The
Ganden Tripa or
Gaden Tripa ( "Holder of the Ganden Throne") is the title of the spiritual leader of the
Gelug school of
Tibetan Buddhism, the school that controlled central
Tibet from the mid-17th century until the 1950s. As of May, 2015 the present head of the Gelugpa order is Thubten Nyima Lungtok Tenzin Norbu, the 102nd Ganden Tripa and not, as is often misunderstood, the
Dalai Lama.