Tarthang Tulku, also known as Kunga Gellek Yeshe Dorje,was born in Golok, Eastern Tibet, in 1935. Thoroughly trained by traditional masters, he went into exile in 1958. After a short stay at the Young Lamas Home School in Dalhousie, he was asked by H.H. Dudjom Rinpoche to represent the Nyingma School at Sanskrit University in Varanasi. There he established Dharma Mudranalaya to print Tibetan Buddhist texts. In 1968 he left India for the United States, becoming the first Nyingma lama in America. In 1969, Rinpoche founded the Tibetan Nyingma Meditation Center (TNMC), a\ California corporation sole, as the nucleus of his activities.

He established Padma Ling as a residential center, and in 1972-73 founded the Nyingma Institute, where he taught publicly until 1978. During these years he published the first of his 34 books in English to aid students in their study. He also founded the Tibetan Aid Project to support Tibetans in exile; Dharma Press and Dharma Publishing, which have now printed and produced hundreds of art reproductions and more than 130 books in Western languages; Nyingma Centers, to guide the growth of four international centers; and Odiyan Country Center, a mandala of temples, stupas, and libraries, including Vajra Temple, Cintamani Temple, the Enlightenment Stupa, and Vairocana Garden; Ratna Ling Retreat Center, established in 2004 as an adjunct to Odiyan, offers retreats to the general public. In 1981, Rinpoche published the Nyingma Edition of the Tibetan Buddhist Canon in 120 atlas-sized volumes, followed by an eight volume Catalogue and Bibliography. The Yeshe De Text Project, founded in 1983, produced Great Treasures of Ancient Teachings in 641 volumes, and has printed and distributed to the Tibetan community over five million books, including five versions of the Kanjur and three versions of the Tanjur. In its latest edition, the Yeshe De Kanjur is the most comprehensive collection ever assembled, and includes 12 historically significant karchags, or catalogues. Yeshe De is currently producing a rare and comprehensive collection of Nyingma Tantras ever compiled, in 150 volumes. In 1989 Rinpoche founded the Nyingma Monlam Chenmo (World Peace Ceremony) in Bodh Gaya.