Geluk (Dge lugs)

Abstract

The Geluk (Dge lugs), which also may be phonetically rendered as “Gelug,” is the youngest of the four major orders, or schools, or traditions of Tibetan Buddhism. Here, “Geluk” by itself refers to the tradition; with a “pa” added to form “Gelukpa” (Dge lugs pa), it refers to any person, text, or institution associated with the tradition. The Geluk traces its origins back to the scholar and practitioner Tsongkhapa Losang Drakpa (Tsong kha pa Blo bzang grags pa, b. 1357–d. 1419). Originally dubbed the Gandenpa (Dga’ ldan pa), literally, “those of Ganden,” because of their affiliation with Ganden (Dga’ ldan) Monastery, founded near Lhasa in Central Tibet (Dbus) in 1409, and also Gedenpa (Dge ldan pa, “the virtuous ones”), adherents of the order later came to be known by the title Gelukpa (literally, “those of the virtuous tradition”). Though the order presumably began with a relatively small number of followers, it quickly grew to become one of the predominant Buddhist schools in Tibet, thanks in part to its close ties with powerful Tibetan, Chinese, and Mongolian political figures—the Phakmodru ruler (Phag mo gru gong ma) Drakpa Gyaltsen (Grags pa rgyal mtshan, b. 1374–d. 1432) himself helped finance the construction of Ganden Monastery and the establishment of the important Lhasa Mönlam (smon lam) prayer festival, which is still commemorated annually by the Gelukpa community. Between 1497 and 1517, a change in regime caused the loss of Geluk dominance in Ü. They were eclipsed by the Kagyupas (Bka’ rgyud pa), who had the favor of the new rulers, the Rinpung (Rin spungs) family of the west-central region, Tsang (Gtsang). In 1517 the Rinpungpas were driven out of Lhasa, and the Gelukpas regained their previous status, thanks in part to the efforts of the second Dalai Lama, Gendun Gyatso (Dge ’dun rgya mtsho, b. 1475/1476–d. 1542), who had forged a network of alliances with important figures stretching from western Tibet, through Mustang in present-day Nepal, to the doorstep of Kham (Khams) in eastern Tibet. The fifth Dalai Lama, Ngawang Losang Gyatso (Ngag dbang blo bzang rgya mtsho, b. 1617–d. 1682), secured Mongol military assistance against his rivals, and in 1642 founded the Ganden Podrang (dga’ ldan pho brang, literally “Ganden citadel”), the system of government through which, until the 1950s, the Geluk secured their hold on the Tibetan state, and continued to expand the order, building new monasteries, appropriating for their own purposes monasteries founded by other orders, and establishing a complex set of bureaucratic traditions. In the 18th century, the Geluk gained influence at the Chinese court in Beijing under the Qing emperors, and became a significant religious force in Mongolia and the Russian regions of Kalmykia and Buryatia, as well. By the mid-1900s, the three major Geluk monasteries surrounding Lhasa—Ganden, Drepung (’Bras spungs, founded in 1416), and Sera (Se ra, founded in 1419)—were together home to upward of twenty thousand monks who exerted great political influence and produced important traditions of thought and practice. The Gelukpas retained their power in Tibet under successive Dalai Lamas, or their regents, until the Chinese takeover of the 1950s. Since 1959, the Geluk has lost much of its institutional prestige and authority in Tibet itself, but in the Tibetan diaspora in South Asia and beyond, it remains powerful and distinctive, in part because of charisma, intellect, and activities of the fourteenth Dalai Lama. The great pre-1959 monastic institutions retain only a trace of their former glory in Tibet, but have reemerged in India, where they now count almost as many monks as they did in their heyday on the plateau.