Gelug. The Gelug or Gelug-pa (or dGe Lugs Pa, dge-lugs-pa, or Dgelugspa; Mongolian language: Sharyn shashin, Yellow religion) — also known as the Yellow Hat sect — is the newest of the schools of Tibetan Buddhism.[1] It was founded by Je Tsongkhapa (1357–1419), a philosopher and Tibetan religious leader.
The first monastery he established was at Ganden, and to this day the Ganden Tripa is the nominal head of the school, though its most influential figure is the Dalai Lama. Allying themselves with the Mongols as a powerful patron, the Gelug emerged as the pre-eminent Buddhist school in Tibet since the end of the 16th century. Origins and development[edit] His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama The Pictorial Portrait Project.