Karma Sungrap Ngedon Tenpa Gyaltsen was enthroned as the Seventh Dzogchen Ponlop Rinpoche by Rangjung Yeshe Dorje, Gyalwang Karmapa XVI, in 1968. A former Tibetan Buddhist monk, he remains a lay teacher in the Karma Kagyu lineage as well as the Nyingma tradition.
A graduate of Karma Shri Nalanda Institute for Higher Buddhist Studies (the monastic college at Rumtek) and Columbia University in New York, Rinpoche is a naturalized U.S. citizen.