Tenpa Soepa joined the civil service of the Tibetan government as a Tsedrung. He served as a supervisor of the entourage of His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s first visit to Beijing in 1954.
Later, he worked in the office of the Reform Committee established by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama in his remarkable effort to reform and democratise the Tibetan society.
As the security of His Holiness the Dalai Lama came under threat from the Chinese army in March 1959, he was posted as the guard at the yellow gate of the Norbulingka palace. He also actively participated in all the political meetings during that time.
He successfully arranged the horses to take His Holiness and his entourage on the night of 17 March 1959, with the whole entourage safely ferried across from Ramakhang to Neu Dzong.
Upon reaching Neu Dzong,Kunleng Dzasak Woeser Gyaltsen, told him that an important official document of His Holiness had remained at the Norbulingka palace and asked him to fetch it. Without thinking of the dangers involved, he returned to Norbulingka palace.
Since China was in the middle of the crackdown on the year’s national uprising against its rule, he was captured after getting wounded in a battle with the Chinese forces. He was forced to undergo hard labour in a prison in China, and later sentenced to 20 years in prison.
