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The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment (Volume 1)
The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment (Lam rim chen mo) is one of the brightest jewels in the world's treasury of sacred literature. The author Tsong-kha-pa (1357–1419) completed this masterpiece in 1402 and it soon became one of the most renowned works of spiritual practice and philosophy in the world of Tibetan Buddhism. Tsong-kha-pa took great pains to base his incisive insights on the classical Indian Buddhist literature, illustrating his points with classical citations as well as with sayings of the masters of the earlier Kadampa tradition. In this way, the text demonstrates clearly how Tibetan Buddhism carefully preserved and developed the Indian Buddhist traditions. Volume One covers all practices that are prerequisite for developing the spirit of enlightenment (bodhicitta). Volume Two explains how to train in the six perfections in order to develop the heart of compassion indispensable for any student who wants to put the Dharma into practice. Volume Three contains a presentation of the two most important topics to be found in the Great meditative serenity (shamatha) and supramundane insight into the nature of reality (vipasyana).
440 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1990
151 people are currently reading
556 people want to read
About the author
Tsongkhapa
61 books39 followersJe Tsognkhapa (Tib.: tsong kha pa, ཙོང་ཁ་པ། "The Man from Onion Valley") was a monk of the Sakya tradition of Tibetan Buddhism whose activities led to the formation of the Geluk school, though he never announced the establishment of a new monastic order himself. He is also known by his ordained name Lobsang Drakpa (blo bzang grags pa) or simply as Je Rinpoche (rje rin po che).
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
September 30, 2010
When I read this book, it feels like Tsongkhapa enters my mind with a bulldozer and a dump truck and cleans out all the garbage hanging in there. He makes me feel that the thing that matters is Buddhist practice. Extremely potent, inspiring, and grounding.
March 29, 2017
The Great Treatise as a Whole
Although Robert Thurman is disposed to ebullience, I wholeheartedly agree with his assessment that Tsong Khapa's Great Treatise is "one of the greatest religious or secular works in the library of our human heritage." It is a masterpiece of clarity, beauty, and utility, presenting the great scholar-yogi's overview of the stages of practice based on sutra and the Indian and Tibetan commentaries, from its initial stages to the its most profound contemplations on the final nature of reality.
Deriving from the Indian tradition of Prajnaparamita commentarial literature, the Great Treatise offers a comprehensive overview of Buddhist thought, organized into a graded series of contemplations and practices and presented in a progression ranging from the fundamental practices that can be understood and carried out by anyone, and proceeding in an ascending hierarchy to more demanding practices for beings of "higher capacity."
The practices are generally presented in the sequence in which any yogi would undertake them, beginning with refuge, moving on through contemplations of the inevitability of death, and on to the development of compassion and so on, though the principle organizational principle is how each practice is regarded with respect to the necessary capacity to undertake it, as well as the degree of resolution it affords into the nature of reality. For example, the practices of concentrating the mind in meditation are the second to last topic in the series, but it is one of the first practices any yogi would need to undertake, and serves as a foundation for most of the rest. Without meditative stability, a yogi cannot focus sufficiently to undertake the various contemplations laid out in this treatise.
Generally speaking, the Great Treatise, like the rest of the Prajnaparamita literature, is treated by Gelukpa monks more like a encyclopedic compendium of practices and positions than an actual series of practices to be programmatically followed - at least according to Georges Dreyfus's observations. Nonetheless, the Great Treatise certainly can be taken as a core guide to practice, and I daresay that approach is particularly useful for lay people.
It is also particularly relevant for people who wish to undertake practice based on sutra and Indo-Tibetan commentaries, rather than taking the tantic path. Following the example of the Bengali Kadampa reformer Jowo Atisha, Tsong Khapa scrupulously distinguishes between the practices based on sutra and the practices based on tantra, emphasizing that they should be kept separate. Despite ultimately being concordant, the way they talk about the same concepts is sufficiently different that blending them is a cause of deep confusion, in his view.
I have read a great deal of Tsong Khapa's writing, and this work in particular stands out to me for its beguiling clarity and profundity. I can get into hashing out the differences in the object of negation as posited by the Svatantrika-Sautrantika-Madhyamikas versus the Prasangika-Madhyikas as much as the next guy, but this work is of obvious and great immediate existential relevance to anyone. It is superbly translated by a team of terrific scholars, most of whom have produced other writings I have greatly enjoyed. It is a masterpiece, and a cornerstone of the Tibetan tradition.
