The Kadampa (Tibetan: བཀའ་གདམས་པ་, Wylie: Bka' gdams pa) tradition was a Tibetan Mahayana Buddhist school. Dromtönpa, a Tibetan lay master and the foremost disciple of the great Indian Buddhist Master Atisha (982-1054), founded it and passed three lineages to his disciples. The Kadampa were quite famous and respected for their proper and earnest Dharma practice. The most evident teachings of that tradition were the teachings on Bodhicitta (later these special presentations became known as Lojong (Blo-ljong)) and Lamrim (Stages of the Path) by Atisha.

After the death of Atisha (1054) his main disciple Lama Dromtonpa (Drom-tön Gyal-we Jungne, 1005–1064) organized his transmissions into the legacy known as "The Four Divinities and Three Dharmas" - a tradition whereby an individual practitioner could perceive all doctrines of the Sutras and Tantras as non-contradictory and could personally apply them all as complementary methods for the accomplishment of enlightenment. Eventually this lineage came to be known as Atisha's Kadam Tradition, the Marvellous Legacy of Seven Divine Dharmas.

Kelsang Gyatso is a Buddhist monk, "meditation master, scholar, and author" of 22 books based on the teachings of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. He is the founder and former spiritual director of the New Kadampa Tradition ~ International Kadampa Buddhist Union (NKT-IKBU), a Western Buddhist order based primarily on the teachings of the Gelugpa tradition, albeit "not subordinate to Tibetan authorities other than Geshe Gyatso himself." The NKT-IKBU has grown to become a global Buddhist organisation that currently lists more than 200 centres and around 900 branch classes/study groups in 40 countries.

Geshe Kelsang was born in Tibet in 1931 and ordained at the age of eight. After leaving Tibet, he spent eighteen years in retreat in the Himalayas in India. In 1976 he was invited by Lama Thubten Yeshe via their spiritual guide, Trijang Rinpoche, to become the resident teacher at the main FPMT center, Manjushri Institute in Ulverston, Cumbria in England. Following a three-year retreat in Tharpaland, Dumfries, he founded the NKT-IKBU in 1991. He retired as General Spiritual Director of the NKT-IKBU in August 2009 but continues to write books and practice materials.