Geshe Kelsang Gyatso

[Dave The Seeker]

I have just gotten one of his books, Modern Buddhism, The Path of Compassion and Wisdom, vol 3 Prayers for Daily Practice.
I have been reciting the prayers before and after meditation,and they seem very uplifting and fulfilling.
Have any of you read any other of his books?
I'm going to be getting more of them, bonus is they're free for the kindle, and other media devices.

Kindest wishes

[gad rgyangs]

[catmoon]

First off, I have to point out that discussion of the NKT is one of the topics section 4 of the ToS was written about. We don't do NKT discussions on this board.

The great bulk of GKG's writing is middle of the road, completely orthodox Gelug teaching. He actually had mostly the same teachers that taught the Dalai Lama his stuff.

However there are points of strong dispute between the Gelug mainstream and the NKT, which we do not discuss here because they invariably blow up into horrendous flame wars. If these battles interest you, you can Google them up some time, but we are very serious about keeping these disputes off of Dharma Wheel.

[gregkavarnos]

I have just gotten one of his books, Modern Buddhism, The Path of Compassion and Wisdom, vol 3 Prayers for Daily Practice.
I have been reciting the prayers before and after meditation,and they seem very uplifting and fulfilling.
Have any of you read any other of his books?
I'm going to be getting more of them, bonus is they're free for the kindle, and other media devices.

Kindest wishes

After a Tonglen/Lojong retreat (organised and taught by Kagyu practitioners) I brought and read his book "Eight Steps To Happiness", this was before I was aware of all the hoo-ha surrounding him and his organisation, and the teachings in the book did not differ in the slightest from what I was taught at the retreat (or other books from other authors that I read subsequently). I don't know about his other books though.

[Blue Garuda]

For discussion of Geshe Kelsang's work there are alternative websites with different Terms of Service. There is a forum, freesangha.com, and a couple of Facebook groups, one of which is for followers of Geshe Kelsang, the other for the New Kadampa.

I study with Gelugpa Geshes and previously with Geshe Kelsang's organisation, the New Kadampa Tradition (NKT) - aside from the one contentious issue there is no difference in the teachings. Geshe Kelsang bases his books on traditional Gelugpa sources such as Pabongka's 'Liberation in the Palm of Your Hand' which is also an excellent text.

[davcuts]

First of all Kelsang Gyatso is not a Geshe. He never earned the title. Second Kelsang Gyatso came into power after he blackmailed the FPMT over drug trafficking to gain control of the multi million dollar Manjusri Institute. Lastly there is a lot of controversy as to just who writes his books. I encourage all to do their homework when it comes to Kelsang Gyatso and the NKT. There is a group I created for former members called New Kadampa Survivors. We now have over a thousand members. The fact the group even needs to exist is testament at how harmful the NKT is.

[Dechen Norbu]

Hi friend (The Seeker),

Before you proceed, I advise you to take some time and read the webpages linked to the ToS under point 4.
My personal take is for you to avoid any association with NKT. This doesn't mean developing any feeling of hostility for their members/ sympathizers.

This topic is now locked.