The Gelug Tradition

THE GELUG TRADITION

The Gelug tradition is historically the last of the four great Buddhist traditions of Tibet to appear, and forms one of the 'New' Sarma translation schools. Founded by the great master Tsongkhapa in the 15th century, it developed out of the Kadampa tradition pioneered in Tibet by the Indian pandita Atisha Dipamkara, and spread quickly through the work of Jé Tsongkhapa's many famous disciples, eventually becoming the predominant school in Tibet. Jé Tsongkhapa Lobsang Drakpa, popularly known as 'Jé Rinpoche', was born in the Tsongkha region of Amdo, north eastern Tibet, in 1357. Regarded as the living embodiment of Manjushri, he is considered to have been the reincarnation of a young boy who offered a crystal rosary to Shakyamuni Buddha. The Buddha predicted that he would be instrumental in the flourishing of the Buddhadharma in Tibet. Many prophecies about Jé Tsongkhapa can be found, made by the Buddha, Guru Padmasambhava and other great masters. Receiving his first precepts from the Fourth Karmapa Rolpé Dorje, he was raised by a master of the Yamantaka Tantra, the yogin Döndrub Rinchen. By the age of seven, he was already pursuing advanced vajrayana practices, and at sixteen, he travelled to Central Tibet, where he studied all aspects of sutra and tantra with teachers of various traditions, including the great Sakya lama Rendawa Shyönnu Lodrö and the Nyingma master Lhodrak Namkha Gyaltsen. On his way to Central Tibet, Jé Tsongkhapa passed through the Trehor region of Kham, where was received by Sogyal Rinpoche's ancestor, a man wearing white who offered him a white (Tib: kar) woollen shawl (Tib: la) to protect him from the cold and rain. Jé Rinpoche saw this as an auspicious sign and exclaimed, "From now on, for generations to come, your family will know unrivalled prosperity and good fortune. You will take ‘Lakar' as your family name." The family became well-known benefactors of all the Buddhist traditions of Tibet. Throughout his life, Tsongkhapa emphasized the need for both study and practice, and had no time for demonstrations of miraculous powers, sharing his many visions of Manjushri with only a few close disciples. He insisted on pure moral conduct as the basis for successful spiritual training and development, and to demonstrate his respect for the importance of discipline, he adopted the yellow hat, its colour symbolizing moral conduct, growth, and, as yellow represents the earth element, the basis of everything. Outwardly acting as a pure follower of Vinaya discipline, inwardly maintaining the Mahayana motivation of bodhichitta and secretly following the practices of Highest Yoga Tantra, Jé Rinpoche personified the essential oneness of the three yanas, and set an example and style of practice for his followers. 

Jé Tsongkhapa undertook many long retreats. During one intensive four-year retreat, he performed 3,500,000 prostrations and 1,800,000 mandala offerings, underlining the importance of the preliminary practices. On another retreat, he received a vision of Nagarjuna and his five chief disciples, and shortly afterwards gained direct realization of the ultimate truth, going on to write his famous 'Praise to Shakyamuni Buddha'. During yet another retreat he had a month-long vision of all the masters of the 'extensive and profound' lineages from Buddha Shakyamuni to Atisha, as well as the chief masters of the Kadam lineage. After this, he composed his ‘Great Exposition of the Stages of the Path' (Tib. Lam Rim Chenmo), one of the great classics of Tibetan Buddhist literature. Basing it on quotations from the sutras and commentaries, and using a format developed by Atisha, Je Tsongkhapa synthesized all of Buddha's sutra teachings into a systematic and coherent scheme for study and meditation, which is still used as the foundation of practice by followers of the Gelug tradition today. During 2012 and 2013, HH the Fourteenth Dalai Lama is giving a transmission of several great commentaries and experiential accounts on Lamrim at the request of the 7th Ling Rinpoche and many other monasteries, groups and individuals at Ganden, Drepung and Sera monasteries in South India. Jé Tsongkhapa also composed many works on vajrayana practice, including the Great Exposition of Secret Mantra, (Tib. Ngak Rim Chenmo), and his collected works fill eighteen volumes. All along, he emphasized the combined paths of sutra and tantra, and especially the blending of the View of the Middle Way School with the practice of Highest Yoga Tantra. At the age of 52, he introduced the New Year 'Great Prayer' festival (Mönlam Chenmo) at Lhasa, and in 1409 founded the great mother monastery of Ganden. At first, his followers were known as ‘Gandenpas', and only later as Gelugpas—’the Virtuous Ones'. The anniversary of Je Rinpoche's passing away in 1419, the 25th day of the 10th month, has been celebrated all over Tibet and Mongolia, as 'Ganden Ngamchö'. The holder of the throne of Ganden Monastery, the Ganden Tripa, is the seniormost scholar and head of the Gelugpa School, and the direct successor to Jé Tsongkhapa. The present 102nd Ganden Tripa is Kyabjé Rizong Sé Rinpoche, who was born in Ladakh in the early 1930's. Tsongkhapa had hundreds of great disciples, but the two most well-known and influential were Gyaltsab Darma Rancher (1364-1432) and Khedrup Gelek Palzang (1385-1438). In 1416 Tsongkhapa's student Jamyang Chojé Tashi Pallen (1379 1449) founded Drepung Monastery, and in 1419 Jamchen Chöjé Shakya Yeshe (1354-1435) established Sera Monastery. At Ganden, Drepung and Sera, all near Lhasa and the largest monasteries in Tibet, the number of monks in the twentieth century is said to have reached 20,000 (4,000, 9,000 and 7,000 respectively). In 1440, Sherab Senge founded the Gyümé Lower Tantric College in Lhasa, and in 1474, his student Kunga Döndrup established the Gyütö Upper Tantric College. Jé Tsongkhapa's disciple Gendün Drup (1391-1472) founded the Tashilhunpo Monastery near Shigatse, western Tibet, in 1447. Gendün Drup's reincarnation, Gendün Gyatso (1475-1542), made Drepung the centre of his study and teaching. When his incarnation Sönam Gyatso (1543-1588) met Altan Khan, chief of the Tumed branch of the Mongols, near Lake Kokonor in 1578, the Khan bestowed upon him the title 'Tale' (Dalai), meaning 'Ocean (of Wisdom)'. He was counted as the Third Dalai Lama.

