Deepen your meditation by diving into the practices of the lamrim—the stages of the path to enlightenment. Buddhist tradition tells us that enlightenment is possible for each and every one of us. It’s actually the best thing we can do for others and for the world, but also the best thing we can do for ourselves, because it means being free from all misery, pain, depression, dissatisfaction, and negative emotions, and abiding forever in peace, joy, love, and compassion. What could be more wonderful than that? Kathleen McDonald (Sangye Khadro), a Western nun with decades of experience and author of the bestselling book How to Meditate, guides us through the next step in our meditation practice: the transformative meditations on the Tibetan lamrim stages to enlightenment. She helps us see that the whole purpose of meditation is to transform our mind in a constructive way. For this to happen, we need to become so thoroughly familiar with the lamrim topics that they become our natural way of thinking and living our life. This warm and encouraging guide takes us through meditations on these lamrim topics, such as: - impermanence - refuge - karma - the four noble truths - bodhichitta - the six perfections: giving, ethics, patience, joyous effort, concentration, and wisdom How to Meditate on the Stages of the Path offers practical advice, support, and step-by-step guidance on how to meditate on the stages of the path to enlightenment that will transform the practice of new meditators and seasoned practitioners alike.

The lamrim (stages of the path) presentation of Buddhist teachings has become a core topic of study at many Buddhist centers in the West. For busy practitioners, the lamrim gives a concise and easily graspable picture of the Buddhist path. Best-selling author Thubten Chodron has a unique ability to present these teachings. In this volume, she provides clear explanations of the stages of the path, while the accompanying audio program contains guided meditations on each of the topics covered in the text. The meditation teachings of lamrim, says Buddhist teacher Thubten Chodron, are like ready-made clothes that are easy to wear: they're systematized so that we can wear them right away, so we can learn and practice them in an organized fashion. Lamrim can be translated in various ways: "stages of the path," "steps on the path," or "gradual path." "Gradual path" reminds us that the process of transforming the mind, unlike so many other things in our hurry-up society, is a slow and thoughtful one. These systematic teachings are the subject of this book. The lamrim presents a step-by-step method to tame the mind, and each person will find meaning and insight according to his or her level of understanding. As readers practice these meditations repeatedly, their comprehension and experience will transform and deepen, even though the words used to spark the meditation sessions remain the same. The first section of guided meditations discusses how to establish a daily practice, how to set up an altar, and how to approach the two kinds of meditation—stabilizing and analytical. The second presents the meditations. The third supplies an overview, instructions for working with distractions, antidotes to mental afflictions, advice for newcomers, and suggestions on how to deepen Dharma practice. The accompanying audio program (available to eBook buyers as a free MP3 download) contains over fourteen hours of guided meditations, led by Thubten Chodron. Individuals who live far from Buddhist teachers or Dharma centers will appreciate the personal guidance offered with these meditations, enabling them to begin and continue a daily meditation practice. This is a new and expanded version of Guided Meditations on the Lam Rim, and the recording was previously published in a 14-CD format under that name.

"The first volume of The Fourteenth Dalai Lama's Stages of the Path is a fairly detailed explanation of general points related to Buddhist concepts. It includes an introduction for today's Buddhists on the important and fundamental points of the philosophical tenets of Śākyamuni Buddha, explanations on the reality of base existence presented by Buddhism and modern science, and ways to integrate the essence of Buddhism into daily life"--

Geshe Lhundub Sopa's Steps on the Path to Enlightenment is a landmark commentary on what is perhaps the most elaborate and elegant Tibetan presentation of the Buddhist path, Tsongkhapa's monumental Lamrim Chenmo. In this third volume of five, readers are acquainted with the bodhisattva's path and the altruistic desire to make service to others the driving force of spiritual development. It begins with an explanation of what distinguishes the Mahayana practitioner from other Buddhists and goes on to describe the nature of bodhichitta. Geshe Sopa then provides a detailed commentary on the two methods to develop this awakening attitude: the techniques of sevenfold cause-and-effect and exchanging self and other. While bodhichitta's significance in Mahayana Buddhism is universally known, Geshe Sopa illustrates how bodhichitta can motivate a devoted practitioner toward complete enlightenment and how this is accomplished through the performance of the bodhisattva perfections. Whether engaged in a scholarly study or personal practice of the Lamrim Chenmo, Geshe Sopa's guiding voice leads readers to a deeper understanding and appreciation of the bodhisattva way.

"This volume contains works from two of the most important sets of teachings of the Geluk School, the stages of the path (lam rim) and the oral transmission (snyan brgyud), which includes mahāmudrā. The stages of the path present a systematic, step-by-step cultivation of the Buddhist path to enlightenment using key elements distilled from the scriptures and Indian treatises. Following Tsongkhapa's (1357-1419) composition of his magnum opus, the Great Treatise of the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment, the stages of the path became an integral component of the teachings of the Geluk school. The oral transmission originates in important oral instructions of Tsongkhapa, especially those that evolved from his visions of Mañjuśrī. The present volume is divided into four parts. Part 1 contains some of the central texts of the stages of the path instructions, such as the two root verses by Tsongkhapa, Gomchen Ngawang Drakpa's (fifteenth century) Stages of the Path in Verse, Panchen Losang Chögyen's (1570-1662) Easy Path, and the Fifth Dalai Lama's (1617-82) Sacred Words of Mañjuśrī. Part 2 features the Seventh Dalai Lama's guide to the Hundred Deities of Tushita Guru Yoga, Panchen Losang Chögyen's Offering to the Guru, and Jadrel Tsultrim Nyima's Sending the Final Testament through the Winds. Part 3 contains Panchen Losang Chögyen's mahāmudrā root text Highway of the Conquerors together with its commentary, as well as important texts by Yongzin Yeshé Gyaltsen and Shar Kalden Gyatso. The final section contains two concise works of essential oral advice from Ngulchu Dharmabhadra"--

