Tradition · Tibetan Buddhist school · India
Gelug — the Yellow Hat school
Also known as dGe lugs pa, Yellow Hats
Gelug, 'the Virtuous Ones' or Yellow Hats, founded by Je Tsongkhapa (1357-1419) in the early 15th century as a monastic reform school that combined the Kadam ethical rigour of Atiśa with the full tantric curriculum of the Sakyas. Tsongkhapa founded Ganden Monastery in 1409; his students founded Drepung (1416) and Sera (1419) — the 'three great seats'. The school holds the lines of the Dalai Lamas (reincarnations recognised since 1578 when Altan Khan of the Tümed Mongols conferred the title on Sonam Gyatso) and the Panchen Lamas at Tashilhunpo. From the 5th Dalai Lama (1617-82) onwards, the Gelug administered Tibet through the Ganden Phodrang government until 1959. The current head is the Ganden Tripa throneholder.
- Periods
- Regional Flourishing, Islamic Age and Bhakti Traditions, Early Modern Age, Republic and Living Practice
- Function
- Religious institution & practice
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
Connections (6)
- Founder ofJe Tsongkhapa
Je Tsongkhapa founded the Gelug school in the early 15th century.
- Institutionalised atDrepung Monastery, Lhasa
Drepung Monastery is one of the three great seats of the Gelug school.
- Institutionalised atSera Monastery, Lhasa
Sera Monastery is one of the three great seats of the Gelug school.
- Institutionalised atGanden Monastery, Lhasa
Ganden Monastery is the mother house and senior of the three great seats of the Gelug school.
- Present atErdene Zuu, Karakorum
Erdene Zuu at Karakorum, built from 1585 by Abtai Sain Khan on the ruins of the Mongol imperial capital, became the mother house of Mongolian Gelug Buddhism after Altan Khan of the Tümed received Gelug initiation and conferred the Dalai Lama title ('Oceanic Teacher') on Sonam Gyatso in 1578. 10,000 monks at its 17th-century peak; the 1937 Stalinist purges destroyed most of it.
- Patron ofNgawang Lobsang Gyatso, the Great Fifth Dalai Lama
The Great Fifth consolidated Gelug supremacy under the Ganden Phodrang government from 1642 onward.
On these journeys
Sources
Standard reference; Wikipedia Tibetan Buddhism.
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