British Empire Medal for Tibetan Monk

By Tsering Wangdue / June 25, 2019;

Geshe Tashi Tsering

Geshe Tashi Tsering, the 91st Abbot of the Sera Mey Monastic University who has lived in the United Kingdom and teaches Buddhism in Europe, has been awarded the British Empire Medal for his services to Buddhism in the UK. The medal is awarded to people of meritorious civil or military service worthy of recognition by the British Crown and is approved by the Queen.

Geshe Tashi Tsering was born in Tibet in 1958 and brought to India by his parents in 1959 when they escaped the Chinese invasion. At the age of 13 he joined Sera Mey Monastery in south India and started his study in Tibetan Buddhism. After 16 years of hard work and rigorous study, he obtained his Geshe Lharampa degree, the highest academic achievement in Tibetan Buddhism, and equivalent to a Doctorate of Philosophy, in 1987. He has also earned an MA degree in social anthropology at the School of Oriental and African Studies at London University.

Geshela has been teaching Tibetan Buddhism in the Jamyang Buddhist Centre in London for the past 25 years, since 1994. He has also authored a six-volume series of books, The Foundation of Buddhist Thought, and many other online and on-campus courses on the basics of Tibetan Buddhism. Last year he was appointed the 91st Abbot of Sera Mey Monastery by His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
In an interview with tibettimes.net, a Dharamshala Tibetan news site, Geshela said that, as a simple monk, he did not pay much attention when he received the email informing him about the award, but later decided to accept it as he was advised that it could be used as a stage to advocate the Tibetan cause and Tibetan Buddhism.

Geshela currently resides in Karnataka and due to time constraints he was unable to attend the award ceremony in person; however it was mutually agreed that he will attend the next award ceremony to personally accept the medal.

Over a thousand people received the British Empire Medal this year, of whom over 10% are people of African and Asian origin – the highest number of Asians and Africans to receive the BEM.