Professor Acharya Sempa Dorje

Professor Acharya Sempa Dorje (1930-2022) was born in Dabling village in Pradesh, India, where he was raised by his mother, who organized very successfully homeschooling for him and later arranged for his further education the guidance of Buddhist lamas in his small home village.

During this period, he crossed paths with other teachers, and he inquired about their educational backgrounds, learning that for a traditional Buddhist education, he would need to go to Tibet. He left – against the wish of his mother – for Tibet when he was 17 years old. When he arrived in Tibet, he began his formal Buddhist monastic education and because of his outstanding memory, he later entered the academic segment of monastic studies.

After the occupation of Tibet by the Chinese in 1959, one year later the Indian Consul announced the opportunity for all Indians to return to India. Having been born in India, Sempa Dorje departed from Tibet. When he returned, he stayed with the greatest Tibetan masters, who gathered in exile. There he completed his study of Tibetan science and knowledge in 1963. After that he studied Sanskrit and Pali, Indian philosophy and literature, Indian Buddhist and Hindu systems, etc. at Sampurnand Sanskrit university until 1973.

It was natural that he was asked to engage with the foundation of the Central Institute of Higher Tibetan Studies in 1974. It was the first and only official Tibetan academic institution in India, where Prof. Sempa Dorje played important roles as instructor for both Tibetan and Indian subjects, languages, research, etc.. In total, he spent 25 years of his life there.

Also remarkable was that he gave back his monastic vows to marry his wife Meena Kumari, who gave birth to four children.

In 1997, the 14th Shamarpa requested Sempa Dorje become the tutor of the young 17th Karmapa for classical Indian Buddhist philosophy and their Tibetan commentaries. That was the starting point of an important exchange between the Shamarpa and Karmapa, who gave transmissions to him and in return the passing on of knowledge from Sempa Dorje to them.

Acharya Sempa Dorje passed away in his apartment at the Karmapa International Buddhist Institute in New Delhi on July 9, 2022.