Born of a nomad family in1925 in Damshung County, Lhasa, Thupten Tsering left at seven-years-old to join Sera Monastery where he later became treasurer of Che College. In 1959, Thupten joined a resistance fighters' group with sixty of his colleagues, waging war against the Chinese on three different occasion. Out of the sixty, only twenty-five remained alive at the end of the fighting. He was captured on the battlefield and held in detention for one month before returning to his birthplace to find his parents suffering immense torture by the Chinese. Due to his family's wealthy status, all of their belongings were confiscated leaving not even a blanket behind. He left for Lhasa in order to receive medical treatment for a scabies-like rash which had developed as a result of his time in detention.

In 1966, as he and his friend were attempting to flee Tibet, with documents in hand proving the onset of the Cultural Revolution, he was arrested at the border and taken to Gutsa Detention Center where he was labeled as "an enemy of the Party" and "a counter-revolutionary". He was given a seven-year prison sentence and three years of political deprivation. He was transferred to Sangyip Prison where he was made to do a great deal of farm labor including the transferal of human waste to the fields. He also did much work breaking stones for construction, in which hourly quotas had to be meet.
Thamzing sessions (struggle sessions) would get so severe that prisoners were driven to their death. Shortly before dying, the prison authorities would send them to the hospital. Lobsang Tsering from Sera Monastery was one such case. During a struggle session he was hung from a rope and suffocated with rags stuffed in his mouth and he was then immediately sent to the hospital. Kendrul Rinpoche of Drepung Monastery became maimed after having his arms and legs broken during a similar torture session.
Nine men were executed during Thupten's stay at Sangyip, for the reason that they were "difficult to reform" and had "bad attitudes." Other prisoners were made to dig their graves the day before. Then on the day of the execution a public meeting was held where the prisoners were up on the stage tied in ropes, while the accusations against them were read aloud. They were then taken to the execution site where they were shot. These people were mostly lamas, abbots and managers of monasteries.
In 1972, Thupten finished his term but was kept at the prison for seven more years to work on construction of a government building. In 1979, when the political climate became a little more relaxed, many prisoners were released and living conditions somewhat improved. Thupten, however, was kept at the prison in order to do more labor, for which he then began to receive pay.

It was after his release, while he was living in Lhasa in July of 1987, when several of his relatives came to visit from the Tsongkhapa Dharma Center in Italy. He and his friend, Yulo Dawa Tsering, began to tell them the facts of the current situation in Tibet and their experience in prison. The relatives videotaped them and this tape was then taken out of Tibet. However, the Chinese came to find out about this and in December of 1987, he and Yulo Dawa Tsering were arrested for spreading "counter-revolutionary propaganda" and he was sentenced to six more years imprisonment. His friend to ten. The sentences were given at an all-city meeting in front of the Potala Palace in Lhasa and there he received the worst beatings he had ever received.
For one year they were kept at Seitru, seven months of which were spent in solitary confinement with regular nightly interrogations. Following that period he was transferred to Drapchi. He does recall one incident clearly, when a U.S. delegation visited the prison, as the prisoners tried to hand the representatives a write-up of what was happening in the prison, the Chinese officials abruptly snatched it out of their hands. As a consequence, when the delegation had left, the soldiers surrounded the prisoners and beat them senseless. Thirteen men were put in leg irons and handcuffs and thrown in solitary confinement cells.

Following his release in December of 1993, Thupden had no one to care for him in Tibet. He also desperately wanted to meet His Holiness at least once in his life. After failing his first attempt at escape in June of 1995 when he was captured at the border by the Nepalese police, he tried once more a year and half later. This time succeeding he arrived in Dharamsala in December of 1996. After having lived near Shugseb nunnery for some time, he moved into the Gu-Chu-Sum building in November of 1999.