Volume One
This volume presents an extensive introduction to the topic of Buddhist practice as understood by Tsong Khapa, using Jowo Atisha's brief "Lamp on the Path to Enlightenment" as a guide. He discusses the fundamentals of practice such as how to conduct meditation and why it is worthwhile, and presents topics relevant to people of "lesser" and "middling" capacity, including the contemplation of the inevitability of death, an analysis of karma and reincarnation, and a close look at the kinds of suffering engaged by beings of different types.
I'm not crazy about the description of these practices as "lesser" or "middling", as it is easy to get the wrong impression. I would prefer to say that they are "fundamental," necessary as a starting point for anyone on the Buddhist path, and underlying all subsequent practices. Renunciation may not seem as exciting a topic as profound emptiness, but without a deep realization of what it entails, no higher insight will be possible.
Although Robert Thurman is disposed to ebullience, I wholeheartedly agree with his assessment that Tsong Khapa's Great Treatise is "one of the greatest religious or secular works in the library of our human heritage." It is a masterpiece of clarity, beauty, and utility, presenting the great scholar-yogi's overview of the stages of practice based on sutra and the Indian and Tibetan commentaries, from its initial stages to the its most profound contemplations on the final nature of reality.
Deriving from the Indian tradition of Prajnaparamita commentarial literature, the Great Treatise offers a comprehensive overview of Buddhist thought, organized into a graded series of contemplations and practices and presented in a progression ranging from the fundamental practices that can be understood and carried out by anyone, and proceeding in an ascending hierarchy to more demanding practices for beings of "higher capacity."
The practices are generally presented in the sequence in which any yogi would undertake them, beginning with refuge, moving on through contemplations of the inevitability of death, and on to the development of compassion and so on, though the principle organizational principle is how each practice is regarded with respect to the necessary capacity to undertake it, as well as the degree of resolution it affords into the nature of reality. For example, the practices of concentrating the mind in meditation are the second to last topic in the series, but it is one of the first practices any yogi would need to undertake, and serves as a foundation for most of the rest. Without meditative stability, a yogi cannot focus sufficiently to undertake the various contemplations laid out in this treatise.
Generally speaking, the Great Treatise, like the rest of the Prajnaparamita literature, is treated by Gelukpa monks more like a encyclopedic compendium of practices and positions than an actual series of practices to be programmatically followed - at least according to Georges Dreyfus's observations. Nonetheless, the Great Treatise certainly can be taken as a core guide to practice, and I daresay that approach is particularly useful for lay people.
It is also particularly relevant for people who wish to undertake practice based on sutra and Indo-Tibetan commentaries, rather than taking the tantic path. Following the example of the Bengali Kadampa reformer Jowo Atisha, Tsong Khapa scrupulously distinguishes between the practices based on sutra and the practices based on tantra, emphasizing that they should be kept separate. Despite ultimately being concordant, the way they talk about the same concepts is sufficiently different that blending them is a cause of deep confusion, in his view.
I have read a great deal of Tsong Khapa's writing, and this work in particular stands out to me for its beguiling clarity and profundity. I can get into hashing out the differences in the object of negation as posited by the Svatantrika-Sautrantika-Madhyamikas versus the Prasangika-Madhyikas as much as the next guy, but this work is of obvious and great immediate existential relevance to anyone. It is superbly translated by a team of terrific scholars, most of whom have produced other writings I have greatly enjoyed. It is a masterpiece, and a cornerstone of the Tibetan tradition.
Volume One
This volume presents an extensive introduction to the topic of Buddhist practice as understood by Tsong Khapa, using Jowo Atisha's brief "Lamp on the Path to Enlightenment" as a guide. He discusses the fundamentals of practice such as how to conduct meditation and why it is worthwhile, and presents topics relevant to people of "lesser" and "middling" capacity, including the contemplation of the inevitability of death, an analysis of karma and reincarnation, and a close look at the kinds of suffering engaged by beings of different types.
I'm not crazy about the description of these practices as "lesser" or "middling", as it is easy to get the wrong impression. I would prefer to say that they are "fundamental," necessary as a starting point for anyone on the Buddhist path, and underlying all subsequent practices. Renunciation may not seem as exciting a topic as profound emptiness, but without a deep realization of what it entails, no higher insight will be possible.
December 22, 2014
Very important Tibetan Buddhist work. volume 1 of 3. While helpful, this book should be read after a great deal of classic Buddhist writings. It is a commentary on these other works seeking to remind and reform 14th century monastic life.
