Nubtul Tenpei Nyima Rinpoche was born in the Lho village of Nubri on December 1984. He is a direct descendant of Lonpo Gartong Tsen, one of the ministers of the great Dharma king Songtsen Gampo, the first king of Tibet. As a child Nubtul Rinpoche showed distinct characteristics of his former life as a yogi and lama.

From the age of five, he began his Dharma studies under the guidance of Lopon Tsewang Norbu in Nubri. When Nubtul Rinpoche was nine, H.H. 4th Dodrupchen Rinpoche visited Nubri and performed a prediction, through which he recognized Nubtul Rinpoche as the reincarnation of the great meditator, yogi, and teacher Lopon Khedrup Tenpei Gyaltsen of Drakar Traso in the sacred valley of Mangyul, Tibet. In that same year, the late Nubri Lama Chokyi Nyima Rinpoche escorted the young Nubtul Tenpei Nyima to Chorten Monastery in Gangtok, Sikkim, to further his studies.

At Nubtul Rinpoche’s formal enthronement ceremony, H.H. 4th Dodrupchen Rinpoche bestowed him the name Tulku Jigme Trinley Tenpei Nyima. For the next fifteen years, Nubtul Rinpoche studied under the guidance of H.H. 4th Dodrupchen Rinpoche, and received the most important transmissions, empowerments, and instructions of the Longchen Nyingtik (The Heart Essence of the Vast Expanse). From H.E. Kunzang Thegchok Yeshe Dorje Rinpoche (Lopon Rinpoche), Nubtul Rinpoche also received many teachings and instructions, including that of the Guhyagarbha (The Essence of Secrets) Tantra. In addition to receiving extensive training in Buddhist philosophy, he was also trained in several traditional Tibetan arts such as thangka painting and woodcarving. By the age of nineteen, he completed the traditional three-year-and-three-month solitary retreat at Sangchen Rabten Norbuling.

In 2007, Nubtul Rinpoche was appointed as the Senior Abbot and Dharma Holder of Sangchen Rabten Norbuling. He is responsible for the well-being and education of over 100 monks and nuns and continuously raises funds for their upkeep. In 2011, he was nominated for the Tenzin Gyatso Scholarship Program in the United States. As an exchange scholar, he went to Hampshire College in Massachusetts to study modern subjects such as world religions, psychology, art, and western philosophy. Upon completion of the program, he began a professional 4-year training in Tibetan Medicine in Massachusetts. From 2017 to 2018, Nubtul Rinpoche was selected as an international fellow of the Buddhist Ministry Initiative at Harvard Divinity School and he studied religion and Buddhist philosophy at Harvard University for one year. 

Nubtul Rinpoche is the founder and executive director of Mahasukha Foundation. He is dedicated to spreading the Dharma, establishing learning centres as well as supporting practitioners and the community. In the aftermath of the 2015 Nepal Earthquake, Nubtul Rinpoche directed international fundraising efforts to support the reconstruction of the monastery and provide charitable payouts to the villages of Nubri.

Currently, he is engaged in the Serang Primary School project, which aims to fill the need for basic education and make it accessible to underprivileged children regardless of their gender, ethnicity, caste and religion. In addition, Nubtul Rinpoche is also driving the building and development of the Orgyen Ling Institute — an extension of Sangchen Rabten Norbuling and an institution of higher Buddhist studies that provides traditional and modern Buddhist education for the monastic Sangha and lay practitioners worldwide.