KHENPO KARTHAR RINPOCHE was born in Rabshi, east Tibet, in the province of Kham. He was born in the second Tibetan month of 1924, the fourth child to a modest but self-sufficient nomad family. His parents practiced Buddhism diligently, and his father taught Rinpoche the Tibetan alphabet and various scriptures. Thus, he learned to read and write, and began to memorize texts.

When he was twelve, Rinpoche entered Thrangu Monastery and studied Tibetan scriptures, rituals and prayers for six years.  At eighteen, he and a few other monks were sent on a pilgrimage to Tsurphu Monastery, the seat of His Holiness Karmapa, to meet him for the first time.

At the age of twenty, he received his gelong vows from the eleventh Situ Rinpoche,
After his gelong ordination, Rinpoche returned to Thrangu Monastery for the three-year, three-month, and three-day retreat.

When the retreat ended, Rinpoche’s heartfelt wish was to remain in retreat for the rest of his life. However, on the advice of his teachers, he entered a one-year retreat in his uncle’s cabin.  At the end of the year, Rinpoche was advised by Traleg Rinpoche, the abbot of Thrangu Monastery, to study more advanced teachings on Buddhist philosophy, psychology, logic, and metaphysics since he felt Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche had gained insight through his years in retreat. Rinpoche entered a new school at Thrangu Monastery which emphasized these subjects and was founded to educate Thrangu Rinpoche, who was then in his teens, and other monks.

Five years later, when Rinpoche was thirty years old, his advanced training was completed. For the next several years he and Thrangu Rinpoche traveled together and gained teaching experience while pursuing their private studies and sharing long discussions on the dharma.

During the Chinese Cultural Revolution, Rinpoche left the monastery with Thrangu Rinpoche, Traleg Rinpoche, Zuru Tulku, and other monks to India.

It was in 1975 that Khenpo Karthar Rinpoche officially received the title of "choje lama" (superior dharma master) from His Holiness the Sixteenth Gyalwa Karmapa.

He was called back to Rumtek by His Holiness and asked to serve as the abbot of a new Karma Kagyu monastery that had yet to be built in the United States. The following spring, Rinpoche was on an airplane bound for New York City to begin a different life as a teacher of the dharma in a culture and environment far removed from his home in Kham.