Kadampa Buddhism
The New Kadampa Tradition – International Kadampa Buddhist Union is an international association of Mahayana Buddhist study and meditation centres that follow the Kadampa Buddhist tradition, founded by Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso after he moved to the West in 1977 on the request of students in England seeking pure Buddhist teachings.
Unbroken lineage
New Kadampa Buddhism is a special presentation of Buddha’s teachings designed especially for the people of the modern world. All the practices come from Buddha Shakyamuni and have been preserved over the centuries by an unbroken lineage of fully realized Teachers.
The great Indian Buddhist Master Atisha (982-1054 AD) was responsible for reintroducing pure Buddhism into Tibet. Je Tsongkhapa was a great 14th century Tibetan Buddhist Master who promoted and developed the Kadampa Buddhism that Atisha had introduced three centuries earlier. His followers became known as the ‘New Kadampas’, and to this day Kadampa Buddhists worldwide study his teachings and strive to emulate his pure example.
Venerable Geshe Kelsang Gyatso is a fully accomplished meditation master and internationally renowned teacher of Buddhism. Geshe-la, as he is affectionately called by his students, is primarily responsible for the worldwide revival of Kadampa Buddhism in our time.
Protection from suffering and problems
By practicing Buddha’s teachings, or Dharma, we protect ourself from suffering and problems.
Practicing Dharma is the supreme method for improving the quality of our human life because it depends not upon external development or material progress, but upon the inner development of peace and happiness.
Buddhism is Buddha’s teachings and the inner experiences or realizations of these teachings. These have a timeless and universal relevance and can be practiced by anyone in any culture, regardless of nationality, culture, age or gender.