Gelug, "the Virtuous Ones," was founded by Lama Tsongkhapa (1357–1419) in the fifteenth century, rooted in strict discipline, reverence for study, and the union of sutra and tantra. His "Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path" (Lamrim) lays out the path to awakening with clarity—and gives a steady base for the dead: from refuge and aspiration to the right view of emptiness, step by step.

Gelug monasteries (Ganden, Drepung, Sera, Tashilhunpo) are renowned for rigorous scholarship. Deliverance for the dead is not merely recitation but the merit of the monastic community’s study, reflection, and meditation—a lamp of refuge for the drifting bardo consciousness.

• **Lamrim guidance.** Following the path’s stages, a continuous support from refuge to emptiness for the dead.
• **Monastic merit.** Gelug stresses the Sangha and discipline; its collective merit is pure and vast.
• **Sutra-tantra unity.** Both exoteric aspiration and esoteric mantra, a fuller support.

Online deliverance follows the Gelug tradition:

• **Memorial tablet.** You provide the name and birth (or memorial) date; the lama sets a liberation tablet before the maṇḍala.
• **Sutra and mantra.** Following the Lamrim, the lama recites the path-prayer, Avalokiteśvara mantra, liberation scriptures, and hundred-syllable mantra.
• **Smoke offering and dedication.** Food and incense as smoke offering, dedicated solely to the dead’s freedom from suffering.
• **Forty-nine days.** Seven sessions by tradition, so merit continues, as the Lamrim teaches.

You need not be present—the lama’s practice completes what remains.