Geshe Lhundrup Rigsel (sometimes called Lama Lhundrup) is abbot of Kopan Monastery in Nepal. He was born in Tibet in 1941, to a poor peasant family, and joined Sera Monastery while still a boy. In 1959 he fled from the Chinese invasion of Tibet and went to India.[1]
In Buxa, a refugee camp in Northern India, he met Lama Yeshe and Lama Zopa. In the late sixties he went to South India to start clearing land for the new Sera Monastic University. He received his Doctor of Divinity in Buddhist studies from Sera.[1][2]
In 1972 Geshe Lhundrup Rigsel was called to Kopan Monastery by Lama Yeshe, to teach Buddhist philosophy to the monks. The Dalai Lama appointed him abbot of Kopan Monastery in February 2000. As of 2011, Geshe Rigsel is on the board of directors of the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition.[1][2]
On September 7, 2011 Lama Lhundrup passed away due to cancer [3][4]