Kelsang Gyatso

Geshe Kelsang Gyatso (4 June 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.

Life and education in Tibet
Geshe Kelsang Gyatso was born on july 19th, 1931, 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."

Leaving Tibet and life in India
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 &mdash; 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."

Journey to the West
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. In 1991, following a three-year retreat in Tharpaland, Dumfries, he founded the NKT-IKBU. 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. 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. At that time, the Geshe studies programme was taught by Jampa Tekchok and then Konchog Tsewang (1982–1990). (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. )

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

Establishing Buddhist centres
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 given permission to update the presentation of the dharma (teachings of Buddhism) to be clear and accessible to western students.

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. 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.

Emphasis on lineage
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 &mdash; 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.

Ordination of Westerners
The new Kadampa tradition provides a modern supportive environment for those who sincerely wish to take their devotion to Buddhism deeper by becoming ordained.

Development of Western Dharma teachers
Kelsang Gyatso founded the New Kadampa Tradition "to bring pure Buddhist teachings to the west," where he would train equally four types of teacher: monks, nuns, lay men and lay women. NKT-IKBU Dharma Centres are mixed communities of lay and ordained practitioners who are all on the same teaching programs. He also promoted the development of local teachers in their own language. This is a departure from most Tibetan Buddhist Centres where monastics take precedence over lay people, monks take precedence over nuns, and Tibetans take precedence over Westerners.

In a teaching called Training as a Qualified Dharma Teacher, Kelsang Gyatso explained where the teachers of the NKT-IKBU come from:

"We need qualified Teachers. The New Kadampa Tradition cannot buy qualified Teachers, nor can we invite them from outside. We need Teachers who can teach the twelve texts that we have chosen as our objects of study in the Teacher Training Programme and the Foundation Programme. Other Teachers cannot teach these books because they have not studied them and they do not have the transmissions. Therefore, qualified Teachers within the New Kadampa Tradition can come only from our own students."

Retirement
In August 2009, he voluntarily stepped down as General Spiritual Director of the NKT-IKBU, in a democratic system of succession that he established in the NKT-IKBU's "Internal Rules".

Kelsang Gyatso engaged in meditation retreat and continued to write Dharma books to preserve and promote the Kadampa Buddhism of Je Tsongkhapa, in accordance with the instructions of Trijang Rinpoche. According to Richard Spanswick, "Since taking up residence at Conishead Priory, Kelsang has been working to produce a complete set of instructions for westerners wishing to set out on the path to enlightenment." Continuing this task, a new book entitled Modern Buddhism: The Path of Wisdom and Compassion was released in January 2010, and its oral transmission was given by Kelsang Gyatso at the Fall 2010 NKT-IKBU Festival.

Kelsang Gyatso did not made any public appearances between October 2013 and his death in September 2022. The NKT stated he was "in strict retreat".

Death
On 19 September 2022, the NKT announced the death of Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche (which occurred two days before) via their website and social media. Their statement reads:

"'On September 17 our most precious Spiritual Guide Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso Rinpoche showed the manner of passing peacefully into the clear light.'"

The community of Kechara Forest Retreat and visiting sangha from Shar Gaden, Serpom, Phelgyeling and Segyu monasteries offered a Lama Chopa puja and many candle offerings dedicated for Ven. Geshe-la's swift return: "Having established the New Kadampa Tradition, Ven. Geshe Kelsang Gyatso was the spiritual father to tens of thousands around the world. A true Kadampa master, Geshe-la dedicated his entire life to upholding the pure traditions of Je Tsongkhapa and Dorje Shugden, and his contribution to the lineage was unparalleled in recent times."