The Treasury of Knowledge: Book Five: Buddhist Ethics

by Jamgon Kongtrul, Kalu Rinpoche Translation Group (Translator)

In Tibetan religious literature, Jamgön Kongtrül's Treasury of Knowledge in ten books stands out as a unique, encyclopedic masterpiece embodying the entire range of Buddhist teachings as it was preserved in Tibet. This volume is the fifth book of that work and is considered by many scholars to be its heart. Jamgön Kongtrül explains the complete code of personal liberation as it applies to both monastic and lay persons, the precepts for those aspiring to the life of a bodhisattva, and the exceptional pledges for practitioners on the tantric path of pure perception.

Genres: Buddhism

568 pages, Hardcover

First published January 19, 1997

About the author

Jamgön Kongtrül is a name of a prominent line of Tibetan Buddhist teachers (lama), primarily identified with the first Jamgon Kongtrul, but also the name shared by members of a lineage held by tradition to be his subsequent reincarnations (tulku), to date.

The first Jamgon Kongtrul, Jamgön Kongtrül Lodrö Thayé, was one of the preeminent scholars in 19th century Tibet. Tibetan Buddhists believe that he had multiple simultaneous emanations; only one of these, Khyentse Özer, was called the second Jamgon Kongtrul. The recognition of the fourth Jamgon Kongtrul is presently in dispute, complicated by the ongoing controversy regarding the recognition of the genuine reincarnation of H.H. the 17th Karmapa.