The Gelug, often rendered as the “Way of Virtue” or “Virtuous System,” arose in Tibet through the work of Je Tsongkhapa (1357–1419), a scholar-monk who immersed himself in the Kadam, Sakya, and Kagyu traditions. Drawing especially on Atīśa’s Kadam lineage, he sought to revitalize Buddhist practice by clarifying doctrine and tightening ethical discipline. This reformist impulse took institutional form with the founding of Ganden Monastery in 1409, which became the first Gelug seat, and with the establishment of a strong monastic network grounded in shared study and practice. Over time, the Dalai Lama lineage, beginning with Gendun Drup as Tsongkhapa’s disciple, became closely associated with this school and its leadership role.

At the heart of Gelug thought and practice lies the lamrim, the “stages of the path,” which presents spiritual development as a carefully graded journey. Inspired by Atīśa and systematized by Tsongkhapa, this path moves from foundational reflections on ethics, karma, and impermanence, through genuine renunciation and the aspiration for liberation, to the vast motivation of bodhicitta and the six perfections. This gradual structure is not merely theoretical; it is meant to ensure that higher practices, including tantra, rest on a stable basis of moral integrity and clear understanding. In this way, the school frames enlightenment as the ripening of a well-ordered progression rather than a sudden leap.

A defining philosophical commitment of the Gelug school is its embrace of Prāsaṅgika-Madhyamaka, following Nāgārjuna and Candrakīrti, as the most refined expression of the Middle Way. Emptiness is understood as the absence of inherent existence in all phenomena, while their conventional functioning is preserved through dependent arising. This view is cultivated through rigorous analysis, logic, and debate, so that meditative realization is grounded in precise reasoning rather than vague intuition. The curriculum, centered on the great Indian treatises on Madhyamaka, Perfection of Wisdom, Vinaya, Abhidharma, and logic, reflects this conviction that wisdom must be sharpened through disciplined study.

Equally central is the insistence that method and wisdom, compassion and insight, must be cultivated together. Bodhicitta, ethical conduct, and generosity are not secondary to philosophical understanding but its necessary counterpart, forming the “method” side of the path that balances the insight into emptiness. In the same spirit, tantra is fully embraced yet carefully subordinated to sutra foundations: tantric practice is undertaken only after firm grounding in ethics, lamrim, and correct view. This safeguards against the misuse of esoteric methods and rejects any suggestion that tantra licenses moral laxity. The Gelug vision thus portrays a path where strict monastic discipline, deep philosophical inquiry, and integrated sutra–tantra practice converge in a single, coherent way of virtue.