Kyabje Tenga Rinpoche (1932-2012) was recognized as one of the tulkus of the great Benchen Monastery in eastern Tibet. Rinpoche fled Benchen for Lhasa in 1959 and went on to Rumtek Monastery in Sikkim, the seat of the Sixteenth Gyalwang Karmapa, where he served as dorje loppon (vajra master) for more than nine years.  Rinpoche first traveled to the West with the Karmapa in 1974 where he taught a three-week seminar on Buddhism every two years in Germany where many of his students reside.

In 1986, Tenga Rinpoche established the new Benchen Monastery in Kathmandu, which is the center for traditional ritual practice of the Karma Kamtsang lineage. Tenga Rinpoche and Sangye Nyenpa Rinpoche train monks in meditation, Dharma studies, and particularly in tantric rituals such as sand mandalas and Mahakala and Padmasambhava lama dances, which are performed twice a year. Additionally, Tenga Rinpoche built a retreat center for the new Benchen Monastery and established a health clinic that provides free medical care for the monastery as well as local people in 1994. For more about Tenga Rinpoche, please visit benchen.org.