completed the full 20-year Geshe study in 2017, becoming the first Westerner to do so, and the first Dutch person to receive a Geshe title.

 

In addition to his studies, he held many leadership roles, including founding the Sera Je Translators Training and co-founding CKSL (an FPMT center in Bangalore where he also taught) and a house for Western monks at Sera Je. Since 2019, he has been the resident teacher at Jamyang in London, but can occasionally visit us.

 

Geshe Namdak is an experienced teacher in both the practical and philosophical aspects of Buddhism, and he teaches with great clarity and humor.