Editing New Kadampa Tradition (section)

===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" />