The Podcast
Episode 5: Khenpo Ngawang Tenzin
About the Guest
Venerable Khenpo Ngawang Tenzin is a resident teacher at the International Buddhist Academy (IBA) in Kathmandu, Nepal, founded by the late Khenchen Appey Rinpoche. Originally from Mustang, Nepal, he studied at Sakya College in Dehradun under the guidance of the late Khenchen Sonam Gyatso, graduating in 2010, and later earned a master's degree in Buddhism and Himalayan Studies from Lumbini College. He has served as a translator for the heads of the Sakya order, including the Sakya Gongma Rinpoches, and has been a visiting scholar at Lawrence and Oxford Universities. Alongside teaching Buddhist philosophy and meditation to international students, he translates Tibetan texts into English and Nepali, reviews publications, and contributes to Buddhist scholarship. He currently leads a training program at IBA to prepare graduate monastics to become translators and writers, helping them develop the skills to preserve and share the Buddha's teachings worldwide.
Episode Summary
In this episode, we speak with Venerable Khenpo Ngawang Tenzin about his personal journey in pursuing Buddhist studies and serving the Dharma through academia. Drawing on his experience as a Buddhist scholar, teacher, and translator working across several languages, he shares his reflections on how academic pursuits can become a meaningful way of preserving and transmitting the Buddha's teachings. We also explore the broader question of how monks can pursue academic careers, including research, translation, and teaching, while remaining grounded in their monastic traditions, maintaining their Buddhist practice, and preserving the essence of the Dharma.
Khenpo Ngawang Tenzin describes how he found his way into translation work largely by chance, with his pre-monastic education giving him an early foundation in language, and opportunities such as the 84,000 Translation Project and work translating for Dzongsar Khyentse Rinpoche and Appey Rinpoche helping him develop his skills further. He reflects on the cultural misunderstandings he has encountered teaching international students alongside Tibetan and Himalayan students, and on how traditional monastic education, which trains students broadly across the major texts, compares with the specialization common in modern academia. With international students, he finds that introducing Buddhist philosophy before giving students direct experience of meditation works especially well. He also sees real value in combining monastic education with modern research methods, pointing to Sakya College's existing training in academic writing, textual research, and referencing, and notes that research has long been part of the Buddhist scholarly tradition.
Looking to the future, Khenpo Ngawang Tenzin names migration away from monasteries as a serious concern, shaped by his own experience studying under Khen Rinpoche Sonam Gyamtso, who guided students comprehensively and adapted to their individual needs. He believes monasteries should respond by investing in talented students, strengthening their grounding in texts and languages, and offering them clear goals and opportunities, including in research and translation, while never losing sight of personal Buddhist practice and meditation. For young monks drawn to academia, translation, or further study after shedra, he stresses that these paths offer real opportunities, but only when paired with patience and sustained hard work rather than short-term motivation. Above all, he emphasizes that the wish to benefit and preserve the Buddha's teachings must come before academic or professional ambition, and expresses gratitude to SINI for supporting his own efforts to train the next generation of translators and writers, both monks and nuns.