The most important commentary on Vajrayana from the founder of the Dalai Lama's school of Buddhism. The Brilliantly Illuminating Lamp of the Five Stages (rim lnga rab tu gsal ba’i sgron me) is Tsong Khapa’s most important commentary on the perfection stage practices of the Esoteric Community (Guhyasamaja), the tantra he considered fundamental for the practice of the “father tantra” class of unexcelled yoga tantras. It draws heavily on Nagarjuna’s Five Stages (Pañcakrama) and Aryadeva’s Lamp that Integrates the Practices (Carya­melapaka­pradipa), as well as a vast range of perfection stage works included in the Tibetan canonical (Kangyur and Tengyur) collections. It is an important work for both scholars and practitioners. A reader of this work will find in it convincing evidence for Tsong Khapa’s own yogic experience and attainment, in coordination with his better-known philosophical and scholarly achievements. The present revised edition of the work is a cornerstone of the Complete Works of Jey Tsong Khapa and Sons collection, a subset of the Treasury of the Buddhist Sciences series. Comprised of the collected works of Tsong Khapa (1357–1419) and his spiritual sons, Gyaltsap Darma Rinchen (1364–1432) and Khedrup Gelek Pelsang (1385–1438), the numerous works in this set of Tibetan treatises and supercommentaries are based on the thousands of works in the Tibetan Buddhist canon.

The first complete English translation of renowned scholar-saint Tsongkhapa's Middle-Length Treatise on the Stages of the Path. Tsongkhapa (1357–1419), the author of the well-known Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment and the teacher of the First Dalai Lama, is renowned as one of the greatest scholar-saints that Tibet has ever produced. A dozen years after writing the Great Treatise, he wrote the Middle-Length Treatise on the Stages of the Path, presented here in its first complete English translation. Half the length of the well-known Great Treatise, this work similarly presents a systematic overview of the Buddhist path. Tsongkhapa begins by abridging the longer work, distilling its explanations for quicker integration. He presents a series of meditations, beginning with recognizing the rarity of our human existence and the great opportunities it affords, followed by reflections on impermanence, suffering, and the promise of liberation from our past actions, until proceeding to the path of bodhisattvas, whose universal compassion seeks to free every being from suffering. Tsongkhapa gives especially detailed instructions on samatha, the deep meditative concentration that is a precondition for the highest insight into the nature of reality. The final and largest section, on that very insight, is unique to this work, particularly Tsongkhapa’s presentation of conventional truth and ultimate truth. Those new to Tibetan Buddhist teachings will benefit from the approachable style of this classic handbook for enlightenment, and beginners and longtime practitioners alike will cherish the clear guidance from one of Tibet’s great luminaries.

​A comprehensive selection of texts central to the Kadam lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, including topics like Mind Training, Stages of the Path, and esoteric tantric instructions. The Treasury of Precious Instructions by Jamgön Kongtrul Lodrö Taye, one of Tibet’s greatest Buddhist masters, is a shining jewel of Tibetan literature, presenting essential teachings from the entire spectrum of practice lineages that existed in Tibet. In its eighteen volumes, Kongtrul brings together some of the most important texts on key topics of Buddhist thought and practice as well as authoring significant new sections of his own. ​​The Kadam lineage derives from the teachings and practices taught by the Indian master Atiśa and his Tibetan students. Atiśa spent twelve years in Tibet and left a scholarly and devotional lineage that would be significant to all traditions of Tibetan Buddhism, but particularly the Geluk, the tradition of the Dalai Lamas, which fashioned themselves as the New Kadam tradition. ​ Jamgön Kongtrul’s catalog to The Treasury of Precious Instructions classifies Kadam literature into five categories: treatise, instruction, esoteric practice, ancillary works, and associated works. The first two are the main topics covered in this volume: Lamrim, or Stages of the Path, and Lojong, or Mind Training. These two Kadam teachings continue to exert a significant influence on Tibetan Buddhism and therefore represent the legacy of the Kadam tradition. ​The first centers around “The Lamp for the Path to Enlightenment,” written by the eleventh-century Indian master Atiśa who spent twelve years in Tibet, and this volume also includes stories of Atiśa’s life and travels. The second set of teachings consists of aphorisms known as the Seven-Point Mind Training, meant to be used as contemplative practices to develop compassion and transform the mind. These selections show not only the foundational texts of the Kadam tradition but also the widespread impact these teachings continued to have across traditions.

The third volume of the 15th-century spiritual classic that condenses Buddhist teachings into one easy-to-follow meditation manual The Great Treatise on the Stages of the Path to Enlightenment (Tib. Lam rim chen mo) is one of the brightest jewels in the world’s treasury of sacred literature. The author, Tsong-kha-pa, completed it in 1402, and it soon became one of the most renowned works of spiritual practice and philosophy in the world of Tibetan Buddhism. Because it condenses all the exoteric sūtra scriptures into a meditation manual that is easy to understand, scholars and practitioners rely on its authoritative presentation as a gateway that leads to a full understanding of the Buddha’s teachings. Tsong-kha-pa took great pains to base his insights on 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. This first of three volumes covers all the practices that are prerequisite for developing the spirit of enlightenment (bodhicitta).