Treasury of Esoteric Instructions: An Explication of the Oral Instructions of the Path with Result

by Lama Dampa Sonam Gyaltsen, Cyrus Stearns (Translator)

The Lamdré, or the Path with the Result, is the most important system of tantric practice in the Sakya tradition of Tibetan Buddhism. The goddess Vajra Nairatmya first transmitted these teachings to the Indian adept Virupa (ca. seventh–eighth centuries) who then composed the Vajra Lines. Virupa’s words were transmitted orally until the Tibetan master Sachen Kunga Nyingpo (1092–1158) wrote eleven commentaries to explain them. Two hundred years later in 1342, Lama Dampa Sönam Gyaltsen (1312–75) composed the Treasury of Esoteric Instructions, the culminating commentary on Virupa’s work. According to His Holiness Sakya Trizin, there have been many treatises of commentary on the intention of the Vajra Lines. However this Treasury of Esoteric Instructions, the commentary composed by the sovereign of the doctrine Lama Dampa Sönam Gyaltsen Palsangpo of the Khön family, has many special qualities and is clearer and more easily understood than others, suitably elaborate and precise in drawing out the key points.

This book contains translations of Virupa’s Vajra Lines and Lama Dampa’s Treasury of Esoteric Instructions. Issued as a separate booklet is a translation of Pleasure Grove for the Intelligent, a structural commentary on the Vajra Lines written by Jamgön Ameshap Ngawang Kunga Sönam (1597–1659).

Hardcover

First published January 1, 2011