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The Jewel Ladder

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The Jewel Ladder (Rin-chen them-skas) is a short and comprehensive Nyingma Lamrim for beginners by Minling Terchen Gyurme Dorjee (1643–1714), commonly known as Terdak Lingpa, one of the foremost early master-scholars of Tibet, who was both a teacher and disciple of the Great Fifth Dalai Lama.
     The text introduces us to the preliminaries of the Buddhist practice required for higher spiritual development such as the four basic ways of concentrating one's mind on the Dharma and the Four Noble Truths.
     This commentary by Khamtrul Rinpoche given in simple and lucid language unravels the gist of the Rin-chen them-skas. Appended at the end of the book is a guide to the voluminous Nyingma Lamrim (Kun-bzang bla-ma'i zhal-lung). (Source: Back Cover)

Citation	Rigzin, Tsepak, trans. and ed. The Jewel Ladder: A Preliminary Nyingma Lamrim. By Minling Terchen Gyurmed Dorjee (smin gling gter chen 'gyur med rdo rje). With commentary by Garje Khamtrul Rinpoche. Dharamsala, India: Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, 1990. http://promienie.net/images/dharma/books/gyurme-dorjee_jewel-ladder.pdf.

ContentsSources

• Publisher's Notevii
• About the Authorviii

• Part I:
  • The Root Text-The Jewel Ladder1
• Part II
  • Commentary/Introductory Teachings
  • Preliminaries of Composing the Text51
  • Qualities of an Author53
  • Obeisance55
  • Promise to Compose57
  • Preliminaries of the Actual Text58
  • Extensive motivation-generation of Mind of Enlightenment59
  • Precepts of the Aspiring Mind of Enlightenment64
  • Precepts of the venturing Mind of Enlightenment-the six perfections66
  • Perfection of Generosity66
  • Perfection of Morality67
  • Perfection Patience68
  • Perfection of Enthusiastic Perseverance68
  • Perfection of Concentration69
  • Perfection of Wisdom69
  • Benefits of the Mind of Enlightenment70
  • Extensive means-generating motivation according to secret mantrayana tradition72
  • Taking Faith as a Path72
  • Taking Aspiration as a Path73
  • Behaviour74
  • How a Teacher must give a Discourse74
  • Three Scopes of Person76
  • The Four Common Points79
  • The Difficulty of Finding a Precious Human Rebirth79
  • Recognizing the Freedom and Endowments79
  • Rarity of Finding a Precious Human Rebirth84
  • Significance of Precious Human Rebirth87
  • Contemplating Death and Impermanence of Human Rebirth89
  • Death is Certain90
  • The Time of Death is Uncertain93
  • At Death only Dharma is of Benefit96
  • Contemplating the Drawbacks of Cyclic Existence99
  • The Sufferings of the Three Lower Realms100
  • The Sufferings of the Hot Hells104
  • The Sufferings of the Cold Hells109
  • The suffering of the Neighbouring hells112
  • The sufferings of Occasional hells116
  • The Sufferings of the Hungry Ghosts119
  • The Sufferings of the Animals123
  • The Sufferings of the Higher Realms127
  • The Nature of the three types of Sufferings138
  • Contemplating the Law of Cause and Effect138
  • The General Contemplation of Cause and Effect139
  • The Specific Contemplation of Cause and Effect143
  • Transforming the Unspecified Karmas into Virtues159
  • A Summary of the Four Noble Truths163
  • The Truth of Origin of Suffering166
  • The Truth of Suffering170
  • The Truth of Path173
  • The Truth of Cessation178
  • Concluding Remarks on the Four Noble Truths180
  • Taking Refuge183
  • Footnotes188
• Part III
  • Guide to the Nyingma Lamrim (Kun-bzang bla-ma'i zhal-lung)197
• Part IV
  • Guide to the Nyingma Lamrim - Tibetan text213

gter bdag gling pa 'gyur med rdo rje. thun mong gi sngon 'gro'i chos bshad rin chen them skas. In gsung 'bum 'gyur med rdo rje, Vol. 6: 130-159. Dehra Dun: d.g. khochhen tulku, 1998.

Nyingma - The Nyingma, which is often described as the oldest tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, traces its origin to Padmasambhava, who is said to have visited Tibet in the eighth century. Tib. རྙིང་མ་

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śrāvaka - The disciples of the Buddha who aspire to attain individual liberation or nirvāṇa. The final goal of the Hearers is to become an arhat, a state in which one has totally eliminated the inner problems of attachment, hatred and ignorance, the main causes for rebirth in this cycle of existence. There are four stages of a śrāvaka path including eight phases. Skt. श्रावक Tib. ཉན་ཐོས། Ch. 聲聞

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