The 'Great Fifth' Dalai Lama (1617-1682) brought the whole country of Tibet under his direct rule. He is revered by the Nyingma tradition as a treasure revealer, his Sangwa Gyachen cycle of pure visions being included in the Rinchen Terdző, The Great Treasury of Precious Revealed Teachings. He enjoyed a teacher-student relationship with many Nyingma masters, such as Minling Terchen, and had many important Nyingmapa students, including the first Dzogchen Rinpoche, Pema Rigdzin, who upon his instructions established the Dzogchen monastery in Kham. By the middle of the eighteenth century, the Gelug order had become the established unifying power in the land. The Thirteenth Dalai Lama (1876-1933) was a personal friend and disciple of the great treasure revealer Lerab Lingpa, Tertön Sogyal.

The Gelug tradition is distinguished by its standards of scholarship, and has produced countless extraordinary scholars and writers. These include-as well as the Dalai Lamas (who receive their main training in the Gelug tradition)--the Panchen Lamas, the heads of the Tashilhunpo Monastery. The First Panchen Lama, Chökyi Gyaltsen (1570-1662), an exceptional scholar, was the tutor of the Fifth Dalai Lama. The works of Panchen Sönam Drakpa (1478-1554) are studied particularly at Drepung Losel Ling, Ganden Shartse, Gyütö and Ratö monasteries. The writings of Jetsün Chökyi Gyaltsen (1469-1544/6) are studied at Sera Je and Ganden Jangtse, and those of Jamyang Shepa, Ngawang Tsöndru (1648-1721/2), are used extensively at Drepung Gomang College and elsewhere. Both Kham and Amdo were important regions for the Gelug tradition. Of the many great Gelugpa monasteries in Kham, Samdrup Dechen Ling was established as early as 1473, and the famous Lithang monastery in 1580 during the time of the Third Dalai Lama, but the tradition spread more widely with the disciples of the Great Fifth Dalai Lama, for example Hor Chöje Ngawang Phuntsok, who built thirteen monasteries, including Kardzé and Dargyé monasteries in 1662. In Aldo at Jé Tsongkhapa's birthplace in 1575 the Third Dalai Lama founded the monastery of Kumbum Jampa Ling, which accommodated 3,600 monks. Tashikhyil, established by Jamyang Shepa, held over 3,300 monks, and produced many great scholars, such as Gungtang Tenpé Drönmé (1762-1823). And Gönlung monastery, built in 1592, was instrumental in the spread of Buddhism in Mongolia by the Changkya and Thukvan incarnations. The Third Dalai Lama made two visits to Mongolia and the Fourth was born there, as the grandson of Altan Khan.

In 1635 the First Jetsün Dampa Khutukhtu, Zanabazar (Lobsang Tenpé Gyaltsen), was born. A disciple of the Fifth Dalai Lama, he was recognized as an incarnation of Jetsün Taranatha, and had a huge influence on the development of Buddhism, art and culture in Mongolia. By his time, the Gelug school was predominant amongst the Mongols, and the Jetsün Dampa incarnations became the spiritual heads of Mongolia. The Ninth Jetsün Dhampa Jampel Namdrol Choekyi Gyaltsen passed away in Mongolia in 2012. A master of great significance was the Second Changkya Khutukhtu Rolpé Dorje (1717-86). He was the teacher of the Chinese Emperor Ch'ien Lung, and his principal disciples were the Second Jamyang Shepa and Thukvan Lobsang Chökyi Nyima (1737-1802). Mongolian students studied in great numbers in Tibet, and they produced some renowned scholars, the Mongolians having a particularly close connection with the Gomang College of Drepung Monastery.

With the Chinese occupation of Tibet, many followers of the Gelug tradition went into exile in India, where the leading monasteries have been re-established, including Ganden, Drepung, Sera, Gyümé, Gyütö and Tashilhunpo. Through the efforts of various Gelug lamas and learned geshes, centres following Jé Tsongkhapa's tradition have also been founded in many countries around the world through, for example, the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition, founded in 1975 by Lama Thubten Yeshe (1935-84) and now directed by Lama Zöpa Rinpoche. The Gelug tradition stresses a deep and intensive study of the Buddhist scriptures. Philosophically, it follows the Prasangika Madhyamika viewpoint, and the tantras practised are mainly Guhyasamaja, Chakrasamvara and Yamantaka, along with Kalachakra. In his monastic reforms, the Thirteenth Dalai Lama (1876-1934) established a formal ‘geshe degree programme of advanced training in the three great monastic universities, open to any monk. A geshe is a master of the five major subjects of Buddha's teachings: Perfection of Wisdom (Prajnaparamita), Middle Way (Madhyamaka), Discipline (Vinaya), Phenomenology (Abhidharma) and Epistemology (Pramana). 

This article was followed by Jé Tsongkhapa’s “Three Principal Aspects of the Path”. Published in the Rigpa Calendar 2013-2014