The revered tantric scholar Gyudmed Ngarampa Venerable Thupten Dorje, known to students and disciples as Lama Gyupa la, has died in southern India following a period of poor health. He was 91 years old.

The most senior monk of Gyudmed Tantric Monastery, Ven. Thupten Dorje served for decades as a spiritual guide at Tushita Meditation Centre in northern India.

“Lama Gyupa la passed away peacefully on 11 March 2026 and remained in thukdam for one week, where Gen la’s holy body remained fresh even in the heat of South India,” Tushita Meditation Centre shared in a social media post on 27 April. “When it was clear that Gen la had ended his meditation, the cremation took place the next day on 18 March 2026.”

Tushita Meditation Centre is located near McLeod Ganj, the seat-in-exile of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Himachal Pradesh, northern India. Tushita was established in 1972 by the renowned Tibetan teacher Lama Thubten Yeshe (1935–1984), who also co-founded Kopan Monastery and the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT).

A public statement shared by Gyudmed Tantric University noted that Ven. Thupten Dorje had passed peacefully without any signs of illness or pain at 10:47 a.m. on the 23rd day of the first Tibetan month in the Tibetan year 2153, corresponding to 11 March.

The statement also confirmed that during Ven. Thupten Dorje’s period of thukdam—a state of profound meditation that occurs after clinical death—his body showed no signs of decay and retained its complexion.

“Such signs were observed, and it was believed that he was abiding in thukdam [post-meditative absorption],” the statement continued. “Many devotees and followers came to pay their respects, and their faith and devotion increased greatly.” (FPMT)

Gyudmed Tantric Monastery is one of the foremost Gelug tantric monasteries, founded in Tibet in 1433 by a disciple of Je Tsongkhapa (1357–1419, founder of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism). Re-established in South India after exile in 1959, Gyudmed is renowned for preserving the ritual and contemplative traditions of Gelug tantra and has trained generations of monks in Tibetan Buddhist liturgy and practice.

Ven. Thupten Dorje was born in Markam in the Chamdo region of eastern Tibet, in 1936—a year after the birth of His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. He entered monastic life at nine years old at Ozer Monastery in Markam. At the age of 19, he went to Lhasa and joined Gyudmed Tantric University, where he studied the major tantric texts and ritual practices. 

In 1959, after the Chinese takeover of Tibet, Ven. Thupten Dorje crossed the Himalayas with around 40 other refugees, who walked for several months until they finally arrived in Bhutan. Ven. Thupten Dorje continued onward to India, arriving at the age of 23.

He spent the first two decades of his exile at Gyudmed Tantric Monastery, residing at its branches in Dalhousie and later Hunsur in South India. In 1978, wishing to deepen his contemplative life, Ven. Thupten Dorje traveled to Dharamsala, where he met Lama Thubten Yeshe. The two developed a profound spiritual connection.

Lama Yeshe offered him a hermitage at Tushita Meditation Centre, where he undertook four years of solitary retreat. At the conclusion of the retreat, Lama Yeshe invited him to remain at Tushita to care for the shrine room and lama’s quarters, and to guide the centre’s non-Tibetan practitioners in traditional aspects of Tibetan Buddhist practice. Before his passing in 1984, Lama Yeshe instructed Lama Zopa Rinpoche to keep Ven. Thupten Dorje close through the decades that followed. Ven. Thupten Dorje said of Lama Zopa: “Very kind, shows me protection, much consideration.” (Tushita Meditation Centre)

Ven. Thupten Dorje became a beloved and steadying presence at Tushita. When asked in his later years what Lama Yeshe would make of Tushita today, Ven. Thupten Dorje replied: “Lama Yeshe would be very happy to see how much work is being done to benefit so many sentient beings—very happy.” (Tushita Meditation Centre)

In a memorial essay published on its website, Tushita Meditation Centre emphasized: “Those who had the great honor to meet Lama Gyupa la were always impressed by [his] deep humility and humble demeanor, Gen la’s sincerity, palpable warmth and compassion. Lama Gyupa la was a perfect example of that old generation escaping from Tibet, being a wholehearted Dharma practitioner, content with a very simple lifestyle and only focusing on benefiting others.” (Tushita Meditation Centre)

See more

Gyudmed Ngarampa Venerable Thupten Dorje (Lama Gyupa la) 1936 – 2026 (Tushita Meditation Centre)
A Lifetime of Service and Practice: Gyudmed Ngarampa Venerable Thupten Dorje (Lama Gyupa la) (FPMT)

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