| Karma Phuntsho | |
| Birth Place: | Ura, Bumthang, Bhutan |
Karma Phuntsho (Dzongkha: ཀརྨ་ཕུན་ཚོགས) is a former monk and Bhutanese scholar who specialises in Buddhism, Tibetan & Himalayan Studies and Bhutan, and has published a number of works including eight books, translations, book reviews and articles on Buddhism, Bhutan and Tibetan Studies. His The History of Bhutan received Choice Outstanding Academic Title Award in 2015.
He was born in Ura, in the Bumthang district of central Bhutan. He was born as the third child of the Tothchukpo House to his mother who is of Gaden Lam family which traces its origin to Phajo Drugom Zhigpo, the priest who brought Drukpa Kagyu tradition of Tibetan Buddhism to western Bhutan. Karma learnt basic Chokey alphabets and prayers from his father, who is a priest and farmer from the Tsakaling Choje family, which claims descent from Bhutan's saint Pema Lingpa and Tarshong Chukpo, house of Ura. He attended Ura Primary School and Jakar School. Karma spent most of his school winter breaks helping the family cow herder in the neighbouring district of Lhuntse.
In 1986, he moved to Thimphu and had a short spell at Yangchenphug Higher Secondary School before leaving to become a monk and study Buddhism at Chagri Monastery. Later, he went to south India to continue his studies, spending a year at Sera Monastery then ten years at the Ngagyur Nyingma Institute. Since 1994, he has taught Buddhism and related subjects and has served a lecturer at the Ngagyur Nyingma Institute in Bylakuppe.[1] [2]
In 1997, partly he says because young Bhutanese educated in English looked down on monks even though they were very learned,[3] he joined Balliol College Oxford and read for an M.St. in Sanskrit and Classical Indian Religions under Richard Gombrich and Michael Aris, with additional supervision by David Seyfort Ruegg. In 2003, he received a D.Phil. in Buddhist Studies from Oxford University.[4] He worked as a post-doctoral researcher in CNRS, Paris and as a research associate in the Department of Social Anthropology, Cambridge University. He was also the Spalding Fellow in Comparative Religions at Clare Hall and ran The Historical Study and Documentation of the Pad Gling Traditions in Bhutan project subsequently he spent years creating a digital archive of rare Bhutanese manuscripts.
He is founder of the Loden Foundation as well as the Shejun Agency for Bhutan's Cultural Documentation and Research, now part of the Loden Foundation.[5]
Phuntsho received the Ramon Magsaysay Award in 2024, the first Bhutanese to be given the accolade in more than six decades, for "his invaluable and enduring contributions towards harmonizing the richness of his country’s past with the diverse predicaments and prospects of its present, inspiring young Bhutanese to be proud of their heritage and confident in their future. Beyond his immediate horizon, his work engages all peoples and cultures around the world facing the same challenges, reminding them to look back even as they move forward."[6]