Editing New Kadampa Tradition (section)

==History==
===1975–7: Manjushri Institute===
The NKT can be traced back to its precursor organisation, the [[Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition]]  (FPMT), then known as the Yeshe Foundation. The Yeshe Foundation was formed following early encounters between Westerners and the Tibetan Gelug teachers Lama Thubten Yeshe and Lama Thubten Zopa Rinpoche in a monastery they founded in 1969 near Kathmandu, Nepal. Their Western following created a network of Buddhist centres and, in 1975, Lama Yeshe founded the Yeshe Foundation to coordinate the groups and promote their purpose of "preserving the principles and teachings of Mahayana Buddhism". Its administrative headquarters were, at the time, based in the United States. These centres followed a pattern where, as the centre was established, Lama Zopa would appoint a Tibetan geshe to run it.<ref name="Early History">{{harvnb|Kay|1997}}{{pb}}{{harvnb|Waterhouse|1997|p=165}}</ref>

In September 1975, Peter Kedge and Harvey Horrocks had identified [[Conishead Priory]], a neglected Victorian mansion in [[Ulverston]], as the potential new centre for the Yeshe Foundation in the United Kingdom, and had already selected the name Manjushri Institute for Wisdom Culture.<ref name=ReachingOut/> In 1976, the Yeshe Foundation purchased Conishead Priory for £70,000, having successfully fundraised the capital.{{sfn|Bluck|2006|p=129}}<ref name="history">{{harvnb|Kay|2004|pp=55, 56}}</ref> On 1 July 1976, the [[Manjushri Institute]] was legally established as a charitable trust with four trustees: Lama Yeshe, Kedge, Horrocks, and Roy Tyson, with Lama Yeshe as the spiritual director.<ref>{{harvnb|Kay|2004|p=56}}</ref>

Later that year, Thubten Yeshe, [[Thubten Zopa Rinpoche]] and Peter Kedge visited India to invite Kelsang Gyatso, a former classmate of Lama Zopa's, to teach the programme at Manjushri Institute on a three-year contract.<ref name="Waterhouse 1997 165">{{harvnb|Waterhouse|1997|p=165}}</ref><ref name="history"/><ref name=ReachingOut/> In November 1977, Geshe Kelsang arrived at the Manjushri Institute, on a supported visa, as its first resident teacher.<ref name=ReachingOut/><ref name="Early History" />

===1978–85: Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition===
In 1978, Publications for Wisdom Culture moved to the Manjushri Institute. On 24 August, at a formal meeting, the directors changed the name of the Yeshe Foundation, which Lama Yeshe said he did not like, to the Foundation for the Preservation of the Mahayana Tradition (FPMT).<ref name=Beginings>[https://fpmt.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2008/12/WinterManjushri.pdf "Winter at Manjushri"], ''Mandala'', January–March 2009, FPMT Publications, pp. 64–66</ref>

The same year, Kelsang Gyatso also established the Madhyamaka Centre in [[York]] under his own spiritual direction.<ref name="problems">{{harvnb|Kay|2004|pp=61,62,63,64}}{{pb}}{{harvnb|Blomfield|2022}}</ref> While the FPMT aimed to embrace all lineages of Tibetan Buddhism, Kelsang Gyatso believed in a more exclusivist teaching, creating conflict between the FPMT's leadership and Geshe Gyatso, which was deepened by the creation of a new centre distinct from the FPMT.{{sfn|Blomfield|2022}} Subsequently, Lama Yeshe sent a letter to Kelsang Gyatso asking him to step down as resident teacher at the Manjushri Institute.<ref name="problems" /><ref name=ReachingOut>[https://fpmt.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2009/07/ReachingOutAHistory.pdf "Reaching Out"], ''Mandala'', July–September 2009, pp. 29–30</ref>

Around this time, Peter Kedge, the principal officer of FPMT, also left the Manjushri Institute to manage FPMT's business projects in Hong Kong.<ref name="problems"/> In 1979, Lama Yeshe asked Geshe Jampa Tekchok to teach a twelve-year Geshe Studies Programme at the Manjushri Institute, modelled on the program of studies for the traditional [[geshe]] degree.<ref>{{harvnb|Kay|2004|pp=53,77, 232}}</ref><ref name="history"/>

By 1981, the management committee of Manjushri Institute was made up principally of Kelsang Gyatso's closest students, also known as "the Priory group".<ref name="problems"/><ref name="BIMW">Daniel Cozort, ''The Making of Western Lama in "Buddhism in the Modern World'', {{ISBN|0-19-514698-0}}, page 226</ref> This group, which had initially been left to its own devices, gradually became dissatisfied with the increasingly centralised nature of the FPMT.<ref name="problems"/><ref name="Waterhouse 1997 165"/> According to Kay, Lama Yeshe tried at different times to reassert his authority over the institute, but his attempts were unsuccessful.<ref name=p63>{{harvnb|Kay|2004|p=3}}</ref>

After disputes between the FPMT management and the residents of the Manjushri Institute escalated, the FPMT managers asked the Dalai Lama's Office to send mediators to help solve the problem.<ref name="problems"/><ref name=ReachingOut/> In October 1985, four new trustees were appointed to the Manjushri Institute: two chosen by FPMT and two by the Manjushri Institute. A new constitution was formulated as a result.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

===1987–1990: Retreat===
From 1987 to 1990, Kelsang Gyatso engaged in a three-year [[retreat (spiritual)|retreat]]  in [[Dumfries]], [[Scotland]]. Geshe Losang Pende from Ganden Shartse monastery was invited by Kelsang Gyatso to lead the General Programme in his absence.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

During the period of retreat, Kelsang Gyatso wrote several books and planned to establish the NKT.<ref name="ReferenceA"/> According to Kay, Geshe Kelsang's first major development during the retreat was the introduction of the Manjushri Institute's new Teacher Training Programme (TTP).{{sfn|Kay|2004|p=74}}

In 1990, Kelsang Gyatso taught in the US, including visiting the centre of Geshe Lhundup Sopa in Madison, Wisconsin. During this time, pictures of the Dalai Lama were also removed from Kelsang Gyatso's centres; NKT says this was to clarify that the Dalai Lama was not a lineage guru of those centres.<ref name=removal/>

===1991–2: Formation of the New Kadampa Tradition===
In April 1991, Geshe Kelsang announced the formation of the New Kadampa Tradition, an independent organisation, and invited the centres he had established to join.<ref name=p79>{{harvnb|Kay|2004|p=79}}</ref> In 1992, a new charitable company, Manjushri Mahayana Buddhist Centre, was incorporated, separate from the FPMT. It later became the Manjushri Kadampa Meditation Centre.<ref>The New Kadampa Tradition, charity registration number: 2758093, October 1992</ref><ref>{{harvnb|Kay|2004|p=233}}</ref><ref name="problems"/> It has remained the NKT's flagship centre since that time.<ref name="Cozort 2003 234">{{harvnb|Cozort|2003|p=234}}</ref> The Manjushri Institute Library, with over 3,000 books, was removed from the site.<ref>{{harvnb|Kay|2004|p=67}}</ref><ref name=removal>{{harvnb|Kay|2004|p=76}}</ref> From this point onwards, only students of Kelsang Gyatso were able to teach at his centres.<ref name=removal/>