Lama Kunzang was born in Brussels in April 1944, only son of a comfortably off family.

Towards the end of the 1960s, in Darjeeling, India, he met Kyabje Kangyur Rinpoche in a small house where Rinpoche lived at the time with his family. He became his disciple and, during the following six years, until Kangyur Rinpoche passed away in 1975, Lama Kunzang studied and made retreats under his spiritual authority, with the assistance and advice of the eldest son of Kangyur Rinpoche, Tsetrul Pema Wangyal Rinpoche.

In 1972, Kangyur Rinpoche asked Lama Kunzang to found the Ogyen Kunzang Choling centre in Brussels – the first Tibetan Buddhist centre in Belgium – and which bears the same name as the monastery in Darjeeling.

In the spring of 1974, following indications from Kangyur Rinpoche, Lama Kunzang discovered in Provence, France, an ancient domain of the Knights Templars, some 112 hectares in size, bearing the name “Chateau de Soleils”, which he was able to acquire thanks to financial assistance from his father.

Thus Nyima Dzong was born.

During the following years, Lama Kunzang received numerous teachings and transmissions from Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche and Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche.

For all important decisions he had to take, particularly concerning the different centres he subsequently founded, Lama Kunzang always referred to the spiritual direction and the precious advice of these two great Masters.

Lama Kunzang has consecrated his life and his patrimony to the development of Buddhism in the West. Just after the departure of Kyabje Dilgo Rinpoche in 1991, Lama Kunzang undertook a retreat which lasted several years. Following this, he resumed his activity under the spiritual authority of Shechen Rabjam Rinpoche – grandson and spiritual successor of Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche – with the support and advice of Pema Wangyal Rinpoche.