gaden

Gaden, often transliterated as Ganden, is a Tibetan Buddhist toponym and the name of several monasteries and places. The most prominent are Ganden Monastery near Lhasa, Tibet, and Gaden Monastery in Mundgod, Karnataka, India.

Ganden Monastery near Lhasa was founded in 1409 by Je Tsongkhapa, the founder of the Gelug school. It became one of the earliest and most important centers of Gelug scholarship and monastic life. The monastery, located about 25 miles northeast of Lhasa, suffered extensive damage during 20th-century conflicts and was subsequently rebuilt in stages; after 1959 many of its monks joined the Tibetan diaspora.

Gaden Monastery in Mundgod, established by Tibetan refugees in the 1960s, is located within the Mundgod Tibetan settlement in Karnataka. It grew into one of the largest Gelug monasteries in exile and is organized around major monastic colleges that train monks in philosophy, debate, and ritual arts. It is part of the broader exile monastic network that maintains Tibetan Buddhist scholarship and religious practice outside Tibet.

The name Gaden is also used in other contexts in Tibetan communities, including toponyms and family names. See also Ganden Monastery (Lhasa).