Spiritual Director

Born in Vaishali, India to a Hindu Brahmin family, the Venerable Tenzin LS Priyadarshi entered the monastery at the age of ten in Rajgir near the ancient Nalanda University. He trained in India and Nepal in Indo-Tibetan and Japanese Buddhism and was ordained by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

After finishing his undergraduate work in Philosophy and Physics, he completed his graduate studies in Comparative Religion at Harvard University in 2003. Since 2002, he has served as the Buddhist Chaplain at MIT. He is considered a scholar of Sanskrit Buddhist texts and has traveled in India, Nepal, and Japan to continue his study of Buddhism and languages.

Ven. Tenzin Priyadarshi’s principal endeavors consist of developing projects that promote humanitarian aid and cultural understanding, as well as cultivating understanding among the various Buddhist and non-Buddhist religious traditions. He leads social projects in India, Nepal, Japan, the USA, and Sri Lanka to benefit their disadvantaged populations, including managing various construction projects. Ven. Tenzin Priyadarshi also is the founding director and President of the Prajnopaya Foundation, which has united the efforts of the five Tibetan Buddhist lineages and other religious and spiritual traditions, with the purpose of making society aware of the suffering of others and diminishing it.

Other affiliations include Director of the Nalanda Research Institute in Taipei, Taiwan, and Adjunct Faculty at Namgyal Monastery Institute of Buddhist Studies, the North American Seat of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Ithaca, New York. Additionally, he serves on the executive board of the Vishwa Shanti Stupa Project (World Peace Pagoda) in Delhi, India. Ven. Tenzin Priyadarshi has engaged in numerous dialogues with His Holiness Dalai Lama, His Holiness Sakya Trizin, His Holiness Drikung Chhetsang, Bishop Tutu, and other eminent scholars and practitioners. He was part of the Buddhist delegation that met with Pope John Paul II during the religious crisis in India in 1997. He has led many interfaith discussions, and has traveled widely to present papers on a variety of religious and philosophical topics. In his spare time (which he seldom has) Ven. Tenzin Priyadarshi delights in photography, calligraphy, flower arrangement, and Tea Ceremony.