Search Results: Geluk
The Geluk (dge lugs) tradition, also known as the Ganden (dga' ldan) tradition follows the teachings of the fifteenth-century scholar monk Tsongkhapa Lobzang Drakpa (tsong kha pa blo bzang grags pa, 1357-1419). Like the Kadam tradition which the Geluk supplanted, the Geluk place an emphasis on monastic discipline and scholarship. The Geluk pride themselves on their scholarship of the philosophical texts and on their understanding and explication of the view of the Mādhyamaka Prāsaṅgika philosophical school. They also maintain a strong, if somewhat less public, tradition of tantric transmission, scholarship, and practice. Followers of the Geluk tradition practice an extensive system of Lamrim (lam rim) and Lojong (blo ljong), both of which have their origins with Atisha and the Kadampa tradition. The Geluk also have a living tradition and lineage of Mahāmudrā teachings. The primary tantric teachings studied and practiced in the Geluk are the tantric cycles of Yamāntaka, Cakrasaṃvara, and Guhyasamāja. The Kalachakra Tantra is also commonly practiced among many Geluk practitioners, as is the tantra of Vajrayoginī. The Geluk tradition became the dominant religious order in Tibet in the seventeenth century when the Fifth Dalai Lama, with the aid of the recently converted Mongols, orchestrated a defeat of the Kagyu king of Tsang and set himself up as political leader of Tibet. Since that time the Ganden Podrang (dga' ldan pho brang) has been the nominal seat of political power in Tibet, even if for most of the last 400 years real power shifted among a number of players.