One of the first western Buddhist monks in the Tibetan tradition of Vajrayana Buddhism, Jhampa met Ven. Lama Yeshe and became his first male ordained sangha member in 1971. From that time Jhampa studied mainly in Dharmsala, India, learning the Tibetan language and studying under such masters as His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Kyabje Ling Rinpoche, His Holiness's senior tutor and the Ven. Geshe Rabten and Geshe Dhargaye. Over the next 10 years in India he was introduced to many tenants of Buddhism interspersing this with periods of meditational retreat. He also had the opportunity to study with Masters of all 4 sects of Tibetan Buddhism and teachers of Vipassana and Zen Buddhism. By 1980 he had completed 6 years of study of the sutras and tantras and approximately 4 years of short retreats such as the four preliminaries and several deities. In the fall of 1980 Jhampa entered the traditional great retreat and spent the next three and a half-year on the mountain above Dharamsala, India, under the guidance of Ven. Ling Rinpoche. Upon completing that he returned to Canada and established Thubten Choling Dharma center.