Within the Gelug tradition, lamrim functions as the structural backbone of the entire path of practice, rather than as a single technique among many. Drawing on Atisha’s graded presentation and Tsongkhapa’s Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path, it arranges the Buddha’s teachings into a clear, progressive curriculum. This curriculum is articulated in terms of three scopes of motivation: an initial orientation concerned with ethical discipline and favorable rebirth, an intermediate orientation seeking liberation from samsara, and a great scope centered on bodhicitta and the bodhisattva ideal. By organizing the teachings in this way, lamrim offers a logical progression that allows practitioners of differing capacities to cultivate a stable foundation before moving to more advanced topics.

In practice, lamrim serves as the main object of study, contemplation, and meditation throughout the Gelug school. Monastic and lay practitioners repeatedly return to its themes—such as precious human life, impermanence, karma, suffering, compassion, and emptiness—as their daily contemplative diet. This repeated engagement is intended to transform the mind gradually, shifting it from ordinary self-concern toward renunciation, compassion, and insight. The emphasis on analytical meditation and reasoned understanding is characteristic: reflection and critical inquiry are woven into devotional and ethical practice so that realization rests on firm understanding rather than on mere habit or emotion.

Lamrim also plays a decisive role in how Gelug understands the relationship between sutra and tantra. Tantric practice is regarded as requiring the firm grounding of lamrim realizations—renunciation, bodhicitta, and a correct view of emptiness—so that powerful methods are guided by sound motivation and wisdom. In this sense, lamrim is treated as a prerequisite for tantra, ensuring that the more esoteric aspects of the path do not become detached from ethical discipline and compassionate intent. This insistence on sequence and foundation reflects a broader reformist concern for clarity, rigor, and gradual development.

Finally, lamrim standardizes and unifies the training across Gelug institutions and lineages. Because it integrates the full range of Buddhist teachings into a single coherent framework, teachers can guide disciples step by step along a shared map of the path. The frequent public teaching of lamrim by major lineage holders reinforces its status as the core curriculum and common language of practice. Through this graded path, the balance of wisdom and compassion is continually cultivated, and the entire trajectory from basic ethics to the highest aspirations of enlightenment is held together in a single, intelligible vision.