Our lineage: Gelug
The idea of a lineage is the act of passing knowledge down in a systematic way from teacher to teacher or teacher to student. In Tibetan Buddhism lineage is considered important so that one can trace the teachings they are receiving back to it's original source. This is often Shakyamuni Buddha or another master that has made a profound contribution to the dissemination of the original teachings of the Buddha.
ZaChoeje Rinpoche, our spiritual director, is a heart student of His Holiness the 14th Dalai. He was trained in Drepung Loseling Monastic University which is an institution of the Ganden Monastery family that was originated by Lobsang Drakpa Tsonghkapa (Tibetan: ཙོང་ཁ་པ་; Wylie: Tsong-kha-pa) (1357 – 1419) or simply "Je Rinpoche". Je Rinpoche's immense contribution to the organization of the teachings, and with the foundation of the Monastery Ganden in 1409, he laid down the basis for what was later named the Gelug ("virtuous ones") order.
His main source of inspiration was the Kadampa (Bka'-gdams-pa) tradition, the legacy of Atiśa Dipamkara, one of the great Nalanda masters. Based on Tsongkhapa's teaching, the two distinguishing characteristics of the Gelug tradition are:
the union of Sutra and Tantra, and
the emphasis on Vinaya (the moral code of discipline)
Prayer by His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama
Now it is about six hundred years since Lama Tsong Khapa lived in Tibet. About three hundred years earlier, Dipamkara Atisha founded the great Kadam tradition. Lama Tsong Khapa used this school as his foundation. He started a tradition that emphasised tantric study that concentrated on practices of the three deities, Guhyasamaja, Heruka Chakrasamvara and Yamantaka.
May this tradition of the Conqueror, Losang Dragpa,
That teaches the outward, calm and controlled demeanour of the hearer,
And the internal poise associated with the two stages of the yogic practitioner,
And adopts both Sutra and Tantra as mutually complementary paths flourish.
And as to what is achieved through the adoption of such a practice,
we have the words:
May this tradition of the Conqueror, Losang Dragpa
That takes the emptiness explained in the Causal Vehicle (sutra),
And the great bliss that is achieved through the Resultant Means (tantra), Conjoined with the essence of the collection of eighty-four thousand teachings flourish.
