Stages of the Buddha's Teachings is an extraordinary and systematized representation of the complete path to enlightenment.

The "stages of the teachings"--or tenrim--genre of Tibetan spiritual writing expounds the Mahayana teachings as a graded series of topics, from the practices required at the start of the bodhisattva's career to the final perfect awakening of buddhahood. The three texts in the present volume all exerted seminal influence in the Tibetan Buddhist tradition. The first text, The Blue Compendium, presents the instructions of the Kadam teacher Potowa (1031-1106) as recorded by his student Dolpa (1059-1131). This text is followed by Gampopa's (1079-1153) revered Ornament of Precious Liberation, which remains the most authoritative text on the path to enlightenment within the Kagyu school. The final text is Clarifying the Sage's Intent, a masterwork by the preeminent sage of the Sakya tradition, Sakya Pandita (1182-1251).
Stages of the Buddha's Teachings: Three Key Texts; Dolpa, Gampopa, Sakya Pandita; Wisdom Publications; Hardcover; 816 pp, $59.95

"Dolpa was a prominent transmitter of the Kadam teachings, is known by several names, including Dolpa Marshurwa, Sherap Gyatso, and simply 'Spiritual mentor of Dol' (Geshe Dolpa), after his home region. After studying with a number of teachers, he met the highly influential Kadampa master Potowa Rinchen Sal (1027/31-1105) and stayed with him for twenty-two years. In later years Geshe Dolpa founded his own monastery of Yangang in Dol. The chronicles mention that he had more than a thousand disciples, including the famous Kagyu hierarch Phakmodrupa Dorje Gyalpo (1110-70)."

"Gampopa, who was also known as Dakpo Rinpoche, was born in 1079 in Dakpo district of central Tibet. He originally trained to be a physician; hence the other common title he is known by, Dakpo Lhaje ("Doctor of Dakpo"). He began his adult life as a married layman and only began intensive religious practice after experiencing the shock of his beloved wife's sudden death when he was still in his early twenties (ca. 1100). He eventually became one of the foremost disciples of the venerable Milarepa (1040-1123), but only after extensive studies in other traditions. Before meeting Milarepa, he had received full monastic ordination at the age of twenty-five (1104) and had sought out tantric initiations in Lower Dakpo from the master Maryul Loden. He had also studied intensively in Phenyul under masters of the Kadam tradition such as Jayulpa, Nyukrumpa, and Chakri Gongkhawa. Jayulpa (or Jayulwa) Shonu O (1075-1138) was a student of Chengawa (one of the above-mentioned "three spiritual brothers," along with Potowa, who were Dromtonpa's principal students), and Nyukrumpa was in the lineage of Geshe Naljorpa Chenpo (1015-78). Gampopa sought out Milarepa only later, finally receiving the key instructions from him (especially on "inner heat," gtum mo) for thirteen months in 1110-11. After meditating for an additional three years, he attained awakening. He tried to return to see his master Milarepa twelve years later (1123), but the master had already passed away. He continued a primarily contemplative life for some years but then began his career as spiritual teacher, which became more and more illustrious with each passing year.

"Gampopa established the first Kagyu monastery, Daklha Gampo, which attracted a multitude of disciples during his lifetime. It is not for nothing that virtually the entire Kagyu lineage in Tibet calls itself the Dakpo Kagyu (literally, "teaching lineage of Dakpo") in his honor. Through him, a discrete lineage composed of a series of secret tantric traditions from India, and limited to a handful of advanced followers, became integrated with the main elements of basic and Mahayana Buddhism, forming the broad and accessible basis of the Kagyu teaching tradition as it is today. This broad-spectrum Buddhism was then nurtured by his four main disciples, and in particular by the Karmapa lineage of reincarnations."

"Sakya Pandita Kunga Gyaltsen (1182-1251) was a renowned scholar and Tibetan statesman who staved off a Mongolian invasion by converting Emperor Godan Khan to Buddhism. A luminary of the Sakya school of Tibetan Buddhism, his peerless erudition stands out even among a tradition known for its scholastic adepts, and many of his works have been bedrock texts for study and practice since the thirteenth century."

CONTENTS: Stages of the Buddha's Teachings
General Editor's Preface			xiii
Translators' Introduction			1
Acknowledgments			29
Technical Note			31
Abbreviations			35
PART I: THE BLUE COMPENDIUM Dolpa 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] Paths	339
	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 Pandita 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			753
About the Contributors			793