Born in 1924, Geshe Loden became a monk at the age of seven. Completing his study of all divisions of Buddhist philosophy, he was awarded the Geshe Lharampa degree from Sera Monastery in Tibet, and an Acharya degree from Varanasi's Sanskrit university in India. He also gained a Master's qualification in Vajrayana Buddhism after six years' study at Gyudmed Tantric College. Geshe Loden originally came to Australia in 1976 as a Tibetan refugee.