Kelsang Gyatso

Geshe Kelsang Gyatso (19 July 1931 – 17 September 2022) was a Buddhist monk, meditation teacher, scholar, and author.

He was the founder and spiritual director of the New Kadampa Tradition-International Kadampa Buddhist Union (NKT-IKBU), a registered non-profit, modern Buddhist organization that came out of the Gelugpa school/lineage.

They have 1,300 centres around the world, including temples, city temples and retreat centres that offer an accessible approach to ancient wisdom.

Geshe Kelsang Gyatso was born in 1931 on the 4th day of the 6th month of the Tibetan lunar calendar, in Yangcho Tang, Western Tibet and named Lobsang Chuponpa.

At eight years old, he joined Ngamring Jampa Ling Monastery where he was ordained as a novice monk and given the monastic name "Kelsang Gyatso" meaning "Ocean of Good Fortune".

He "went on to study at Sera, one of the great monasteries of Tibet’s dominant Gelug school. He was trained in the traditional method of intense scholastic study and debate, and he studied for a geshe degree, an advanced distinction in Buddhist scholarship."

After escaping to India via Nepal during the Tibetan exodus in 1959, Kelsang Gyatso stayed at the monastic study centre established at Buxa Fort in West Bengal, India.

All he brought with him were two Buddhist scriptures — Shantideva's Guide to the Bodhisattva's Way of Life and a text by Je Tsongkhapa.

In 1971, the Indian Government donated large tracts of land in South India to the community in exile, where separate monasteries were established.

At this time, Kelsang Gyatso left the monastery at Buxa for Mussoorie (a hill station in the Indian state of Uttarakhand) where he taught and engaged in intensive meditation retreat for sixteen years.

At that time Kelsang Gyatso was, as David Kay puts it, "by all accounts, a very well respected scholar and meditator" within the Tibetan exile community.

He spent much of his time in India in retreat: "over the next two decades he spent long periods in retreat in the Himalayan foothills."

In 1976, at the suggestion of the Dalai Lama, Kelsang Gyatso was invited by Lama Thubten Yeshe through their mutual spiritual guide Trijang Rinpoche to become the resident teacher at the main FPMT center, Manjushri Institute in Ulverston, Cumbria in England.

He arrived in August 1977 and gave his first teaching on Lamrim on September 10.

Under Kelsang Gyatso's spiritual direction, Manjushri Institute "became a thriving training and retreat center."

Kelsang Gyatso taught the General Program at Manjushri from 1977 to 1987.

In 1979, Kelsang Gyatso opened a Buddhist teaching centre (Madhyamaka Centre in Yorkshire) under the spiritual direction of his teacher H.E. Trijang Rinpoche.

Geshe Kelsang Gyatso was give permission to update the presentation of the dharma (teachings of Buddhism) to be clear and accessible to western students.

At that time, the Geshe studies programme was taught by Jampa Tekchok and then Konchog Tsewang (1982–1990).

On October 13, 1983, Kelsang Gyatso became a naturalized British citizen.

In 1987, Kelsang Gyatso entered a 3-year retreat at Tharpaland International Retreat Centre in Dumfries, Scotland.

During his retreat, he wrote five books and established the foundations of the NKT-IKBU.

(In 1990 the Geshe Studies Programme at Manjushri Institute was cancelled, as it had been in most of the other FPMT Centres where it had been established. )

In 1991, following a three-year retreat in Tharpaland, Dumfries, he founded the NKT-IKBU.

After completing his retreat in the early months of 1991, Kelsang Gyatso announced the creation of the NKT-IKBU, an event which was celebrated by his students in the NKT-IKBU magazine Full Moon as "a wonderful development in the history of the Buddhadharma."

Since that time, the NKT-IKBU has grown to comprise 1,300 centres worldwide, most principally study and meditation centers, some principally retreat centers, and six traditional-style Temples for World Peace.

Kelsang Gyatso's teachings have a practical emphasis on teachings based on Lamrim, Lojong and Mahamudra.

Waterhouse commented that, "He teaches in English with a strong Tibetan accent. He is an endearing character to look at; petite with slightly downcast eyes which look about him as he walks or teaches his devoted students."

Spanswick observes that, "many of those who hear him speak are struck by his wisdom and sincerity."

At the heart of the NKT-IKBU are its three study programs: the General Program, the Foundation Program, and the Teacher Training Program.

According to the NKT-IKBU, it "seeks not to offer a westernized form of Buddhism, but rather to make traditional Gelugpa Buddhism accessible to westerners."

To achieve this, Kelsang Gyatso taught himself English.

Kay says that NKT-IKBU practitioners practice their tradition exclusively, "eschewing eclecticism."

Kelsang Gyatso's "conservative and traditional presentation of Buddhism" is appealing to Westerners who "wish for a meaningful alternative to spiritual pluralism."

According to Kelsang Gyatso in Understanding the Mind:

"Every Teacher and every tradition has a slightly different approach and employs different methods. The practices taught by one Teacher will differ from those taught by another, and if we try to combine them we shall become confused, develop doubts, and lose direction. If we try to create a synthesis of different traditions we shall destroy the special power of each and be left only with a mishmash of our own making that will be a source of confusion and doubt."

Therefore, Kelsang Gyatso taught in Great Treasury of Merit that the most effective way to progress spiritually is by "following one tradition purely — relying upon one Teacher, practicing only his teachings, and following his Dharma Protector. If we mix traditions many obstacles arise and it takes a long time for us to attain realizations."

Geshe Kelsang was known as an exponent of Dorje Shugden practices, which brought him into conflict with the Tibetan political establishment.". In 1996 he was accused of flagrant defamation of the Dalai Lama, which led to his expulsion from Sera Je Monastic University in India.

He retired as General Spiritual Director of the NKT-IKBU in August 2009 but continued to write books and practice materials.

Lama Yeshe's decision to invite his former classmate to be Resident Teacher at the FPMT's Manjushri Institute in England was advised by the Dalai Lama.