XII Kenting Tai Situpa

The current XII Kenting Tai Situpa was born in 1954 in the Palyul district of Derge (Tibet) into a nomadic family of farmers. The XVI Gyalwa Karmapa recognized his reincarnation at 18 months and was enthroned shortly thereafter in his Palpung monastery in Tibet.

At age 6, he abandoned Tibet because of political conditions and settled with H.H. the XVI Karmapa in the Rumtek Monastery, Sikkim, (India). During his formative years, he studied and practiced with renowned teachers in exile.
In 1976, at age 23, he founded a new monastery, Palpung Sherab Ling in Himachal Pradesh, India, which today is an important spiritual center (palpung.org).

Since the 1980s, he’s travelled the world visiting many Western centers and Southeast Asia, giving teachings and initiations that the centers requested, and from 2004 to the present, he gives the Mahamudra transmission in a multi-year progressive format in India.

In 1984, he founded the Maitreya Institute for inter-religious dialogue. Since 1989, he has participated in different meetings with other religious leaders and international agents concerned about peace and the environment in a series of programs called “Active Peace: One World – One Humanity” ( oneworldactivepeace.com ) celebrating its 25th anniversary of activity in 2014.

Kenting Tai Situpa is a renowned Buddhist teacher, at the same time training the next generation of Buddhist teachers, such as the XVII Karmapa, Mingyur Rinpoché or Kalu Rinpoché, among others. On a more personal level, he is a scholar, poet, calligrapher, artist, author, architect, and geomancer. He has authored more than 20 books in English.