Geshe

Geshe (Tib. དགེ་བཤེས་, Wyl. dge bshes) is the Tibetan equivalent of the Sanskrit kalyāṇamitra (Tib. དགེ་བའི་བཤེས་གཉེན་), which literally means 'virtuous friend', yet in common usage, it is a title awarded to scholars in the Gelugpa school of Tibetan Buddhism once they graduate from their studies. Different grades of geshe degree exist, the highest being Geshe Lharampa.

Further Reading

• Georges Dreyfus, The Sound of Two Hands Clapping: The Education of a Tibetan Buddhist Monk, University of California Press, 2003
• Tarab Tulku. A Brief History of Tibetan Academic Degrees in Buddhist Philosophy. Copenhagen, Denmark: Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, 2000.