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Stages of the Buddha’s Teachings

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The "Stages of the Teachings," or tenrim, genre of Tibetan spiritual writing expounds the Mahayana Buddhist teachings as a systematic progression, from the practices required at the start of the bodhisattva's career to the final perfect awakening of buddhahood. The texts in the present volume each exerted seminal influence in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. The first text, The Blue Compendium, presents the instructions of the Kadam teacher Potowa (1027/31-1105) as recorded by his student Dölpa (1059-1131). This verse work is followed by Gampopa's (1079-1153) revered Ornament of Precious Liberation, which, with its extensive quotations from the Indian scriptures, remains the most authoritative text on the path to enlightenment within the Kagyü school. The final selection is Clarifying the Sage's Intent, a masterwork by the preeminent sage of the Sakya tradition, Sakya Pandita (1182-1251). (Source: Wisdom Publications)

Another version of Holmes's translation of Gampopa's Ornament of Precious Liberation is found in Ornament of Precious Liberation (Holmes).

Citation	Roesler, Ulrike, Ken Holmes, and David P. Jackson, trans. Stages of the Buddha's Teachings: Three Key Texts. By Dölpa (Dol pa shes rab rgya mtsho), Gampopa (Sgam po pa), and Sakya Paṇḍita (Sa skya paN+Di ta). Library of Tibetan Classics 10. Somerville, MA: Wisdom Publications, 2015.

Table of Contents About the Book Texts Translated Quotes

• General Editor’s Preface xiii
• Translators’ Introduction i
• Acknowledgments 29
• Technical Note 31
• Abbreviations 35

• PART I: THE BLUE COMPENDIUM
• Dölpa Sherap Gyatso (1059-1131)
• Translated by Ulrike Roesler
  • 1. Preliminaries 39
  • 2. The Training for Individuals at the Initial Level 51
  • 3. The Training for Individuals at the Middle Level 63
  • 4. The Training for Excellent Individuals 67
  • 5. The Practice of the Perfections 73
  • 6. Wisdom 85
  • 7. Enhancing the Conditions for Practice 97

• PART II: ORNAMENT OF PRECIOUS LIBERATION
• Gampopa (1079-1153)
• Translated by Ken Holmes and edited by Thupten Jinpa
• Author’s Preface 121
• I. The Prime Cause
  • 1. Buddha Nature 123
• II. The Basis
  • 2. A Precious Human Existence 131
• III. The Condition
  • 3. Relying on the Spiritual Teacher 141
• IV. The Means: The Dharma Master’s Instruction
  • 4. The Impermanence of Conditioned Existence 149
  • 5. The Suffering of Samsara 161
  • 6. Karma and Its Effects 177
  • 7. Loving Kindness and Compassion 189
  • 8. Taking Refuge 199
  • 9. The Proper Adoption of Bodhicitta 211
  • 10. Precepts for Generating Aspiring Bodhicitta 243
  • 11. Presentation of the Six Perfections 249
  • 12. The Perfection of Generosity 253
  • 13. The Perfection of Moral Discipline 265
  • 14. The Perfection of Patience 277
  • 15. The Perfection of Diligence 285
  • 16. The Perfection of Meditative Concentration 293
  • 17. The Perfection of Wisdom 309
  • 18. The Presentation of the (Five) Paths339
  • 19. The Presentation of the Levels 343
• V. The Result
  • 20. The Bodies of Perfect Buddhahood 363
• VI. Buddha Activity
  • 21. Enlightened Activities of the Buddhas 377

• PART III: CLARIFYING THE SAGE'S INTENT
• Sakya Paṇḍita Kunga Gyaltsen (1182-1251)
• Translated by David P. Jackson
  • 1. Spiritual Potential 385
  • 2. Taking Refuge 389
  • 3. Generating the Resolve to Attain Awakening 401
  • 4. The Perfection of Generosity 415
  • 5. The Perfection of Moral Discipline 427
  • 6. The Perfection of Patience 437
  • 7. The Perfection of Diligence 447
  • 8. The Perfection of Meditative Concentration 457
  • 9. The Perfection of Wisdom 485
  • 10. The Four Means of Attraction 529
  • 11. The Paths and Levels 537
  • 12. The Ultimate Fruit 571
• The Conclusion of the Treatise 601

• Appendix 1. Table of Tibetan Transliteration 603
• Appendix 2. Outline of Clarifying the Sage’s Intent 613
• Notes 631
• Glossary 717
• Bibliography 729
• Index 752
• About the Contributors 793

1. dol pa shes rab rgya mtsho, sgam po pa, and sa skya paN+Di ta. bstan pa la 'jug pa'i rim pa ston pa'i gzhung gces btus. Edited by Geshe Thupten Jinpa. Delhi: bod kyi gtsug lag zhib 'jug khang, 2009.
   1. dol pa shes rab rgya mtsho. be’u bum sngon po.
   2. sgam po pa. dam chos yin bzhin gyi nor bu thar pa rin po che’i rgyan.
   3. sa skya paN+Di ta. thub pa’i dgongs pa rab tu gsal ba.

Bodhisattva - A person who seeks enlightenment for the sake of others. In Mahāyāna Buddhism, a Bodhisattva is a compassionate being who is training on the path to Buddhahood and aspires to eliminate the suffering of all beings and take all sentient beings to the state of enlightenment. The Mahāyāna sūtras including those on buddha-nature generally have Bodhisattvas as the main audience or interlocutors for the Buddha's discourses. Skt. बोधिसत्त्व Tib. བྱང་ཆུབ་སེམས་དཔའ། Ch. 菩薩

Kadam - The Kadam tradition, which traces its origin to the teachings of Atiśa, was the first of the so-called New Schools of Tibetan Buddhism, traditions which arose during or after the Second Propagation of Buddhism (phyi dar) in the tenth century. Tib. བཀའ་གདམས་

Kagyu - The Kagyu school traces its origin to the eleventh-century translator Marpa, who studied in India with Nāropa. Marpa's student Milarepa trained Gampopa, who founded the first monastery of the Kagyu order. As many as twelve subtraditions grew out from there, the best known being the Karma Kagyu, the Drikung, and the Drukpa. Tib. བཀའ་བརྒྱུད་

Sakya - The Sakya tradition developed in the eleventh century in the Khön family of Tsang, which maintained an imperial-era lineage of Vajrakīla and which adopted a new teaching from India known as Lamdre. Tib. ས་སྐྱ་