Of Franco-Austrian background, Christian grew up in Vienna and lived for about five years in Kathmandu. His connection with the Buddhadharma was formally forged in 1999 under the guidance of his first teacher, the late Khenchen Sherab Gyaltsen Amipa Rinpoche. He received an MA in religious studies and Tibetology from the University of Vienna in 2009, followed by a two-year translator training at the International Buddhist Academy (IBA) in Kathmandu, where he had participated in yearly summer programs since its inception in 2001. A founding member of the Chödung Karmo Translation Group, the vision of which is the translation of important works of the Sakya tradition, he continues to work closely with IBA. He currently coordinates for IBA The Complete Path program with His Holiness the 42nd Sakya Trizin Ratna Vajra, a seven-year course on the core theory and practice of the Sakya lineage. In 2021 he joined the in-house translators team of the Khyentse Vision Project, the mission of which is the translation of the collected works of Jamyang Khyentse Wangpo.
Christian has published translations of classical Tibetan texts on Buddhist thought and practice, as well as teachings of contemporary masters. His publications include Words of a Gentle Sage: Collected Teachings of Khenchen Appey Rinpoche, Vol. 1 (2018), Adorning Maitreya’s Intent: A Commentary on the Madhyāntavibhāga by Rongtön Sheja Kunrik (2017), and various sūtras for 84000.
Christian currently lives in Hoi An, Vietnam. In his spare time, he looks after another project close to his heart—the Bodhisvara Project—recordings of classical Buddhist texts chanted in Sanskrit.