When Tibet was invaded  by Chinese troops, Kyabje Kangyour Rinpoche, a highly revered Master from Eastern Tibet (Kham), left the Land of Snow with his whole family and settled in Darjeeling, India, where he founded a monastery with the name Ogyen Kunzang Chökhorling.

According to the wishes of this great Master, Lama Kunzang, one of his Western disciples, founded in Brussels in 1972 the Tibetan study centre Ogyen Kunzang Chöling, with the support and advice of the eldest son of Kangyur Rinpoche, Tsetrul Pema Wangyal Rinpoche. Next Nyima Dzong was founded in the South of France in 1974. Five years later, the Ogyen Kunzang Chöling centre in Lisbon was created, followed by Humkara Dzong in the south of Portugal and Gyatso Dzong in Tahiti, in the centre of the Pacific ocean, in 1982.

The Ogyen Kunzang Chöling centres have been blessed by the presence and the Teachings of His Holiness the Dalai Lama, of Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche, of Gyalwa Karmapa, of Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche, of Kyabje Trulshik Rinpoche, of Shechen Rabjam Rinpoche and other highly respected Tibetan Buddhist Masters.

After the parinirvana of Kangyur Rinpoche in 1975, it was Kyabje Dudjom Rinpoche and Kyabje Dilgo Rinpoche who assumed the spiritual direction of the Ogyen Kunzang Chöling centres, which they visited and in which they gave teachings on many occasions.

Since the departure of  Kyabje Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche in 1991, the centres have been placed under the spiritual authority of of his grandson and successor Shechen Rabjam Rinpoche, abbot of the monastery of Shechen (at Bodnath in Nepal). They have been directed since their origin by Lama Kunzang with the assistance and advice of Tsétrul Pema Wangyal Rinpoche. Jigme Khyentse Rinpoche and Rangdrol Rinpoche, as well as other lamas such as Ringu Tulku Rinpoche and Khenchen Pema Sherab, are regularly invited to teach in the centres.

The Ogyen Kunzang Chöling centres seek to transmit and put into practice the Buddhist teachings of the Tibetan tradition, as well as to engage in any activity which contributes to the well-being and spiritual evolution of beings.

These activities also include giving support to other centres and monasteries.
Special attention has been paid in recent years to the development of religious educational infrastructures in Nepal, and close ties have been forged in this respect with the Shechen monastery in Nepal.
These activities are carried out on a daily basis by the resident members of the various centres. Sessions of teachings and practice, open to the public, are also organised regularly, particularly when visiting lamas are present.