Geshe Lharampa Lobsang Samten was born to mother Dekyi Dolma and father Kunchok Dargye on July 6, 1929, at Zangri, South of Lhasa in Tibet and was named Tashi Wangpo at birth. From the age of 7 to 13, he helped his family by doing work as a shepherd boy, but encountered great difficulties as wild animals took away their livestock.
At the age of 14, he joined one the great monasteries in Central Tibet, Palden Ngari Datsang, as a novice monk, taking novice vows and ordination from then Abbot Lobsang Jigme and was provided the ordination name of Lobsang Samten. Under the residence teachers Gen. Kunchok Gyaltsen and Kalsang he studied reading and writing the Tibetan alphabet and also prayer recitation. At the age of 15, under Geshe Jamyang Gyatso and the great scholar Gen. Tsultrim Damdaul, he studied elementary Buddhist texts until he reached the Parchen class (Prajnaparamita: The Six Perfection). From the age of 25 to 29, he studied Namdel and under Tsangpa Gen. Sopa and others, he took part in Jamyang Gunchoe, having to travel with great difficulty for five days on foot with one month's ration.
At the age of 30, he escaped to India after the invasion of Tibet by China, walking days and nights as did the other Gomang monks. They stayed at Buxar in Northeast India. Because His Holiness the Dalai Lama noticed that only a small number of the monk population from the three great monasteries was able to flee to India, he requested the Indian Government to allow these monks to study their texts in order to preserve the religion, but this was difficult to do. At Buxar, Lobsang Samten received Bikhu ordination (full ordination) from the then senior tutor of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Ven. Ling Rinpoche.
Upon the request of His Holiness the Dalai Lama to the Indian Government, the Indian Central Government allotted some lands to Tibetan refugees for cultivation in order to sustain themselves. As a result, monasteries such as Sera and Kagyu monasteries were re-established in Bylakupee; whereas in Mundgod, monasteries such as Gaden, Drepung, Sakya and Nyima were re-established. During that time for three or four years, Lobsang Samten also did farming while he studied the Five Major Buddhist Treatises under Gen. Tsultrim Gyatso and Mongolian Khensur Ngawang Lobsang.
In 1973, at the age of 44 he obtained the Geshe Lharampa Degree and at Monam Chenmo he gave his Geshe Lharampa examination debate in front of Great scholars (Geshe Damcha). In 1983, he was appointed by His Holiness the Dalai Lama as the Discipline Master of Drepung Gomang Monastery for a period of two years. He also served as Lama Shunglenba (Education Supervisor) of the monastery for four years. From 1990 till 1995, he observed a Yamakanta retreat. Now at the age of 74, he is providing dharma classes daily to students for four to five hours.