See The Way to Freedom by H.H.D.L. which parallels the concepts of this set.
See The Way to Freedom by H.H.D.L. which parallels the concepts of this set.
March 15, 2012
This book takes a dedicated reader - I read all three volumes and it took me several months. If you are interested in the Gelug School of Buddhism, this book contextualized many others books that I have read in this area.
February 2, 2008
A bit dry for me but sill a great overview of the tantra and sutras of Tibetan buddhism, with scholarly works reviewed.
January 11, 2010
This is sort of my Buddhist dharma text so I'm always reading this.
May 22, 2015
My Meditation Master!
The philosophical and structural schematic of Gelugpa Buddhism based on the explications of Candrakirti and Nagarjuna.
Sooo, basically it's commentary and elucidation born of commentary and elucidation of the Dharma of the Tathagata.
If a guy is desperately passionate about the Dharma, this bone is worth the trouble of getting his hands on.
Be prepared for a tremendous amount of supplemental reading.
It took me about three years to give this the treatment that I thought it warranted.
For sure though, time is chiefly a path of discovery.
This explication of the Buddha's Dharma has influenced my contemplative life more than any other.
This treatise is divided into three volumes.
The philosophical and structural schematic of Gelugpa Buddhism based on the explications of Candrakirti and Nagarjuna.
Sooo, basically it's commentary and elucidation born of commentary and elucidation of the Dharma of the Tathagata.
If a guy is desperately passionate about the Dharma, this bone is worth the trouble of getting his hands on.
Be prepared for a tremendous amount of supplemental reading.
It took me about three years to give this the treatment that I thought it warranted.
For sure though, time is chiefly a path of discovery.
This explication of the Buddha's Dharma has influenced my contemplative life more than any other.
This treatise is divided into three volumes.
April 27, 2013
Great!
June 11, 2020
The Great Treatise on the stages of the path to enlightenment, by Lam Rem Chen Mo, Tsong – Kha – Pa, the Lamrim Chenmo Translation
This is one of the brightest jewels in any sacred literature of the world, this incredible insight into a world of Tibetan Buddhism. It was finished in 1402 by the master Tsong-kha-pa and is among Buddhist a classic masterpiece, taking the Buddhist deep philosophy of the human mind into simple practice. Because Buddhism is not complicated, is very simple but it is we who complicate it. Therefore this masterpiece takes it to step by step. It’s an essential text for all Buddhism practice used by students to put the teachings of the Dharma into daily life. All the Indian classic text demonstrates clearly understandable in a modern world and is the gateway to the higher teaching of the Sutras and Tantras. The work of the great Treatise tells the very vision propounded by Shakyamuni Buddha, who transformed his ego, deluded, restless and struggled mind into the beautiful vision of a man who finally found the answer he was seeking. A life free from a troubled mind were sharing, love, bliss and compassion opened the mind to Buddha-hood. Buddha gave us the greatest gift of all, the possibility to find enlightenment in a world of troubled water. The work of the Tibetan master Tsong-kha-pa is actually in 3 volumes and have never before been translated into English. I believe this book is for everyone that is already on the path and curious to not only know about Buddhism but practice Buddhism. If you love the easier literature on Buddhism by The Dalai Lama, who open your heart to it, and by Pema Chödron who makes you start where you are then this book will melt your heart and free your mind. It will be a book that most probably will follow you for the rest of your life. Karma Tshondro Tharchim (Kenneth Lyngaas) PhD Indian religions and philosophies committee. Get the book in our Eco lifestyle store. Volume 1-3 The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment: v. 1The Great Treatise On The Stages Of The Path To Enlightenment: v. 2The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment:
This is one of the brightest jewels in any sacred literature of the world, this incredible insight into a world of Tibetan Buddhism. It was finished in 1402 by the master Tsong-kha-pa and is among Buddhist a classic masterpiece, taking the Buddhist deep philosophy of the human mind into simple practice. Because Buddhism is not complicated, is very simple but it is we who complicate it. Therefore this masterpiece takes it to step by step. It’s an essential text for all Buddhism practice used by students to put the teachings of the Dharma into daily life. All the Indian classic text demonstrates clearly understandable in a modern world and is the gateway to the higher teaching of the Sutras and Tantras. The work of the great Treatise tells the very vision propounded by Shakyamuni Buddha, who transformed his ego, deluded, restless and struggled mind into the beautiful vision of a man who finally found the answer he was seeking. A life free from a troubled mind were sharing, love, bliss and compassion opened the mind to Buddha-hood. Buddha gave us the greatest gift of all, the possibility to find enlightenment in a world of troubled water. The work of the Tibetan master Tsong-kha-pa is actually in 3 volumes and have never before been translated into English. I believe this book is for everyone that is already on the path and curious to not only know about Buddhism but practice Buddhism. If you love the easier literature on Buddhism by The Dalai Lama, who open your heart to it, and by Pema Chödron who makes you start where you are then this book will melt your heart and free your mind. It will be a book that most probably will follow you for the rest of your life. Karma Tshondro Tharchim (Kenneth Lyngaas) PhD Indian religions and philosophies committee. Get the book in our Eco lifestyle store. Volume 1-3 The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment: v. 1The Great Treatise On The Stages Of The Path To Enlightenment: v. 2The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment:
April 29, 2020
Not a beginners text. This is Vol.1 in a 3 volume set. Je Tsong-kha-pa was the founder of the Gelug lineage of Mahayana Buddhism in Tibet - the lineage which H.H 14th Dalai Lama is the spiritual head of, and the most powerful/influential lineage in Tibet.
