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Born in Amdo, North Eastern Tibet, and educated in a Bonpo Monastery, Samten G. Karmay studied Buddhist philosophy at Drepung, a monastic university in Central Tibet, till 1959. He was also Visitiing Scholar or the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London where he had obtained M.Phil and Ph.D. degrees. He has been visiting Scholar in a number of academic institutions; Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes, paris; Toyo Bonko, University of Tokyo and the University of Kyoto, Japan. In 1981, he became Charge de Recherche in the Centre national de la recherche scientique (C.N.R.S.), Paris and a member of Laboratoire d’ethnologie et de sociologie comparative, Universite de sociologie comparative, Universite de Paris-X. From 1989, he became a Directeeur de Recherche in C.N.R.S. and was awarded the 1990 silver Medal of the C.N.R.S. For “Toriginalite et la qualite” in his research. He has carried out several research missions in Tibet: Amdo in 1985, Central Tibet in 1987 and 1991; Khams and Amdo in 1993; Central Tibet in 1995; India and Nepal in 1996. In 1995 he was elected President of the International Association for Tibetan Studies at its 7th Congress in Graz, Austria. He is the author of several books including The Great Perfecton, A Philosophical and Meditative Teaching of Tibetan Buddhism, and Secret Visions if the Fifth Dalai Lama. He has also published over forty articles on various aspects of Tibetan civilization in English, French and Tibetan.