Sonam Tsering Ngulphu

Sonam Tsering Ngulphu

Research Interests

Sonam Tsering Ngulphu has undertaken research and taught topics on religion, Buddhist philosophy, and Tibetan language and literature at monasteries and modern educational institutions in India and the US. He had previously worked as the managing editor of Tibet Journal, an academic quarterly on Tibetan studies, where he also co-edited thematic series Tibet and the British Raj, Tibetan Monuments, and a fourteen-issue History of Tibetan Art.

Sonam’s doctoral dissertation examines the eighteen-volume Collected Works of Je Tsongkhapa (1357–1419) to assess ‘the role of the texts in the formation of Geluk School in Tibet during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries,’ which is also the title of his dissertation. It studies the significant roles that Je Tsongkhapa’s writings have played in establishing doctrinal authority, defining philosophical boundaries, postulating intellectual identity, and reorienting monastic education for Tibet’s largest school of thought and philosophy.

Trained in several languages, Sonam specializes in translation and interpretation with a focus on classical Tibetan historical and religious texts.

PhD/MPhil: Columbia University
MTS: Harvard University
MA/BA: Central University for Tibetan Studies

First-Year Classical Tibetan I
First-Year Classical Tibetan II

Precious Garland: Buddhist Polity on Life and Liberation (Rājaparikathāratnāvali, Trans & Annot. LTWA, 2014)

Verses of Naga King Drum (Nāgarājabherīgāthā, Trans. 8400, 2020)
In Biographical Encyclopedia of Tibet, Inner Asia, and the Himalaya, The Treasury of Lives, www.treasuryoflives.org  More recent biographies under National Endowment of Humanities (NEH) Grant include “The Sixth Ling Rinpoche Thupten Lungtok Namgyal Trinlé (1903–1983),” “Emchi Khyenrab Norbu (1883–1962),” “Tuksé Tubten Lhundrub (1906–1955),” “The Third Belmang Jamyang Tenzin Gyatso (1854–1919),” and “Gyelthang Pawo Wangchuk Tengpa Lobzang Nyima (1895?–1964)”.

Tibet Journal (as Managing Editor, Vol. 26, 3–4 to Vol. 29, 1–4, 2001–2004)
Tshan rig dus deb (as Assistant Editor, Vols.1–3, 2001–2003)