Geshe

Geshe (Tib. དགེ་བཤེས་, Wyl. dge bshes) is the Tibetan equivalent of the Sanskrit kalyāṇamitra (Tib. དགེ་བའི་བཤེས་གཉེན་, dge ba'i bshes gnyen), which literally means 'virtuous friend'. In common usage it is a title awarded to scholars in the Gelugpa school of Tibetan Buddhism once they graduate. 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, ISBN 978-0520232600
• Tarab Tulku. A Brief History of Tibetan Academic Degrees in Buddhist Philosophy. Copenhagen, Denmark: Nordic Institute of Asian Studies, 2000, ISBN 978-8787062855