Yeshi was born in Bhutan to Tibetan parents. He is currently a U.S.Citizen.
Yeshi Dorje was ordained as a novice monk in 1970 and received full ordination from His Holiness the Dalai Lama in 1980.
He completed his final examinations in 1996 in Lama Tsongka-pa’s Great Exposition of the Stages of the Path of Tantra and Buddhist Sacred Art and received his Ngagrampa degree from Gyudmed Tantric University in south India.
His work has been published and displayed at the Smithsonian Museum as well as in countless collections around the world.
His 41 line drawings of the Buddha’s life are displayed and preserved in the office of H.H. the Dalai Lama and used as blueprints for any monastery seeking to paint the life of the Buddha.
Yeshi recently completed a term teaching Tibetan art at the University of California Santa Barbara. He is also pioneering techniques to render Tibetan art using modern digital techniques.