Gelug ritual culture is marked by a strong concern for systematization, ethical rigor, and scholastic clarity. Liturgies are framed by strict Vinaya observance and highly formalized monastic structures, so that daily, fortnightly, and annual rites are standardized across institutions. This produces a style of collective recitation and decorum that is more regimented than is often found in other Tibetan schools. Debate and Madhyamaka reasoning are not merely academic pursuits but permeate the ritual environment, shaping how texts are understood and how analytical meditation is woven into practice.

A distinctive feature is the integration of ritual with the graduated path teachings, so that practices are consciously aligned with stages such as renunciation, bodhicitta, and the understanding of emptiness. Deity yoga is approached in a particularly uniform and codified way, with special emphasis on Guhyasamāja, Cakrasaṃvara, Vajrabhairava (Yamantaka), and Kālacakra, following patterns laid down by Tsongkhapa and his immediate disciples. The procedures of generation and completion stages are treated as precise disciplines, and the associated manuals and liturgies tend to be textually fixed rather than locally improvised. This gives Gelug tantra a distinctive flavor when set beside the more terma-oriented Nyingma or the strongly experiential Mahāmudrā emphasis in many Kagyu contexts, and the Lamdré–Hevajra orientation of Sakya.

Lineage devotion also takes on a particular configuration. Rituals such as the Ganden Lha Gyäma place Tsongkhapa at the heart of guru-yoga, and the wider cult of lineage masters—Dalai Lamas, Panchen Lamas, Ganden Tripas—shapes feast offerings, long-life practices, and daily prayers. Protector practices are similarly characteristic: liturgies to figures such as Palden Lhamo, specific forms of Mahākāla, and state oracles like Nechung are carefully formalized and tied to institutional and, historically, governmental functions. Compared with Nyingma’s emphasis on revealed treasures, Gelug relies primarily on canonical tantras and Indian commentarial traditions as interpreted through Tsongkhapa’s lens, resulting in a ritual world that feels consciously “classical” and scholastic, even as it shares the same Vajrayāna ground with the other major Tibetan schools.