Within Tibetan Buddhism, the Dalai Lama and other tulkus function as incarnate embodiments of the bodhisattva ideal, returning again and again to sustain the living stream of the teachings. The Dalai Lama is especially revered as an emanation of Avalokiteśvara, the bodhisattva of compassion, and thus serves as a supreme spiritual guide whose authority rests not only on institutional position but on this compassionate identity. Traditionally, the Dalai Lama has held both spiritual and temporal leadership, acting as a unifying figure whose presence gathers diverse Tibetan Buddhist communities under a shared vision of doctrine and practice. Through public teachings, moral guidance, and ritual activity, this office sets a standard for how the Mahāyāna ethos of compassion and wisdom is to be embodied in concrete life.

The role of the Dalai Lama is also deeply scholastic and institutional. As a patron and protector of monasteries and study centers, this figure supports rigorous training in philosophy, logic, monastic discipline, and ritual, thereby shaping the intellectual and ethical contours of the tradition. By recognizing key abbots and lineage-holders, and by offering authoritative interpretation of doctrine, the Dalai Lama helps maintain the coherence and integrity of the various lineages. Large-scale empowerments, oral transmissions, and detailed explanations of practice serve to keep both sūtra and tantra lineages intact, ensuring that advanced Vajrayāna methods remain grounded in a stable framework of Mahāyāna thought and conduct.

The wider tulku system extends this pattern of incarnate leadership throughout Tibetan Buddhism. Tulkus are recognized as the rebirths of accomplished masters who consciously return to continue their work, inheriting the spiritual responsibilities, teachings, and institutional roles of their predecessors. They often serve as abbots of major monasteries or heads of particular lineages, guiding monks, nuns, and lay followers through ritual leadership, doctrinal instruction, and personal counsel. In this way, they provide continuity not only for specific monasteries, but for distinct tantric cycles, commentarial traditions, and scholastic styles associated with the different schools.

At the heart of this system lies the transmission of living lineages. Tulkus authorize and bestow empowerments, oral instructions, and esoteric practices that cannot be preserved solely in written form, thereby maintaining unbroken lines of blessing and practice. Their recognition from an early age and subsequent intensive training in scripture, logic, ritual, and meditation are designed so that the same mind-stream can resume its previous commitments with renewed capacity. Through this interplay of rebirth, education, and institutional responsibility, the Dalai Lama and other tulkus embody a model of leadership in which Mahāyāna compassion and Vajrayāna skillful means are woven into a continuous fabric of guidance, preservation, and renewal.