The new standard work and definitive biography of Tsongkhapa, one of the principle founders of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism–the school of the Dalai Lamas.

In this groundbreaking new addition to the Lives of the Masters series, scholar-practitioner Thupten Jinpa writes the most comprehensive portrait available of Je Tsongkhapa (1357-1419), one of the greatest Buddhist teachers in history. A devout monastic, Tsongkhapa took on the enormous task of locating and studying all of the Indian Buddhist classics available in Tibet in his day. He went on to synthesize this knowledge into a holistic approach to the path of awakening, integrating the pivotal Mahayana teachings on emptiness while retaining the important role of critical reason and avoiding the extreme of negating the reality of the everyday world. Included in this volume is a discussion of Tsongkhapa’s early life and training; his emergence as a precociously intelligent Buddhist mind; the composition of his Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, Great Exposition of Secret Mantra, and other important works; and his transformative effect on the understanding and practice of Buddhism in Tibet in his time–and ever after.