Alak Zenkar Rinpoche was born in Lhagang
in Minyak, East Tibet, in 1943. In 1946 he was recognized as the
incarnation of Alak Zenkar Pema Ngödrup Rolwé Dorje (1881-1943).
Following his recognition, he was invited to take his seat in two
different monasteries, Maha Kyilung
monastery in Gyarong, which had been established by Do
Khyentse, and the Sakya monastery of Lhagang in Minyak.
His two principal teachers were the Sixth Dzogchen Rinpoche Jikdral Changchub Dorje (1935-1958/9) and his tutor, Khenpo Yönten Gönpo (1899-1959), who was known as Khenpo Gönri. He studied with many great masters of both the Gelugpa and Nyingma traditions as well.
Due to his proficiency in the Chinese language, he was appointed to work on The Great Tibetan-Chinese Dictionary (bod rgya tshig mdzod chen mo) from 1978 to 1985, serving as the deputy editor-in-chief.
From July 1992 to April 1999, he worked on the English translation of The Great Dictionary, with Dr. Gyurme Dorje at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London.
In 1996, he met E. Gene Smith in London, and they instantly became great friends on account of their deep appreciation for, and unparalleled knowledge of, Tibetan literature.
From 1999, he spent periods in New York. He was a senior research scholar at Columbia University in the East Asian Institute, and also worked periodically with the Nitartha Organization in Vancouver on a project to compile a dictionary of terminology for the eight chariots of the practice lineage.
Zenkar Rinpoche is the Director and Founder of the Project for Searching and Making Available Rare Texts in Chengdu China. In addition, he compiled a dictionary of terms from the Gesar epic in Tibetan and Chinese. He was the co-founder, vice-principal and Professor of Tibetology at the Sichuan Tibetan Language School in Chengdu, Sichuan, where he established a school for advanced studies in Tibetan language and culture.
Additionally, from 1988 to the present, Rinpoche has served as a Representative in the National People's Congress in the People's Republic of China, a Representative in the Sichuan Provincial People's Congress, Vice Secretary in the Sichuan Buddhist Association and is a Standing Member of the China Buddhist Association.