Stages of the Path and the Oral Transmission

Book excerpt: "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"--