Kelsang Khyenrab is the former General Spiritual Director of the New Kadampa Tradition (NKT), a Western organization based on the traditional Gelug School of Tibetan Buddhism. As Spiritual Director of the organization founded by Geshe Kelsang Gyatso, Gen-la Khyenrab was the Resident Teacher at Manjushri Temple and Kadampa Meditation Center, the Mother Center of New Kadampa Buddhism, at Cornishead Priory, near Ulverston, England. He has studied and practiced since 1980 under the guidance of his teacher, NKT founder Geshe Kelsang Gyatso. Khyenrab resigned in 2010, for undisclosed health reasons, and was replaced by Gen-la Kelsang Dekyong, who had been the second highest disciple of Geshe Kelsang Gyatso up until that time. Dekyong, also a long-time student of Kelsang Gyatso, had been serving as North American Spiritual Director and Resident Teacher of the Kadampa Buddhist Center in Los Angeles prior to her elevation to the status of General Spiritual Director of the NKT. Prior to that, she was Resident Teacher at the North American NKT Temple, in Glen Spey, New York.
In August 2001, Geshe Kelsang Gyatso established a system of democratic succession for the General Spiritual Director of the NKT-IKBU. The Internal Rules state:
5ยง8. The term of office of the GSD shall be four years. At the end of his or her term of office, a person serving as the GSD shall not be eligible for immediate re-election. The term of office of the DSD shall be four years.
In 2008, Gen-la Khyenrab became Acting Spiritual Director, under Geshe Kelsang Gyatso's supervision, and assumed the post of Spiritual Director in August 2009 for a four-year term.