The text outlines graduated stages (in great detail) for the path to enlightenment. Given that it isn't a beginners text, this first volume at least, was very readable, and has a good notes section in the back.
The text outlines graduated stages (in great detail) for the path to enlightenment. Given that it isn't a beginners text, this first volume at least, was very readable, and has a good notes section in the back.
October 17, 2021
I read the Chinese translation of this book. However, the book is in ancient Chinese and I cannot understand large amount of the text. With the help of this English version, now I can understand 80% of the book.
November 8, 2018
Buddhism revealed
Excellent source for those wanting insight into the dogma and discipline of Buddhism. Understandable even to readers with Western sensibilities.
Excellent source for those wanting insight into the dogma and discipline of Buddhism. Understandable even to readers with Western sensibilities.
January 7, 2024
One of the best treatises on the Stages of the Path.
March 6, 2020
Rating this “book” is meaningless. This is a deeply detailed, complex, and difficult ancient text, but immensely rewarding. I read and practiced a few pages at a time nearly every day for 6 months, and even that is too quickly.
I actually studied the Middle Length version from FPMT, as part of its basic program, but did not see that version on Goodreads. I’ve also read a much shorter and more basic version of the lamrim with the NKT.
I actually studied the Middle Length version from FPMT, as part of its basic program, but did not see that version on Goodreads. I’ve also read a much shorter and more basic version of the lamrim with the NKT.
June 23, 2021
As far as classics of Tibetan Buddhism are concerned, the ‘Lamrim Chenmo’ [in Tibetan], translated here as’ The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment’ is a founding text in the Mahāyāna tradition. The author, Je Tsong-kha-pa, completed this masterpiece in 1402 and its resonance is still felt to this day. In clear and didactic prose, the first volume focuses on the cultivation of bodhicitta in everyday life. Essential reading for all Mahāyāna practitioners.
February 4, 2017
Clear and accessible translation. Very readable. As always, Thurman's intro to the text does more than just provide a bit of context. It's worthy of careful reading, just like the text itself.
April 20, 2013
I found this very readable. I was only able to grasp a small piece of this first volume, but I'll read it as many times as it takes to grasp more.
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February 4, 2018The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment (Lam rim chen mo) is one of the brightest jewels in the world's treasury of sacred literature. The author Tsong-kha-pa (1357–1419) completed this masterpiece in 1402 and it soon became one of the most renowned works of spiritual practice and philosophy in the world of Tibetan Buddhism. Tsong-kha-pa took great pains to base his incisive insights on the classical Indian Buddhist literature, illustrating his points with classical citations as well as with sayings of the masters of the earlier Kadampa tradition. In this way, the text demonstrates clearly how Tibetan Buddhism carefully preserved and developed the Indian Buddhist traditions. Volume One covers all practices that are prerequisite for developing the spirit of enlightenment (bodhicitta). Volume Two explains how to train in the six perfections in order to develop the heart of compassion indispensable for any student who wants to put the Dharma into practice. Volume Three contains a presentation of the two most important topics to be found in the Great Treatise: meditative serenity (shamatha) and supramundane insight into the nature of reality (vipasyana).
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews