Buchung Nubgya (b.1979) was born in of Shigatse and studied thangka painting from the age of nine, as part of an initiative to give vocational training in the arts started by the Tenth Panchen Lama. From 1985 to 1992 he studied in Tashilhunpo Monastery with the head artists of the Tashilhunpo New Menri tradition including Kachen Lobsang Phuntsok and Phuntsok Dorje.

He assisted in painting the Sisum Namgyal, the memorial temple honoring the late Tenth Panchen Lama, and restoring murals of the Tsuklakhang, the Jokhang Temple, Drepung Monastery and Sera Monastery in Lhasa.

In 1997, he left Tibet and began a career as one of the personal painters of the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso. He also dedicated himself to teaching thangka painting at his school in Dharamsala, India. In 2012 he painted murals and thangkas for Drikung Kyobpa Choling Meditation Center in San Diego. He currently resides in New York and has had notable exhibitions at the Rubin Museum of Art in and he has conserved thangka paintings at Carlos Museum of Emory University

Vajrabhairava (Buddhist Deity)