Je Tsongkhapa Lobsang Drakpa
Tsongkhapa (1357–1419) is a well-known Tibetan religious philosopher. In his iconic form, wearing a tall yellow hat, he is the center of the Gelugpa (Tib. dge lugs pa) sect that was dominant in Tibet until the Chinese takeover in 1951, and whose de facto leader is the Dalai Lama. The historical Tsongkhapa flourished in the period immediately following the final redaction of the Buddhist canon in Tibetan translation (Tib. bKa’ ‘gyur, pronounced Kanjur). He propounds a distinctive Middle Way (Sk. madhyamaka, Tib. dbu ma pa) philosophy by differentiating between Candrakīrti’s (fl. ca. 600) correct Consequentialist (Tib. thal ‘gyur pa, Sk. *prāsaṅgika) interpretation of the works of the Indian philosopher Nāgārjuna (third-fourth century), and an incorrect Autonomist (Tib. rang rgyud pa, Sk. *svātantrika) interpretation by Bhāviveka (also known