The lama Tsongkhapa

The high lama Tsongkhapa (1357–1419) is arguably the single most important figure in Tibetan Buddhist history. Retrospectively identified as founder of the lineage of Dalai Lamas, he taught meditations and wrote treatises that serve as the foundation for many of Tibetan Buddhism’s most prominent practices to this day.
This painting depicts some of the most important events in Tsongkhapa’s life. It shows him seated on a lotus pedestal, wearing a monk’s robe and yellow hat. Believed to be an incarnation of the bodhisattva of wisdom Manjushri, Tsongkhapa holds the bodhisattva’s characteristic implements: a flaming sword and the book of the Perfection of Wisdom (prajna-paramita / pha rol tu phyin pa), resting on lotuses held in his hands. Surrounding him are scenes of his life, showing him studying from various teachers, and teaching his students. These students would eventually coalesce as the Gelugpa Order, whose members are distinguished by their yellow hats and well known for monastic discipline and scholarship. The reincarnated lamas of both the Dalai and Panchen lineages belong to the Gelug Order.
After his death, Tsongkhapa appeared to one student in particular, Khedrup-jey, in a series of visions. These visions are depicted in the thangkas to the left and right of the present one.