His Holiness the Drikung Kyabgon Chetsang is one of the two heads of the Drikung Kagyu order of Tibetan Buddhism. Born in 1946 in Lhasa, Tibet, he was recognized at four as the reincarnation of the previous Drikung Kyabgon and enthroned at Drikung Thil monastery. Following the Chinese occupation of Tibet, he endured years of hardship before escaping alone across the Himalayas on foot in 1975, eventually reuniting with his family and receiving formal recognition from His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama in Dharamsala. After completing his studies — and working at McDonald's to practice his English — he returned to India in 1978 to undertake rigorous practice and study with the greatest living masters of Tibetan Buddhism. In 1985, he founded the Drikung Kagyu Institute in Dehra Dun, providing traditional and modern education to approximately 450 monks and nuns, alongside a retreat center and a major project to collect and preserve Drikung Kagyu texts and Himalayan cultural traditions.